Having the right equipment to work on vehicles in the workshop is crucial in order to run the most efficient operation possible and have your coaches and buses back out on the road earning money as soon as possible.
We look at six businesses and the role that the likes of safety barriers, column lifts, inspection pits, transmissions and even mobile apps have in the modern coach and bus workshop.
Safety first
Safety barriers are a crucial part of the modern workshop and among the options for managers is the Skipper range supplied by Laser Tools.
The Skipper kits are a multifunctional, multisurface, range of innovative and patent-protected products that have been designed from the ground up for health and safety. The kits are completely modular, allowing individual components to be connected to each other, enabling tailormade safety barriers to suit the workspaces required.
When considering longer maintenance pits within the workshop, only specialist barrier systems will provide the safest solution to help protect employees and visitors from falling from height. For pits up to 18m, workshops will have their own requirements for safety and the Skipper systems are adaptable depending on what needs to be closed off. These systems are available from Laser Tools, and there are a number of options that are highly visible, from the black and yellow tape, providing a barrier system long enough for maintaining the largest vehicles in any coach or bus fleet. There are options too for smaller pits, up to 9m.
To restrict entry to workshops, kit number 8934 from Laser includes a head unit containing 9m of retractable barrier tape and two wall-mounted receiver clips that act as the end-point for Skipper’s barriers. This kit was considered to prevent access through open roller door shutters and other entrances.
This new addition to the Laser Tools product range is designed to keep workshops safer, with further kits available for waste and EV safety solutions.
A range of lifts
Mobile column lifts are another important consideration when it comes to workshop equipment. According to supplier Totalkare, there is plenty to think about before making a purchase.
Totalkare’s lifts have a capacity of 7.5t per column and can be combined in sets of four, six or eight and to fit a broad range of wheelbases.
A mobile column means you are not committed to a fixed installation taking up space, and that gives you more flexibility with the way you set up and change your workshop layout.
If you’re planning to set up a mobile column lift in a cramped space — and especially in close proximity to other jobs and equipment, the T8DC Cable Free Column Lift could be your best bet, says Totalkare. With a full charge from a single-phase 230V power supply, you’ll have a large number of lifting cycles without any excess cables on the floor to cause a hazard.
However, if you’re running a workshop with plenty of extra space or you’re lifting in an area that’s far away from other activities, the T8AC Cabled Mobile Column Lift could be the best choice to avoid recharge downtime.
If you’re working outside or in a wash bay and you need the flexibility of a mobile lift, Totalkare recommends the the G8AC Washbay Mobile Column Lift. Those on a tighter budget might want to consider a Totalkare Pre-Owned Mobile Column Lift.
Lifts to boost safety and efficiency
Commercial vehicle workshops often face significant challenges when it comes to safety, time constraints, and productivity. As a leading supplier of heavy-duty vehicle lifts, Stertil-Koni offers a complete range of lifting technologies, including its mobile column lifts, that can make vehicle maintenance safer and more efficient.
With space constraints being a key feature of workshops, the ability to easily reposition Stertil-Koni’s mobile column lifts means your workshop can adapt on-the-fly, thus also saving time.
Stertil-Koni’s mobile column lifts come in a wide array of capacities, ranging from 6.5t to 17.5t, with the capability to connect up to 32 lifts in a fully synchronised set. This flexibility enables workshops to configure lifts for vehicles of varying lengths and axle distances, ensuring efficiency across the board. The column lifts reach their maximum height of 1.85m in just 74 seconds (for the popular 7.5t model), making them one of the fastest column lifts on the market.
Available as wireless and cabled lifts, both designs include integration with Stertil-Koni’s innovative ebright Smart Control System, allowing staff to operate the columns individually, in pairs, or in any other combination from any column in the set. Featuring full-colour touchscreen consoles, this system has been designed and developed to simplify operation by providing maximum visual information about every lifting operation — all at the fingertips of the workshop technicians.
Crucially, the ebright’s wireless mesh networking system is designed to eradicate the possibility of communication problems between individual columns when numerous sets are used in the same building.
