Mark Oliver is UK Bus & Coach Fleet Sales General Manager for Scania (Great Britain). He talks to Andy Izatt about his career, his focus on delivering customer support and why two key products – one bus, one coach – are so well suited to meeting current fleet market demands
The days when UK fleet sales were dominated by what were often regular repeat orders for diesel buses seem to be past. The passing of DDA (Disability Discrimination Act) deadlines, a new, largely politically-driven agenda promoting low or zero emission vehicles and the uncertainty caused by Brexit might all be factors, but the market is not what it was.
According to Mark Oliver, Scania (Great Britain)’s UK Bus & Coach Fleet Sales General Manager, there’s still demand amongst a loyal band of customers for Scania diesel double-deckers bodied by Alexander Dennis Ltd (ADL), but overall, the market is much more fragmented than it was. Scania’s key bus product is no longer a diesel, but one fuelled by gas.
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Mark stressed that gas is not just a commercially viable option that’s available today. It’s one that Scania has many years’ experience of, understands completely and is already well supported by a finely-tuned aftersales and training operation.
What is more, because of that comprehensive support, and the relatively straightforward approach it has been able to take with its higher horsepower-rated Euro VI diesel engines, it has a coach product that’s also winning growing acceptance. “We sell what people want to buy, and what we can stand by,” he pointed out.
Knowledge centre
With so much emphasis placed by Scania on technical and aftersales support for customers, Mark Oliver is well qualified for his current role, not least because he ran Scania’s Loughborough training centre during a key period of its development in the mid 2000s.
“The Loughborough centre is one of five of this type in the Scania world,” he explained. “Trainers from there also work all over on behalf of Scania Sweden. In the UK that includes remote tuition at customer premises where technicians can be taught alongside their counterparts from the local Scania dealer. Something we’re heavily involved in is delivering technical training when it comes to supporting bus and coach customers, which has proved especially beneficial for the gas bus fleets we have delivered.
“I was the fourth generation of my family involved with trucks and I’ve been with Scania for 24 years, more than half of that time in aftersales. I started as an Apprentice Instructor, then Technical Instructor progressing through to Senior Technical Instructor. In 2004, I was appointed Aftersales Technical Service Manager with overall responsibility for Scania’s aftersales technical support department and training centre.
“It had been decided in 2004 to bring training and technical support together at Loughborough and my role was to deliver that strategy. The big advantage was the crossover of information between the technicians who trained there and the technical department. Not only was there a greater pool of information, it brought synergies across the product ranges. It also meant our instructors received a level of technical support from Scania in Sweden that was greater than might be fed into other markets, and that’s still true today.
“The technical and training departments are continuing to build on this foundation with the new managers constantly improving this manufacturer’s unique aftersales resource year on year.
“It became clear that feeding accurate data back to R&D (Research & Development) in Sweden was essential so we implemented what we called the Failure Report Administration System. It’s a web-based platform that can be accessed by all the Scania dealers and means the same information in a common format is created at the dealer, fed to technical support at Loughborough and at R&D level in Sweden. Everyone is working to a common thread.
“Introducing this system built a greater level of trust with the ‘factory’ and in 2008 I became one of Scania’s 10 Market Quality Representatives advising R&D directly. Because the UK was a mature market I also progressed to representing Eire, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania. It was a senior aftersales technical role only given to a select group of Scania managers in the world. I was involved in root cause analysis across different markets and the results of our meetings were reported direct to the Scania board in Sweden as part of the company’s ongoing product improvement. I did that for four years and was one of the longest-serving representatives. I’m proud to have done it and still see the product improvements visible on the chassis we sell today.
“Scania (Great Britain) decided in 2012 that it wanted to put greater emphasis on dealer and technical support when responding to bus and coach fleet tenders and that’s when I was appointed UK Bus & Coach Fleet Sales General Manager. My strength was my technical knowledge and experience, and the level at which I’d worked within the business. I already had business relationships with key customers. They knew me and the trust was there.
“As we had with technical support, we introduced a process to ensure that the information supplied from within Scania as well as by our third party bodybuilders for tenders was accurate and we could stand by what we were proposing. It was really important that there should be no surprises for customers once a vehicle was delivered. We also started evaluating not just the tenders we lost, but also the ones we won so that we understood what had given us the edge.
