The bus industry in the UK is at the heart of a number of the government’s key initiatives – the revitalisation of town centres, decarbonisation and supporting the post-COVID recovery in a sustainable manner. The national bus strategy is designed to ensure that bus companies and local authorities are working together to ensure that the bus network meets the needs of local residents in a cost effective and efficient manner. Key to this is a reliable bus fleet with well maintained buses that run on time and provide the required level of service.
As one of the country’s largest operators, First Bus recognised that there were improvements that could be made within their engineering function to help deliver these objectives. Alongside a significant investment in new technology, First Bus engaged with Managementors to help them transform the performance of their depot operations to support new ways of working.
Working closely with the Midlands and Essex engineering teams, Managementors created new workflows to improve performance and coached managers and supervisors in taking a more proactive approach to depot performance. The results of this work saw fewer repeat defects and a more reliable fleet across these areas.
James Blackshaw, Head of Engineering Quality & Efficiency, said, “Introducing technology into the depots, where the workforce is perhaps less used to using devices to support their day-to-day performance, was always going to be a challenge. We recognised that external support to develop the processes required to make best use of this technology, as well as coaching supervisors in carrying out new roles, would help us reach our objectives quicker than requiring our already busy managers to pick up another task. Managementors helped us take the first steps towards a new way of working and supported us in delivering the service our customers expect”.