Australasian Bus & Coach — October 2017

(^28) ABC October 2017 busnews.com.au
BUS BUSINESS VOLGREN TOUR
in other buses with cracking or
corrosion,” Smith explains.
“It is common that buses which
reach midlife and have structural
problems can require rebuilds
that run into tens of thousands
of dollars; this is something that
doesn’t happen to a Volgren bus.”
“The running and fuel costs
are superb, and when you do
have repairs the downtime is
signi¾ cantly reduced because of
the bus structure.
“When you combine these two
factors, the results are excellent

• it is the Co-Bolt system that
  allows us to make that claim.

“We constantly seek feedback

from companies that purchase

our vehicles to ensure and

validate that our claims are

accurate. It is the data that we

get from customer feedback that

fuels our design process.”

EMPOWERING THE TEAM

During the factory tour I saw

something quite unusual: a team

mood board where workers were

able to, on a daily basis, place

stickers to express how they

were feeling.

They could let the team know

if they were stressed, con¾ dent

or whatever the day’s mood may

have been. I asked Smith what

the thought was behind this

unorthodox method.

According to him, the initiative

had been in place at Marcopolo

for many years and was now

being implemented at Volgren.

But not just on the parent

company’s say-so – it’s actually

a program that aligns with the

Australian company’s thinking.

“We have found teamwork,

leadership and how you have a

conversation with your workers

is very important.

“We talk about having the

right tools available for the job

but the most important factor is

this: do your workers have the

con¾ dence to do the job right the

¾ rst time with what they have

and how they are feeling?

“How your employees are

feeling about the job can be a

bigger influencer than anything

We constantly seek feedback from companies

that purchase our vehicles to ensure and

validate that our claims are accurate