THOUGHT LEADER Organizing
the Shop Build for efficiency, build for communications, build for maintenance management Written by Daniel Boyea
O
rganization combined with proper commu- nication is the key to efficiency and will lead to a more productive operation. To achieve this, Shendehowa Central School District in
New York, where I serve as senior automotive repairer, needed a method to communicate the schedule of buses being held or in the cue for maintenance or inspection to reach all affected departments, including our drivers. It also needed to be easily understood by the various stakeholders and display live data so that everyone would receive the most up-to-date information. I did not see any off-the-shelf solutions, so I designed one myself. Before I explain our new, live information system, let me discuss our old, 20th-century system. Our old system consisted of two, 4-foot-by-8-foot
boards. On one board, we tacked sheets of paper and tracked information on buses that were in the mainte- nance cycle. A couple of years ago, we transitioned to dry-erase boards. They served their purpose but were tacky-looking, and the information was accessible only to the mechanics. I designed the new board to be the focal point of our
shop. Our district technology department approved the concept we wanted and supported purchasing a 70-inch television for this project. The TV is connected to the wireless network. I used Google Sheets to create schedu- lable tasks that show what we are dealing with and a few weeks of upcoming Department of Transportation (DOT) inspections. It also shows any off-premises equipment (being outsourced for repair or warranty) and any tasks we need to keep track of (manufacturer recalls or service programs that we put together). There is a place to show which buses are held for preventive or corrective main- tenance (PM/CM) and another to show what is in our body shop. It shows the status of each job and, if parts are needed, the date that the parts were ordered. The main benefit of displaying the work utilizing Google Sheets is that it shares live data for our drivers,
As mechanic Shawn Cernak looks on, Daniel Boyea points to the new electronic maintenance board used at Shenendehowa CSD.
dispatchers, routing specialists, grounds and mainte- nance departments, and department administrators. We could even share this data with our vendors so that they can see why we are sending our buses to them. They can also see the list of warranty repairs we must send them. Another advantage of this schedule is that you can add certain members of the other departments as comment- ers. This allows us to communicate with our dispatch department to have them hold buses for DOT inspec- tions or maintenance. This gives dispatch time to advise the driver in advance that we will be holding their bus and to arrange for a sub-bus for the driver. Drivers want to know that their complaints are being
addressed. Drivers are an asset to any fleet operation, and it is important to take their complaints seriously. They drive the same bus daily and will notice a dif- ference in operation that a mechanic might think is normal. If the driver says that the bus drives differently than it did yesterday, then something has changed. The bus needs to be pulled into the shop and looked over. If no issues are found, then at least the situation is docu- mented and can be referred to if any issues persist. The screen shows drivers where their bus is, what repairs or services are needed, and the date that we
Watch a video at
stnonline.com/go/ib that explains the new electronic maintenance information board used by Shenendehowa Central Schools in New York.
24 School Transportation News • MARCH 2024
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
