When you make an appointment with a WAS employee in England for a phone call 'at 10 am', do you mean German or British time? It can happen that Ashley Sterland in his time zone in Burton-upon-Trent in Staffordshire is contacted an hour early from Germany, but he takes that calmly with a pinch of British humour. In fact, Ashley is not only regarded in the team as 'laid back', but also as someone who ma-kes sure things keep flowing. True to the credo 'Never do nothing', Ashley has successfully managed the maintenance and repair service for WAS UK since 2016. At first alone, but for about 1 ½ years now together with John Coles and soon with another new colleague, Tony Gilder, as a threesome. Spreading the work over several shoulders is the logical decision in view of the increasing number of active WAS ambulances in the UK. The three service technicians are each responsible for their areas (the South West, East of England region and the rest of the UK).
„As a team, pressure is absorbed and shared very well.“
Even though the team is growing, the new colleagues will not see each other every day, because John is stationed in the field about 170 miles away from Burton-upon-Trent, Tony 100 miles away. Nevertheless, communication is unhindered, Ashley assures, after all, they have had a successful 'long-dis-tance relationship' with their employer in Emsbüren, Lower Sa-xony, for many years. There is also a short line to Tom Howlett (Sales Director) and Managing Director WAS UK, Darren Sullivan. “It is important for all of us to stay in contact, not only from an organisational point of view. It just feels good to talk ab-out a current challenge. Even if Tom or Darren don‘t respond directly with a technical solution, it‘s still helpful to hear what they think about my approach”, Ashley sums up.
„Communication is important. Also to convey appreciation.“
The WAS UK team is used to exchanging information with each other and with their colleagues in Germany mainly via digital channels. To keep the flow of information going, Ashley not only maintains a decentrally accessible database with all technical details, circuit diagrams, included software and other important information about the vehicles, but has also written problem-solving guides for customers and partner workshops. This means that many problems can be solved promptly by remote diagnosis, without wasting time on long journeys. Ne-vertheless, Ashley is on the road a lot. He personally oversees 11 regional customers. That gives him around 56,000 km on the road every year. On site at the customer‘s or at the service partner‘s, he deals with repairs of warranty parts or answers questions about freshly delivered ambulances. The other half of his time is spent answering customer faults or questions. That‘s 4-6 calls per day, which amounts to about 1,000 calls per year. When he is in the WAS UK HQ he is mainly there to inspect faulty returned parts, sign off service agent invoices and compile workshop training documents.
„My goal is to make the vehicles even better.“
For special tasks, however, Ashley also visits the headquar-ters in Germany. For example, to assess warranty reasons for vehicles specially developed for the British market from a technical point of view. Last year he organised and supervi-sed the journey and stay of fifteen partner technicians for a training course in the WAS box body production in Germany. At that time, the aim was to make the technicians upto date for repairs to the box bodies, which are manufactured using the so-called sandwich process. Even though such tasks come naturally to him and he is comfortable with the responsibility, he has always remained a craftsman and tinkerer. For a few years now, he has been working intensively with CAD models and 3D printing in his spare time. A hobby that has also been useful professionally, as he can visualise his suggestions for technical product improvements much better as a 3D model for his colleague. “My job is to keep the vehicles on the road. If I see potential for improvement, i like to put my idea forward to start the process, I may not have the best idea but this can start the ball rolling. I just hope they don‘t perceive me as a complainer sometimes, because I‘m usually the one who has to report defects or protential faults on the vehicles”, says Ashley with a wink.
All about Ashley
Ashley Sterland worked for a specialist vehicle build during his apprenticeship as an automotive electri-cian (NVQ Level 3), then moved to a company fitting mobile vehicle devices when relocating to a diffe-rent area of the UK to move in with his now wife. After working for a UK ambulance fitter, he started working for WAS UK in 2016.
He lives in Stone, Staffordshire with his wife - who, fittingly, works in healthcare - and their two children. In his spare time, he loves to (when possible) snow-boarding, Tennis, and Golf, He also enjoys making practical designs in CAD and for his children, and woodworking DIY.
No Comments