Initially, the three-bay facility will service 50 of Asda’s home shopping vans operating in the surrounding area but it has the capacity to maintain at least 200 vans in the long term.
The Leeds-based retailer is now in the first phase of receiving 550 new Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 313 CDI chassis cabs, all of which are to be delivered this year.
Most will arrive via Yorkshire dealer Northside Truck & Van, with the remainder coming from Rygor.
The Heston workshop began operation on Wednesday (1 June 2016) and is manned by three of Rygor’s Mercedes-Benz technicians. Additional factory-trained service staff will be drafted in as required, from the Dealer’s neighbouring branches.
Formally commissioning the new unit, Asda’s vice-president of logistics Jon Parry said: “Strategically, this is a very important development for Asda. We’re tremendously excited about the prospects for improved efficiency, vehicle uptime and reduced operating costs as a result of this collaboration with Mercedes-Benz.”
Asda’s delivery fleet has grown by 25% over the last three years and now numbers in excess of 2,000 vehicles.
The supermarket’s Sprinters are fitted with multi-compartment, insulated box bodies by Paneltex, and GAH refrigeration units.