Sydney-based Custom Bus has a new leadership team and a renewed focus on quality and service
Australian bus body builders are undergoing a transformation of sorts, encouraged by favourable exchange rate and the mood is notably optimistic.
The old ways of doing thing are out the door as the domestic builders look to reinforce their strengths, namely quality, longevity and after sales service.
While some operators may look to the Asian market as a discount option, the whole of life cost must be considered and the local body builders say they have quality and service that cannot and will never be rivalled by the offshore players.
Sydney-based bus body builder Custom Bus is optimistic in light of its new leadership and the organisation is now determined to become the Australian market leader.
With a new man at the helm, Custom is entirely focused on upgrading quality and setting the benchmark by creating bus bodies of the highest international standards.
Joining the team in January and with 25 years’ experience in the aerospace industry, chief executive officer Greg Shanley is just the man to make his organisation the leading bus body manufacturer in Australia.
After 10 months in the role, Shanley is already starting to see changes he and the rest of the team have implemented pay off in a big way.
“I’ve worked in aerospace industry for last 25 years, in that industry quality is paramount and there is no room for error,” Shanley says.
His previous role as ThyssenKrupp’s vice-president for the Asia-Pacific region saw him overseeing operations for the company in this part of the world, on behalf of the German organisation, which has an $80 billion plus turnover and has about 200,000 employees worldwide.
Shanley worked for ThyssenKrupp for 15 years and has also worked with Boeing, where he gained a valuable insight into how one of the world’s most successful and respected aircraft manufacturers operate.
His extensive experience knowledge of best practice in the manufacturing space, combined with a fresh and objective approach to the bus building industry is already helping his team in Villawood increase its market share and gain a competitive edge.
The results speak for themselves, as Custom delivered four buses in January, a figure that has since multiplied to 16 deliveries in October.
COMMUNICATION
Custom reached out to its customers and suppliers to get feedback that has been used to transform the way the organisation does business in the first quarter of this year.
“We found that everyone was working well as an individual department, but we needed to improve on our communication from one department to the next,” Shanley says.
“None of our customers are asking for anything unreasonable, just good quality and service and we are delivering on that.”
This was not a top down process, if an employee suggested something reasonable that made sense for the business its merits were investigated.
“We are fully-engaged with our employees and they are really helping us improve how we operate across every department,” Shanley says.
“We’ve taken this as an opportunity to talk and really listen to our customers to see what they want from us, as we go through this transformation process.”
The organisation now has a strategic development plan in place that will put Custom in good stead for the future.
He used his first six months in the role to build this comprehensive plan for the future and looked at all aspects of the business in depth.
“We want to be recognised at Australia’s leading bus manufacturer and we have the team to deliver on that.
“We also want to give operators in rural areas just as much opportunity to enjoy the level of safety and technology that we provide as operators in the city.”
The Custom team includes people with extensive experience, including innovative people who have worked for Boeing and Midas Australia and are used to working at the cutting edge of manufacturing technology and implementing this in new ways.
“We’ve put a lot of effort into this transformation process, it’s been a big job but we’ve really started to kick some goals.
“In terms of quality; our buses are being delivered to customer’s specification and with the refinement of the quality management system, we will see this position continually strengthen.”
One of the first things Shanley did after joining the organisation was to make staff safety the number one priority.
A soon as this renewed focus on safety was established, the attention shifted towards quality and Shanley has been working closely with chief operations officer is Glen Jarratt to improve the standard of each bus that comes off the line.
“We’ve restructured the quality resource to make it its own department and are now delivering buses of the highest quality, probably to the highest standard that we’ve ever produced.”
The organisation has now allocated dedicated resources to quality, introduced LEAN manufacturing principals in order to make the manufacturing process much more efficient.
NEW WAY AHEAD
A brand new senior leadership team was put in place in March and April and 130 new employees were deployed across all factory floor departments between January and April this year.
The organisation also took on 12 new apprentices across all automotive trades this year to help foster future leaders in the business.
Forging ahead with blind ambition was never an option, rather the team at Custom Bus had to revaluate and set clear goals in order to steer the organisation towards success.
“We have 60 years of history, but we are a brand new business Custom Bus – not Custom Coaches.
“We’ve really encouraged everyone in the business to take a step back, challenge the way we have always done things and think big.”
The organisation reached out to all of our stakeholders including its customers and own staff on the frontline, in order to map out a new way forward.
“We are empowering our employees to make change and take responsibility for continuously improving our quality and process,” says Shanley.
The three main things customers want are quality, after care service, and communication – so this is what the organisation has primarily focused on.
“Now we have clear targets we’re going to hit in the next 12 months,” he says.
Custom Bus has had more than a few wins this year, securing multi-year contracts with a number of customers in New South Wales, Australia Capital Territory, South Australia and Darwin.
The organisation has a total workforce of 260, including an after sales team of 35 –headed up by general manager of customer care Kevin Thomson – and is now looking to invest in new equipment and systems for the after care business ensuring it delivers a superior and reliable service.
“A fully-integrated service system will give us the leading edge,” says Shanley.
“Customers want after care service and total life support and we intend to build a service business that will deliver on our customer’s requirement.
“Customers are really starting to come back to us with the after care service, which is fantastic.”
Custom is investing heavily in after sales service, including after-hours support and in the service workshop and spare parts division.
“Our buses are designed with an operational life of 25 years and people who buy them expect support for those 25 years, and we are committed to delivering on that,” he says.
THINKING AHEAD
Speculation about the future of automotive manufacturing in Australia is nothing new, but the determination of local industry to thrive has never been stronger.
Favourable market factors have been welcome this year, especially as bus body builders are now investing heavily in better technology and processes and the exchange rate has helped Australian-based manufacturers a lot over the last eight months.
“There’s no reason just because we are in Australia that we can’t be globally competitive, we can be world-class right here in the western suburbs of Sydney.”
While some offshore manufacturers enjoy relatively low labour costs and better access to larger markets in Europe and Asia, the population boom in Melbourne and Sydney and increasing reliance on public transport here cannot be sniffed at.
“I can only see the population growing and all research indicates there is going to be higher demand for buses.”
There are a number of transformational projects in the works aimed at helping the organisation become more efficient, including the physical movement of key departments on the factory floor.
This more measured and carefully-managed approach has helped improve the quality standards, and is a far cry from the old days when it had arguably too many in the making at any one time – from a quality-focused perspective.
Various departments on the factory floor will be rearranged to make operations run more smoothly and have it laid out in a more functional and logical way.
While this is a big job, it is necessary and will lead to better process flows and ultimately better bus body production and turnaround times.
The team at Custom is highly optimistic about the future and the positive impact all these changes will bring, to benefit its customers and help strengthen the local bus industry overall in the years ahead.