Trucks
Trucks
Sean Webb has been on the MTD Truck team for the past five years and he describes his job as ‘helping drivers to develop a good working relationship with their truck.’
“You need a good relationship with the people around you to do any job well. If you’re a driver, the most important working relationship you have is with your vehicle – when you get that right, things just flow.”
“Most drivers want to excel at what they do. It’s not enough to have an excellent product to drive, the training and support that wrap around the truck make the difference between a good driver and a great driver. I work with a lot of great drivers.”
Sean was brought up in and around the transport industry. His father was an owner-driver in general cartage and line haul throughout the North Island and Sean spent a lot of time in the cab with Dad. That’s where his love of trucking began. “I wanted to be a driver from a young age,” commented Sean. “When I used to tell Dad that I was going to drive trucks for a living, he told me ‘you can drive but first you need to get a trade.” Sean secured an apprenticeship as an automotive engineer and, once qualified, jumped behind the wheel and drove locally until growing financial obligations put him ‘back behind the tools.’
His first real contact with the Volvo brand came when he was servicing the Fonterra fleet. “I enjoyed working with the product,” said Sean. “I also met, came to like and respect the people associated with the brand.”
After some years, Sean left the truck workshop and spent seven years in transport refrigeration, solving mechanical problems to get chiller vehicles back on the road as soon as possible. When he started in his current role with MTD, Sean was again impressed by the people around him. “At MTD, the people at the helm tend to live and breathe the transport industry.”
On a recent trip to Volvo Headquarters in Sweden, Sean felt the same way. “The people that do the work embody the Volvo brand values. They have a genuine belief in what they are doing. This made a huge impact on me.
“As a brand, Volvo doesn’t reinvent the wheel but sticks to clear principles of design and engineering to produce a product that interfaces with the driver in a pragmatic, user-friendly way. I work with drivers to help them develop a deeper understanding of what’s happening when they use a toggle or flick a switch. This understanding creates a better driver and the driver is an integral part of getting the best out of every vehicle.”
