of Thomas engineers, quality assurance specialists, manu- facturing managers and the company’s coating supplier to determine the biggest problem areas in and around the bus. The first phase is to treat the step wells. Swaim explained that Thomas will coat all sides of the entry point, both the exte- rior, bottom and inside before installing the step treads. The front and rear bumpers will also be completely sprayed before
being installed. Thomas also plans to treat the inside of the luggage compartment. “For Tomas Built Buses, it’s really important we’re able to help
our customers in this economy to drive down the total cost of ownership,” added Mary Aufdemberg, manager of Tomas’ cen- ter for education and marketing. “We like to keep the technicians and the drivers in mind while we improve our product.”
I IC BUS
IC BUS CUSTOMERS WILL SOON BEGIN SEEING IMPROVEMENTS recently completed by the company this spring that ease serviceability of school bus electrical while also seeing new purchase prices affected for the better, a spokesman said. Te system first launched in the RE Series in 2010.
Mash Angolkar, program manager for the new electrical system, said IC Bus reached 100 percent production on April 2 of this year. Tis means all model-year 2012 and newer CE Series school buses, as well as the manufac- turer’s BE Series and the new AE Series small school bus that goes into production this month, are also equipped with what is referred to as the “Program 288” electrical upgrade, what Angolkar called an “all-encompassing game changer.” Program 288 governs everything from internal and
external lights to flashers and signals, dash displays to speaker systems. Te upgrades targeting design improve- ments and serviceability can be seen in an optimized body fuse block located in the access panel beneath the driver window as well as the driver’s left-hand switch panel. “Tis is something we are very proud of,” said Angol-
kar. “It is a fully engineered and fully documented product that is much easier to install, maintain and service.” IC Bus leveraged advancements made in parent com-
pany Navistar’s truck products to introduce similar quality standards into its bus line for quality improvement and to make it easier for technicians to install, maintain and service. For example, design, routing, clipping, connectors and components were all optimized and harnesses were clearly tagged with pre-printed labels. Te electrical com- ponents also have unique vehicle identification numbers, making service parts a non-issue, Angolkar said. “It’s a scalable platform to allow new features and
technologies to be integrated at the factory and also the aftermarket,” he added. Greater consistency between models and their electrical,
parts and components reduces the purchase cost of new buses, said Angolkar. Te system is also completely driven by what customers specify. For example, the previous elec- trical system utilized some features in the flasher panel and fuse block assembly while ignoring others. Now, the circuits are uniquely populated per individual specs. Te result for technicians is an improved ability to
The IC Bus CE Series received an electrical overhaul, including a more efficiently designed electrical panel (center) and a simplified left-side body harness to rear-cap harness connection (bottom).
quickly identify critical service points. Angolkar added that bus drivers should notice nothing different. “If we do our job, the driver won’t know a thing,” he said.
www.stnonline.com 35
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