Established in 2011, MasterPart is relied upon by operators of all makes and models across the UK. John Lewis found out more about the firm’s rapid growth and what it can offer
Coach and bus operators rely heavily on a dependable supply of spares to help keep their vehicles on the highway. That is exactly what parts supplier MasterPart delivers, says General Manager Jon Hale. “Our first-pick rate is 89%,” he said; and the company will arrange for any items it does not happen to have on its shelves to be delivered to the customer directly and quickly by the manufacturer concerned. [wlm_nonmember][…]
By subscribing you will benefit from:
- Operator & Supplier Profiles
- Face-to-Face Interviews
- Lastest News
- Test Drives and Reviews
- Legal Updates
- Route Focus
- Industry Insider Opinions
- Passenger Perspective
- Vehicle Launches
- and much more!
MasterPart Truck & Bus Ltd, to give it its full name, was set up in August 2011 primarily to distribute Irizar parts in the UK. Affiliated to the Spanish coach builder, but independently-owned, it occupies space at Johnson Bros’ Portland House, the well-known family-owned coach operator’s Worksop, Nottinghamshire headquarters on the Dukeries Industrial Estate. Portland House is also used by Irizar to display vehicles. With no lack of space, the site started life as a showroom for a coach dealer, and Johnson Bros Tours acquired it in 2011.
With a £1.6m turnover in 2018 and a six-strong team, MasterPart renewed its agreement to look after Irizar parts on this side of the Channel last autumn. The company has undoubtedly benefited from the success Irizar has enjoyed over the past eight years. Jon was instrumental in setting it up, and quickly realised that many Irizar customers run other makes and models of vehicles too. “As a consequence it was established as an all-makes operation,” he said.
Two-thirds of the £300,000 worth of stock the firm holds is dedicated to Irizar – MasterPart can support DAF-powered integral models as well as those that use a Scania platform – while the balance can be fitted to competitor brands. “We carry brake products, steering, suspension and electrical parts, including rotating electrics, as well as filters,” Jon said. Engine, transmission and chassis components are also held in stock. Body parts for Irizars are supplied, but not for other makes. “That would make things too complicated,” he said. “Overall we carry six weeks’ worth of stock on our shelves and we increased the amount we hold very substantially in 2018,” Jon added.
All the items MasterPart holds come from well-known OEM suppliers, he stressed: “I’m talking about manufacturers such as ZF, Knorr-Bremse, Lemforder, Mann and Hummel and WABCO. We obtain a lot of their parts through their own wholesalers and distributors and dovetail nicely with them. What we’re talking about are OEM quality parts that are competitively-priced when compared with what may be available from franchised dealers.”
Speedy service
At present MasterPart has three appointed parts partners: Engine and Truck (NI) in Belfast, Centurion Travel of Midsomer Norton in Somerset, and GB Fleet Maintenance of Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire. All three are Irizar parts and service dealers, with GB Fleet Maintenance responsible for maintaining the Golden Boy Coaches fleet as well as vehicles run by other operators. These partners use Irizar’s iService portal to access the build details of any Irizar vehicle and identify the correct wiring diagrams and genuine Irizar parts fitted.
Jon is hoping to see more dealers appointed. “We’re looking for one to cover the central belt of Scotland,” he said. “Ideally we want to have a dealer within two hours’ drive of all our customers on the UK mainland.”
The dealers offer same-day availability of fast-moving Irizar stock to operators within their designated areas. MasterPart’s national operation can provide a next-day timed delivery service with a full tracking facility using leading couriers if the item is ordered by 1730hrs the previous day. “We can often get it to them as early as 0900hrs,” he said. “If we don’t have the Irizar part that is needed in stock then we can arrange for it to be air-freighted from Spain and delivered direct to the operator in no more than 24 hours.”
It has similar arrangements in place with several of its other key OE parts suppliers. If an item is urgently required then it may be possible to have it delivered the same day UK-wide direct from the Worksop distribution centre; but the customer will have to be charged accordingly, said Jon. “We accept parts orders by phone, by email and through iService. Customers walk in and place orders too.”
The bulk of sales are to UK operators. “However we export some parts to the USA and to mainland Europe,” he observed. The warranty provided is the one the parts manufacturer concerned offers. “With Knorr-Bremse for example it’s two years,” said Jon. “The minimum our suppliers offer is 12 months.”
MasterPart is especially good at advising customers that if one part needs to be changed, then two or three others will probably require replacing as well. “If you change a clutch for instance then you will need to swap the spigot bearing,” he said. “We use OEM catalogues, we know exactly what has been fitted to each make and model of vehicle and we ensure we get it right first time,” he added.
Classic vehicles
MasterPart is particularly adept at obtaining parts for older models such as Leyland Olympians that vanished from the fleet lists of the big operators many years ago and may now be in the hands of their third, fourth or even their fifth owner. In some cases they may be in the hands of preservation societies. “A lot of parts for Olympians and vehicles of that age are becoming obsolete,” he said. “To maintain supplies we’ve bought up obsolete stocks wherever possible and in some cases we’ve had parts made.”
If items are not available then they can often be remanufactured, explained Jon. “I’m thinking about parts such as air brake components, hydraulic steering rams, steering dampers and water pumps,” he said. “Remember that a lot of the components found in models such as the Olympian were originally made with remanufacturing in mind,” he added.
Components for more recent vehicles can be remanufactured too of course, including brake calipers. “We tend not to get involved with the remanufacturing of entire engines and transmissions however because that’s a more specialised area,” he commented.
Weathering the storm
Johnson Bros Tours operates a mixed-make fleet that includes Irizars. Recent acquisitions include a 10.8m 38-seater i6 integral and a 12.9m 53-seater i6S integral, both powered by DAF’s 370hp MX-11 engine married to a ZF EcoLife automatic transmission.
Jon has worked in the parts industry for the past 40 years, joining factor Godfrey Holmes Ltd straight from school as a junior sales assistant. He subsequently worked for national factors and went on to develop his coach and bus knowledge and experience within the industry.
He was National Sales Manager for a leading brake manufacturer, broadening his knowledge of production and distribution while working on the specification of products with some well-known UK operators. He then became National Sales Manager for a bespoke foundation brake company prior to his involvement with Masterpart; Johnson Bros had been a customer of his ever since the early 1980s.
What impact will Brexit have on the availability of parts so far as MasterPart is concerned? “That’s the million-dollar question of course, and at present we don’t know how things are going to go,” he replied. “All I can say is that any sort of difficulties that are put in our way will just have to be navigated, and we’re confident that a good flow of parts between the European Union and ourselves will continue.
“However we have arranged with Irizar Spain to inject over £150,000 more stock into Worksop to ensure good availability due to the Brexit uncertainty.”
He and his colleagues are determined that no customer’s vehicle will be put off the road and remain idle in the corner of a workshop not earning revenue for the want of a vital spare – no matter what happens.
[/wlm_ismember]
