Since Volgren first became a major Australian bus body builder in the 1970s, it has sought innovative manufacturing methods. Its blossoming partnership with Capral has allowed it to provide a wide range of sustainable body options to the local market
In the intensely competitive world of manufacturing, innovation is essential. As the provider of lower carbon extruded aluminium, Capral is partnering with the likes of Australian bus body manufacturer Volgren to enhance sustainability in the bus industry.
Since first starting in the 1940s in Dandenong, Victoria, Volgren has been intent on sustainability. When local milk carrier George Grenda moved into bus body building, Volgren thrived and grew before it officially began trading in the 1970s. Its success has been built around innovative options, flexibility and its willingness to satisfy complex customer needs.
By making the choice to use aluminium on its bus designs, Volgren forged a novel path in manufacturing. Despite its success over the years, Volgren is still one of only two Australian companies manufacturing bus bodies from aluminium, rather than steel, despite aluminium products such as Capral’s offering clear advantages.
“Most buses are still built from fully welded steel,” Volgren national purchasing manager Andrew Costello told ABC. “Aluminium is much lighter, resistant to corrosion and recyclable.
“Moreover, the lighter a bus is, the more people you can fit in the bus.”
Capral has been Volgren’s principal aluminium supplier for at least 15 years. Costello says Capral continues to meet Volgren’s ethos of quality, local input and innovation.
He says Volgren’s commitment to using the Co-Bolt process with Capral’s aluminium has been critical to the local company’s production.
By using bolted gusseted joints, Volgren uses Capral’s aluminium products to avoid the risk of continuous bus vibrations fracturing welds.
“Our system requires no welding and results in a much longer joint life,” Costello says.
“Our joints are lock-tightened with very little chance of anything loosening over time. For operators it means far superior reliability than a traditional steel bus and is one of the main reasons why we can offer a 15-year warranty on our buses’ aluminium structures.”
This partnership has been a long time in the making. Back in 1979, Volgren built its first bus with the promise of creating a more reliable, comfortable and longer-lasting vehicle with lower operating costs than others available.
In 1977, Swedish vehicle manufacturer Volvo partnered with Grenda to create Volgren and introduced extruded aluminium, rather than steel, for bus body construction and the Swiss Co-Bolt system. It continues to use extruded aluminium from Capral to produce this system and innovate in bus body designs.
Today, Volgren designs, manufactures and assembles public transport buses of all types across multiple technologies, including zero-emission vehicles. Thanks to its 300-strong manufacturing, operations and aftersales support teams across NSW, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia, its bus bodies are 90 per cent locally produced and offer the lowest lifetime cost of any bus in Australia.
After being fully acquired by global bus body manufacturer Marco Polo SA in 2017, Volgren has delivered dozens of hybrid and electric buses to Australian operators and is now fast-tracking delivery of Australia’s first European hydrogen fuel-cell buses.
RELATED ARTICLE: Capral announces new lower carbon aluminium option
Costello says quality is paramount in Volgren’s business. The bodybuilder operates rigorous quality systems and builds quality into its products through its suppliers, logistics and production, including Capral’s suite of extruded aluminium products.
“We build buses and want our supplies priced at construction-type costs, but we also want an architectural look and finish to our products,” Costello says.
“Capral has always achieved both for us.”
The supply partnership continues to drive new value for both businesses; where Capral once purely supplied extrusions, it now also deals with parts. This advance means Volgren’s teams can focus on faster assembly and minimising customer costs.
Costello says Capral’s size and capability are also crucial to Volgren in growing both businesses.
“Our whole roof structure is a sheet with aluminium extrusion bows across the roof and main cant rails extending the entire bus length,” he says.
“Capral is one of the few players in Australia with presses large enough to extrude our parts.”
Costello says bus body manufacturers must tailor bodies to the requirements of individual bus chassis and operators. This means Volgren’s requirements for variation are massive and require both a large engineering team and flexible suppliers.
“When Australia used to build cars, Ford would build a Falcon and a Territory here and that would be it,” he says.
“Instead, we build the equivalent of a Territory, a Commodore, a Ferrari, an electric BYD and a Tesla all on the same production line.”
The Volgren team are currently exploring Capral’s LocAl™ Lower carbon aluminium offer to further reduce the environmental impact of their builds by lowering the embodied carbon in the Aluminium products they use.
Capral says it is proud to have helped grow alongside Volgren and forge a supply partnership that has improved the quality of sustainable buses in Australia.
“It’s great to be part of the biggest bus manufacturer in Australia in Volgren,” Capral’s Brad Ryan told ABC.
“We’ll continue working alongside them to help lead the way in zero-emissions transport in Australia.”