“How do we do things better each time for our customers, our employees? It’s about developing an impactful experience.”


trajectory was set. From this point forward, André and Marcel continued the expansion with the eventual help of their younger brothers. In 1979, the very first Blue Bird built Micro Bird designed bus was built on a dare, when Steve said André encouraged the Blue Bird engineering team to build a small bus with big bus components. Te en- gineers balked, so André, eager to prove them wrong, built the bus himself on a GMC cutaway chassis at the Drummondville plant and presented it to Blue Bird, who built and sold the platform through out the 1980s and 1990s. Since the late 1970s, Girardin and Blue Bird have had multiple, joint small-bus projects ranging from parts agreements to marketing arrangements. It was in Oct. 2009 that their most significant venture took


form with the current Micro Bird partnership. Barry Stock, along with brother Brian, built Stock


Transportation into one of the largest school bus contractors in North America before selling the family business to National Express Corporation. Stock said he has greatly respected the Girardin family since the early days. Now the founding principal of Landmark Transportation with Brian, Barry Stock recalled his first visit to Drummondville about 40 years ago, when he traveled from Ontario with their father to pick up a new mini-bus they had ordered. Stock said he remembers well when André was re- sponding to needs in the student transportation indus- try. Since, he said he’s watched the Girardin conglom- erate grow by leaps and bounds, and he attributed the success to three main ingredients. Te Girardins, Stock listed, have been attentive to the industry’s needs, delivered quality products backed by “exceptional” service and, finally, exhibited the necessary patience and understanding “that sooner than later at least one area of the family’s expertise will be needed.” “Teir vertical integration through A. Girardin Blue Bird dealership, Girardin Minibus or Transport


See Us At Booth 237 www.stnonline.com 57


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100