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Mercedes-Benz Van Sales and Marketing Director Steve Bridge enjoyed a taste of life behind the wheel of ones his own products, when he spent a day with online grocery service Ocado’s home delivery fleet.
Steve boarded one of Ocado’s distinctive Mercedes Sprinters to deliver groceries to customers in central London, and see for himself how the van performed in the real world.
He explained: “It’s not an everyday occurrence for people in positions like mine, with major van manufacturers, to take the time to go out and get involved with what customers do in this way.
“But I wanted to take a much closer look at what one of our biggest customers does, and see in detail how the vehicles that we supply are suited to the task.”
Steve joined a late shift at Ocado’s Customer Fulfilment Centre near Hatfield, which includes a fully stocked warehouse, where he met up with driver Lewis Vail and his Sprinter 311CDI.
Like all Sprinters working out of the Hatfield depot, it is fitted with a GAH refrigeration unit and bespoke temperature controlled bodywork by Paneltex, allowing it to carry frozen, chilled and ambient temperature goods, and wears the company’s eye-catching, instantly recognisable livery.
Starting work at 3pm, the first order of business was to collect the hand-held terminal which gives every Ocado driver all the information on his routes and ‘drops’ for the day, and is also used to record each delivery as it is made. Lewis’s orders had already been picked and loaded into his Sprinter, so after the mandatory vehicle checks they were on their way.
The pair’s route for the day took them into the heart of London, for a series of deliveries in Knightsbridge, Kensington and surrounding areas. Ocado drivers can make anything up to 20 drops in a day, with a ‘window’ of only one hour for each, so the pressure is on from the start.
“With a route that criss-crossed some of the busiest parts of London, traffic was a major issue, and parking was a real headache too,” recalled Steve. “There were deliveries to be made to fourth-floor flats in traditional Victorian terraces, and to mews houses with no parking anywhere near the front door – and Ocado don’t just drop the shopping on the customer’s doorstep, they carry it right into the kitchen.”
He added: “Lewis had only been doing this job for about 18 months but I was extremely impressed; his understanding of the whole business and the importance of his role in delivering service levels was incredible.
“The day certainly helped me gain a deeper understanding of how one of our most important customers ticks. It was also useful to see the Sprinter being used in a real-life situation, and to see how much its various design features make life easier for people like Lewis.”
Stuart Skingsley, Ocado’s Fleet Manager, said: “This was certainly one of the more unusual requests for a day’s work experience that we’ve received! But we were flattered and impressed that one of our biggest business partners was interested enough to come and see at first hand what we do.
“Steve knew us pretty well already, but I’m sure this day helped him grasp the complexity of the service we offer to our customers, and the way our drivers rely on their vehicles to help them deliver.”
Ocado was launched in January 2002, in partnership with Waitrose, and is a dedicated online supermarket. With a number of depots around the UK and a product range as large as any superstore, and an all-Mercedes fleet of vans and trucks, its home delivery service is available to 13.5 million households in the South-East, Midlands, and North-West, and on the South coast. |
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