Keeping Supply Lines Open Large bus manufacturers discuss state of the industry, solutions for customers


By Ryan Gray By mid-June, commercial truck manufacturers including Daim-


ler Trucks North America and Navistar were forecasting major ramp-ups in production after several years of decreased output. With manufacturing lines speeding up, the result on school bus production could be affected, especially when it comes to supply chains. Tat can be challenging to say the least when it comes to customer service. “Te increase in production rates across the heavy-duty truck-


ing manufacturing segment is having an impact on suppliers that school bus manufacturers share with the trucking industry,” said Kelley Platt, president and CEO of Tomas Built Buses. “[Tom- as] has identified suppliers which historically have had difficulty meeting parts orders, and has made arrangements to ensure com-


32 School Transportation News Magazine August 2011


ponent availability will not affect on-time delivery of bus orders.” It’s nothing new for the school bus manufacturing industry to


deal with these types of shortages, as there can be about 15,000 dif- ferent parts on a school bus that are supplied by dozens and dozens of different vendors. Te tens of thousands of school bus models that roll out of the factories each year are built to order, requiring the leanest of lean manufacturing processes. Further complicating matters for the entire automotive industry is the double whammy of an economic downturn and ever-increasing costs of raw materi- als such as copper, steel, plastics and glass, which have increased by more than 20 percent over the last several years. Also, everyone has felt the pain from the increased cost of petroleum-based products. Efforts by the large school bus manufacturers to keep costs


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