Scania Annual Report 2011

24 MARKET – BUSES AND COACHES
Speed and quality
EBS Public Transportation operates bus
transport services and in early 2011 won
the tender for bus traffic in Waterland, an
area north of Amsterdam. Since this service
would commence as soon as 11 December,
the time for preparation was extremely brief.
In March 2011, EBS awarded Scania Benelux
a contract to deliver the buses.
The order, which totalled 211 vehicles,
represented a major challenge for Scania
due to the very tight delivery time. The buses
were bodyworked at Scania’s facility in
Poland and at the production unit of Scania’s
partner Higer in China. They had to be fitted
out with accessories and quality-assured
prior to delivery.
Scania has an extensive workshop
network in the Netherlands which, however,
did not have the capacity for this assignment.
A temporary workshop was therefore
established.
Efficiency from the start
By fully using Scania’s standardised working
methods according to the Scania Retail
System (SRS), the team at the facility immediately
succeeded in reaching the productivity
necessary to meet the challenging
time table – helped by lessons from other
Scania workshops.
Comprehensive commitment
Scania landed the order not only because
of its guarantee that all buses would be in
service on 11 December but also because
it provided a complete package of financing,
insurance, parts and servicing of the
Waterland buses.
Customised solutions in Mexico
Grupo Estrella Blanca is one of the largest
bus and coach operators in Mexico. With
its large fleet of 5,000 buses and coaches,
Estrella Blanca needs effective systems for
traffic management and vehicle maintenance.
With operations spread over almost
all of Mexico, Estrella Blanca previously
had no central department for planning of
bus fleet maintenance. This was handled
by each unit separately, which led to high
costs and uneven vehicle quality.
Three-stage solution
Scania’s three-stage solution – completed
in 2007, 2009 and 2011 – involved upgrading
the entire maintenance organisation
through measures such as training of service
technicians and drivers, more efficient
parts management and establishment of
Scania workshops at customer facilities.
Operational control
Scania Fleet Management plays a key role
in this partnership. A web portal gathers,
analyses and reports real-time information
about Estrella Blanca’s vehicles and how
they are being driven. In this way, the company
monitors costs, avoids unplanned
downtime and can schedule servicing that
disrupts operations as little as possible.
Basis for increased profitability
From Estrella Blanca’s perspective, its
partnership with Scania has created
potential for higher profitability, since
maintenance costs have become more
manageable, there is better monitoring of
operations, servicing has been tailored to
its operations and fuel consumption has
fallen significantly.
Operations Scania 2011