“More often now operators are going for fixed tender term periods – two or three years with a two-year extension option. If you lose a tender, you’ve lost that customer for that time period, but at the same time manufacturers are being given a real opportunity to show how they can support their product. That makes maintaining those relationships all the more important.
“I don’t class myself as a salesman as such. What we’re doing is supporting the customer with technical product for the life they want to run those vehicles. I’ll attend aftersales meetings to talk about vehicles we supplied years ago and work with our dealers to ensure they deliver what’s required. It’s all about Total Operating Economy – using the strength of the network, not just relying on it to deal with warranty issues.
“We know we’re not going to have the breadth of skills available in many fleet operators’ workshops so we look at how best can we support them. We can evaluate parts usage and identify opportunities for preventative replacement. What we’re trying to do is give our customers consistent known maintenance costs that are hopefully at a lower average than our competitors.
“The key is to work with customers forming those partnerships, not only for the vehicles delivered today, but importantly to be the best prepared for the future generations of Scania vehicles we will be delivering.”
Pushing for gas
“I would say 40% of my time is taken up with making sure we’re delivering the right on-going customer support,” said Mark. “It all links into our approach to gas buses, which we first introduced in 2012. Scania in Sweden could see the commercial opportunity in the UK and we already had a technical competence through the expertise built up at the Loughborough training centre.
“Gas is not a stepping stone to something else. In 30 years’ time most things are going to be electric. The infrastructure will be in place for electrification and batteries will be able to deliver the range and service life, but the commercial argument also needs to be resolved. Even when that happens there will still be a fuel out there called bio-methane created from waste material. That’s not going to change. Plus the high sustainability of using it as a vehicle fuel delivers a great case for all towns and cities. It’s available now and already delivers operationally and commercially. Nottingham City Transport is a good example. Its buses can cover 250 miles on one fill over hilly terrain. There are no limitations.
“Gas isn’t right for every situation. We know that and the infrastructure investment required means a long-term commitment, which can make it a political decision, so what my department is working on is pinpointing exactly where it would be appropriate – where range is important or where it’s a solution to difficult topography. Especially as with Nottingham, Reading, Sunderland and now Bristol, the vehicles are in place of what would have been diesel-fuelled buses, but are achieving up to 84% CO2 reduction. Our new demonstrator registered DD18GAS with an ADL City body is planned to be at Millbrook and will then be going to Birmingham shortly for operation with National Express West Midlands.
“If the customer’s requirement isn’t range dependent, our gas bus can run at 200bar, rather than 250bar. It’s just a software change. That gives the flexibility to move vehicles to sites where the infrastructure is set up for 200bar or allows the customer to buy from another manufacturer where that’s the standard. Sadly there’s only us and one other that currently offer gas bus products in the UK. The big political push for electric and now hydrogen has discouraged others from bringing in different alternatives to diesel, but, as I said, gas is always going to be there as it’s achieving fantastic results.
“What is more, the number of infrastructure suppliers has grown considerably since 2012. Initially we demonstrated using a small pumping trailer, but there was always an inaccuracy in working out how much gas had been used because it was being drawn from the meter supply, which would also be meeting other requirements. Now we have a tube trailer so know exactly how much fuel is used. That information goes into a matrix for the operator giving a great source of information on the commercialities of operating gas buses. In addition we can provide them with a list of infrastructure suppliers that can deliver a range of solutions.
“It could be a wet lease where the gas price includes the infrastructure price. The operator doesn’t own the infrastructure. It just pays a fixed amount. Alternatively it could buy the fuel and arrange infrastructure through a different supplier. What we’re able to do is provide the information needed to make those choices because the detail is there. Being able to build a Whole Life Cost model for a customer takes away some of the risk.
“Scania and its customers have been operating gas buses for seven years in the UK – a compelling case for any future customers wanting to invest in an environmental fleet where commercialities are also an important element.”
Sustainable argument
Said Mark: “There must be over 300 gas buses in service in the UK across the two manufacturers now and we’re planning to deliver more than 100 this year. However, while some operators like Nottingham and Reading Buses bought commercially, others haven’t and what we don’t know is whether there will be further government funding made available.
“That’s where Tanya Neech comes in. Tanya is our Sustainable Solutions Manager making the case for gas with stakeholders and it was James Freeman, Managing Director of First West of England who showed us how important that could be.
