Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from everyone at Ecodrive Transmissions.

First of all we’d like to say a massive thank you to all of our customers who helped make 2015 another great year for Ecodrive.

It was all change at the Ecodrive workshop this year. We were saddened to say goodbye to Business Development Director Phillip Peake in September, but have welcomed other significant personnel changes.

We have also made significant investments in our IT systems and workshop tooling arrangements – particularly on the bus and coach side of operations.

Carry on reading for more of our highlights and get in touch if you have any questions about any of our new services.

Business Development Director Phillip Peake retires after 26 years in the industry

Phillip PeakeBusiness Development Director Phillip Peake retired from Ecodrive in September after 26 years in the commercial vehicle repair sector. Phillip joined ZF Services UK in 1989 and was quickly recognised as a competent manager in the truck and bus department. He joined as a director at Ecodrive more than ten years ago and has since played a huge role in developing the organisation. Everyone at Ecodrive is sad to see Phillip go, we wish him all the best in the future.

Martin Aspin joins the product support team

We were pleased to welcome Martin Aspin to the Ecodrive team early in the year. Martin has been on board with the nationwide product support team across the country. Martin brings a wealth of experience in vehicle electrics and knows his way around ZF products.

New sub-dealers provide national field service coverage for Ecodrive

Ecodrive have been working throughout the year to develop national field service coverage for our customers. We are working in partnership with four new sub-dealers and are pleased to confirm the following three-year contracts:

  • In-geardiagnostics (Bristol)
  • J M Fleet Maintenance (Stafford & Colchester)
  • Optimum Drive (London)
  • J B Diagnostics (Guildford)

Merlin IT CRM

New Merlin IT system installed

We supercharged our IT systems in 2015. The biggest upgrade was the new Merlin software system, which has made office administration significantly easier.
We’ve also made use of Merlin’s Customer Relationship Management (CRM) function, which has enabled us to better keep track of orders and respond to queries even quicker than before. Better IT systems means we spend less time poring over customer records and more time on what matters.

Purchase of EcoLife tooling

We are pleased to announce that from early 2016 we will be able to offer EcoLife products that were previously only available from ZF Services UK. EcoLife commercial vehicle transmissions are used primarily on buses and coaches and help ensure more performance and better economy.

ZF front axleNew ZF Kingpin tooling for chassis repairs on front bus axles

After a number of customers came to us needing quick repairs on the ‘Kingpin’ front bus and coach axles this year, we decided to invest in a new ZF Kingpin tooling arrangement so that we can carry out this difficult repair.

The ‘Kingpin’ bus axle can wear quickly in certain driving conditions and it is important that it gets fixed promptly. We’ve ensured that we have the tools and have received the specialist training to carry out this job in double time. Please contact the technical team for more information.