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Before he began his career at Volgren, Jim Pittas was a market gardener. Today, you’ll still find him every Saturday selling his family’s famous oxheart tomatoes at the Richmond Good Food Market, but he’s pleased that 70-hour farming weeks are behind him. “There was no family time; I was working Christmas Day. It was just [...]

Ross Herring has been at Volgren since the company was established. In fact, Ross’s career as a vehicle body maker pre-dates Volgren by three years. Apart from a brief departure in the 1980s, it’s been his professional home for his entire working life. Ross joined Grenda’s Bus Service as an apprentice in 1974 and by [...]

The coronavirus pandemic has changed so much in Australia. In the short-term it’s altered how we work, how we travel and how our children are taught. But could it bring about more permanent changes? One thing that’s changed since the start of the year is the way Australians are talking about local manufacturing. COVID-19 has [...]

A focus on lean manufacturing and eliminating disturbances from the production line will allow Volgren, Australia’s largest bus body builder, to double capacity at its Dandenong manufacturing headquarters. Part of a company-wide transformation aimed at improving competitiveness and delivering more value for customers, the re-design has included a radical rethink of its production line, leading [...]

The Optimus-bodied bus will be used for school runs and operate throughout the day as part of Cowra’s hail and ride service. For the Saxby family – in particular for siblings Justin and Sophie, who both have a rare form of spinal muscular dystrophy and require power chairs for mobility – the bus is a [...]

Australia’s largest bus body builder has bolstered its team with five new appointments across sales and marketing, engineering, and production. Two of the executive appointments, Joaquim Gomes, Volgren’s new Engineering Manager, and Yuri Tessari, Sales and Marketing Manager, have extensive experience working with Volgren’s parent company, Marcopolo S.A. Volgren’s Chief Executive Officer, Thiago Deiro, said [...]

ABC magazine recently conducted a test drive of our fully electric Optimus route bus. Operated by Transdev, the electric bus began a twelve month trial carrying passengers on Route 246 services between Elsternwick and Clifton Hill via St Kilda in December, 2019. This is the first electric bus to be trialled on Victoria’s public transport network - and it’s [...]

When Thiago Deiro took over as Chief Executive Officer of Volgren in April 2019, he immediately began to talk about making the production line flow more smoothly. He publicly declared that his company needed to remove waste, to concentrate on safety, quality, delivery and cost, and to eliminate “disturbances on the line”. Almost a year [...]

Volgren, the country’s largest bus body builder, has celebrated the roll-out of the 5000th bus built at its manufacturing headquarters in Dandenong. The milestone vehicle, an Optimus Low-Floor Route Bus, was handed over to operator and long-time Volgren partner Ventura Bus Lines (Ventura) during a ceremony attended by staff from both companies. Also part of [...]

Some of the country’s leading bus manufacturers and suppliers have once again donated their time, expertise and materials for the annual BIC Auction Bus. A 12.5-metre school bus, go under the hammer on Wednesday (November 20) during the Big Arvo Out Bus Auction, a highlight of the BIC Australasian Bus Conference in Canberra. Proceeds from [...]

Volgren, Australia’s largest bus body manufacturer will use the backdrop of BusVic’s 2019 Bus Expo and Maintenance Conference (October 1 - 2) to launch its first pure electric bus. The 12.2-metre vehicle is built on a BYD K9 chassis and features 324-kilowatt hours of battery capacity. It’s capable of travelling up to 300 kilometres on [...]