“James is a long-term proponent of gas. When the specification first came out for the buses to be used on Bristol MetroBus, it talked in terms of just hybrid or electric. James felt that gas would fit perfectly so we gave him our single-deck demonstrator – the well known poo bus – so he could promote it. It proved the case and gas was listed on the tender.
“We told head office in Sweden and it transpired it had ambassadors working in other markets promoting different areas of the business. It agreed to part fund one in the UK for gas and that’s when we recruited Tanya who came from an operator background.
“It soon became clear that having Tanya talking to local authorities where we were doing demonstrations could be a big advantage and she became a fulltime member of staff. It was up to the operator whether she became involved or not, but having her onboard has underlined how selling vehicles has changed. Involving stakeholders has become so important.
“The point about gas is it’s a known quantity. The duty as a road fuel has been fixed until 2032. The commercial case is there. The frustration is, despite Tanya doing a great job, gas is still not generally being considered as a tender option despite four of the five big bus groups already operating gas fleets. What I wonder is, if we’d brought gas to market five years earlier, whether that would have made a difference. It might have secured a stronger allegiance before the current push for electric.”
Coach of choice
Fleet is only a small department,” said Mark. “As well as Tanya and me, there’s James Thorley who is Fleet Sales Manager Bus & Coach.
James primarily looks after our National Express business sold through Caetano UK and MOBIpeople-bodied Scanias sold by BASE. In other words it’s our coach business where we’re not the prime contractor. James came from MAN and has been with Scania for three or four years. He has a great reputation in the coach world.
“We’re seeing a good number of sales coming through from BASE for its MOBIpeople Explorer coach with our nine-litre chassis. Since the launch at Euro Bus Expo last year, the product is already performing well and growing in popularity.
“However, the orders we’re taking from Caetano for National Express really is a good news story. It’s the fifth year that the bodybuilder has been prime contractor, which I think is the best arrangement in terms of customer choice. In the first two or three years we were selling 30 to 40 K410EBs, but we’ve worked hard to support the operators that have been buying them. There are now over 100 on order for National Express with about 70 going into service this year. That’s how much the business has grown.
“Significant conquest customers include Selwyns, Yellow Buses, Chalfont Coaches of Harrow, Travel de Courcey and East Yorkshire. The knock on success of our coach chassis has seen Selwyns continue to purchase Scania with Tourings and Interlinks going into the touring fleet. In addition First Bus has taken delivery of nine Irizar K410EBs for its Reading-Heathrow RailAir service.
“What operators like about the Euro VI chassis is that we’ve reduced engine complexity, not increased it, and it’s our system. All the major components are ours including the dosing unit so there are no limitations on programming flexibility. That has meant that for 360 to 450hp engines, we have been able to dispense with EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation). Maintenance is more straightforward and there’s the same excellent component access in the engine bay that there was at Euro V. Operators that run them also say they have been pleasantly surprised by the fuel consumption.
“It’s all about listening to customers and an innovation we’re now offering on fleet sales is the option of a DNR button rather than a lever to operate the automated Opticruise gearbox.
“C300 telematics is included in the price as standard and comes with a 10-year licence. Operators receive a report on vehicle performance once a month and with remote vehicle diagnostics developments incorporated into software updates, Scania chassis bought today are future proofed.
“All the coaches for National Express have their PDI (Pre Delivery Inspection) at Keltruck, Nottingham so there’s consistency. Because we’re seeing so many new customers, we work closely with Caetano UK and where possible attend the coach handover. In preparation we will already have spoken to the local dealer so it knows what’s coming and everyone’s prepared. It’s all about building trust and confidence. We want to build a good relationship right from the start.
“Involving the local dealer is so important, but so is providing training, technical support alongside having regular service meetings with the support of an account manager.
“Driven by our customers, we plan to soon expand our fleet coach body options and we’ll launch that when the first orders come through.
“It’s important to be straight with people. If we can’t deliver what they want, I would sooner say rather than place product where it doesn’t do what it’s expected to do. With bio-methane, our gas bus reduces carbon emission by up to 84% and there’s a proven commercial case. With the K410EB coach, operators have a fuel efficient chassis that by Euro VI standards is relatively straightforward to maintain. Between bus and coach, we’ll be delivering well over 200 vehicles to fleet customers this year.”
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