SPECIAL REPORT
and adds the information to the workorder. We can then review all past work orders, labor, maintenance, and parts costs of each vehicle.” McKinzie added that Fulton County schedules support
vehicle inspections for each academic quarter and school buses every 20 days. During inspections, technicians and mechanics address maintenance items and repairs as necessary. Six years ago, Suffolk Transportation Service in New
Staff at Temple Independent School District in Texas pose with one of their 80 school buses in the fleet. The district, located between Waco to the northeast and Austin to the southwest, is currently keeping an onsite inventory of 400 to 500 parts due to supply chain shortages.
Average Fiscal Year Spend on Maintenance Items:
Fuel .......................................$282,752 Labor ....................................$192,500 Parts .......................................$92,500 Tires .......................................$26,600 Oil/Lube ................................. $13,344 Fluids ......................................... $12,111 Brakes .......................................$10,611
Software .................................. $8,500 (Based on 12 fleet manager responses.)
Read more about STN’s 2024 Garage Stars and how they are embracing technological advancements starting on page 40.
22 School Transportation News • AUGUST 2024
York implemented a parts and purhcasing program called TMW that helps streamline the warranty and inventory process. Teno Gustavson, director of vehicle and facility maintenance, said the program tracks how many days, how many planned miles, or how many GPS miles a vehi- cle has used the last PM. “And as soon as one criteria matches, we are alerted to bring the unit back into a shop for maintenance. Having these reports, we can forecast our usage on what parts to order,” he continued.
Looking at Inventory Following the COVID-19 pandemic, parts became hard- er to obtain and resulted in longer lead times. Gustavson said Suffolk tracked this data, causing the contractor to keep more inventory in stock. However, he noted that the TMW min/max levels help make it sustainable. Bell added that Temple ISD has had to order certain parts in advance, mainly Cummins fuel filters. However, he added the turnaround time for most other parts has improved. But in the past year, he said he has noticed a spike in the number of exhaust gas recirculation coolers needing replacement. “Over time (in years) the coolant wears through the metal,” he explained. Currently, he said, Temple ISD has about 400 to 500 parts in its inventory, adding up to around $20,000 or less. As for maintenance trends, McKinzie at Fulton County noted that his staff sees certain buses require replacement of several parts more frequently than should be the case, attributing the issue to “design flaws.” However, he said that the parts pipeline flows well for
the popular items, but these parts do require more stock- ing depth for quicker service. These items include filters, brakes, batteries and other parts that can be installed quickly, he said. “HUB is used to evaluate history and set minimum/maxi-
mum quantities to be used in creation of stock orders every day which are not automatic,” he explained. “Stock orders are emailed to the vendors and some of the parts arrive the same day. Parts are stocked based on historical data and fu- ture requirements in the case of new vehicles. In the event there is a possibility of a shortage or backorder situation, we will place a larger quantity of items in stock.” ●
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