Plaxton Coachworks

Photo taken by Roger 5 years ago during an open day to celebrate 100 years of coach building.

Any of you who could not join the visit to Plaxton missed a real treat, and an education….

 I don’t think I was alone among the visitors in thinking that Plaxton used to be a Coach builder who went bust in 2001, were reactivated by Alexander Dennis some years later, and had then returned to some form of coach building since then…. Certainly, did not realise that Plaxton is the largest builder of double decker buses in the WORLD, and currently have about 20%of the bus and coach market in the UK. They have survived the challenges of BREXIT and Covid, and have a flourishing business, employing about 750 people at their Eastfield site.

 We were hosted by site director Nigel Pickering, and production manager Chris Haldenby, who oversees the construction of the E400 coach line.

Nigel ran through the company’s history, which started as a Bar Street joinery business in 1917, expanded into bodywork and coaches in 1930, was acquired by Falkirk-based Alexander Dennis in 2007, before becoming part of Canadian NFI group in 2019.

Plaxton offer a totally bespoke service for their buses and coaches, which gives them a real point of difference compared to their competitors: it also gives them a huge challenge with very complex logistics and supply arrangements, and a mind blowing production planning process.

As Chris explained, all vehicles go through a 12-stage production process to get to the paint shop, and a 6 stage postproduction process for finishing and checking. All components are outsourced, delivered “Just in Time” with Plaxton focussing on assembly. Depending upon complexity, production of each bus or coach will take between 1000and 2500-man hours, the latter for more complex personalised coaches couch as the Panorama.

We were given a guided tour around the 4 production lines, 2 of which were devoted to building 198 double decker buses for the Berlin Transport Authority. Really fascinating to see the bus developing at each stage of production, which is producing 5 finished buses per week, which are driven off to Berlin on completion. Not a robot in sight, all work done by Scarborough hands. The last Berlin bus will roll off the production line in March 2023, and production planning and scheduling has already been completed for the vehicles that will be built after that.

 Plaxton are also assembling Electric and hybrid vehicles as well as diesel, and Nigel and Chris confirmed that the speed of development of technology in the sector sets a real challenge to the production teams to keep up with advancements. The company has been adventurous and enterprising in developing a skilled and productive workforce, with a single rate of pay for all grades and categories of production staff, a well supported engineering apprentice programme, and a standard working week of 4 x nine and a quarter hour days. Union relationships are constructive and productive, with a “one team mentality” according to Nigel.

 We had a great eye-opening tour, an excellent buffet lunch, and a free Plaxton mug!

Members and friends following a tour of the factory

 It is most reassuring to know that Plaxton is a highly skilled and professional business, with distinguished market-leading products, and a strong order book. We are fortunate to have them in Scarborough, and they should make more noise about their successes.

Jonathan Knight FIH, Rotary Cavaliers