Cutting down on paperwork
When vehicles are properly looked after, they’re less likely to cause accidents or breakdowns. This means safer roads for everyone and less downtime for fleets.
Yet complying with legislative requirements to make this happen can be a considerable task, especially for large fleets. One cause is outdated, paper-based systems that are both a logistical nightmare and a bottleneck in efficient fleet management. These systems are time-consuming, prone to human error, and can lead to critical oversight, putting the fleet’s compliance and safety at risk.
However, with companies like CheckedSafe, drivers can simply whip out their smartphones to conduct daily vehicle checks, tap a few buttons, and have everything recorded, timestamped and sent off where it needs to go.
CheckedSafe offers a system aimed at taking the headache out of vehicle maintenance. With just a few swipes, drivers can flag any vehicle issues, and fleet managers can get ahead of minor problems before they turn into big, costly repairs.
CheckedSafe Director Gary Hawthorne says: “This means more on-time departures, fewer breakdowns, and a service your passengers can trust. It also keeps compliance worries at bay. Plus, with everything digitised and accessible in real-time via their secure CMS, it’s a breeze to prove you’re following the rules, keeping those compliance worries at bay.”
Ready for inspection
For more than three decades, Premier Pits has been a leading name in pit manufacturing and installation in the UK, making it the longest established manufacturer in the industry. The company offers a diverse selection of pits, including those for inspection, maintenance, ATF, rail, complemented by a range of accessories and safety products.
Premier Pits also provides under-chassis wash pits and ramps, and serves as the UK’s official supplier of BrakeMate, an innovative solution that simplifies the brake disc replacement process by eliminating the need for heavy lifting.
While the company’s prefabricated pits adhere to standard designs, it offers customisation options to meet the unique requirements of each client.
Premier Pits’ online pit-builder helps customers to visualise the equipment required to maximise the efficiency and safety of their pits. The company has recently launched the Premier hinged cover — a new pit fall restraint to protect staff from falls while keeping the maximum working space and minimising civils work.
Premier Pits says its clients receive tailored recommendations on pit types best suited for their specific vehicle-related tasks. The company’s design engineers employ cutting-edge CAD technology to assist architects, structural engineers, and contractors.
The installation process, carried out by Premier Pits’ team of fitters, is planned to minimise disruption to workshop activities, ensuring a seamless integration of the pits into existing operations.
Premier Pits’ equipment can be found in facilities in Europe, Africa, Asia, North and South America, and even Antarctica.
Upgrading transmissions
With fleets holding onto their diesel buses for longer while wishing to make them cleaner, the contribution of the transmission to vehicle longevity and mid-lifecycle improvements in efficiency and emissions should not be overlooked. As fleets running Alexander Dennis, Optare or Wrightbus models equipped with Allison T 2100 Series fully automatic transmissions may be aware, one option is to swap out the current transmission for the latest xFE equivalent.
xFE transmissions are designed to lock up at lower speeds, specifically for the constant gear-shifting and lower average speeds of bus fleets. This means lock-up happens significantly earlier and vehicles run longer where they are most efficient, producing fuel savings.
“This intervention best suits fleets with transmission units coming out of warranty and where they want to extend the life of the vehicle,” says Jumel Choudhury, Area Sales Manager for coach and bus at Allison Transmission.
Both nationwide and regional bus fleets have taken up the upgrade. In 2021, First Bus retrofitted all 220 of its Alexander Dennis Enviro200, Optare Solo and Optare Versa buses that were equipped with Allison’s T 2100 transmission. This followed trials which showed fuel consumption improved by 8.5% after the upgrade to xFE technology. The payback period was less than 13 months.
Last year, Scottish coach and bus operator Prentice of Haddington installed Allison xFE fully automatic transmissions into several of its Enviro200s. “Since switching, we’ve noticed a substantial improvement in fuel consumption of around one mile per gallon compared to when the vehicles were fitted with AMTs,” said Ross Prentice, owner and Managing Director, Prentice of Haddington.
