Ambulance

Focus on Europe’s fastest-growing ambulance builder
Jczak, the metal-worker responsible for the
impressively high-tech Plasma CNC-mill – a
highly imposing and hugely expensive cutting
machine which quite amazingly can cut up to
10 large panels per shift, down to well below
a milimetre’s precision. The CNC-mill can
cut enough steel for the paneling for three
completed vehicles in less than eight hours
and, despite its furious whine, do so with the
delicacy of a haute coutour cutter turning
fine fabrics into a bespoke Chanel garment.
Lukas, 32, has that youthful, clean-living
look, common to most Polish people under
about eighty, so amid all the unfamiliar noise,
when I asked his age I misheard his reply
and, based on his looks alone, I thought I
heard ’22,’ an easy mistake to make under
the circumstances. Not unsurprisingly, when
he told me he had already worked for Baus
for eight years, I was a little confused. Seeing
my puzzlement Uwe corrected me, laughing:
“No. Lukas is 32, not 22! We are dedicated,
but so far we haven’t felt the need to hire
children!” Uwe explained that Lukas has
been with Baus for eight years and most of
that time has been spent training to operate
new iterations of this specific machine.”
Uwe added that although the standards of
apprenticeship training in Poland for crafts
relevant to vehicle manufacturing, such as
electrical installation and metal-working,
are among the very best in Europe, making
them exceptionally high by global standards
– since the degree of precision required for
ambulance build metal-working is higher still,
mainly for infection control purposes, much
of the training and development of staff like
Lukas, is maintained continuously on the job.
“We buy these high-tech and, to be honest,
very expensive cutting devices and with the
support of their manufacturers, we train
our cutters to perfectly trim different types
of sheet metal. Lukas knows which type
of metal can be cut in a certain way and
which grade is best for different elements
of the ambulance’s outer or inner body.
No matter how highly-skilled they might
be, you couldn’t just expect another metal
worker to walk in here, operate this machine
and then cut the metal so precisely. All the
information required is fed directly into the
machine’s computer by our CAD design
team and it stores the unique information
for every unit we build.” Uwe finished: “One
great benefit is that if an ambulance comes
back to us a couple of years later and its
side-wall has been written-off in a collision,
we can replace it completely and identically,
even using exactly the same grade of metal
that was used in the original vehicle. This
machine allows us to cut all major steel and
aluminium components in-house, reducing
waiting time for key parts.”
A pattern was beginning to emerge. Even
among the younger staff I had spoken with
the length of service was an average eight
years and, most of those over forty I had
spoken to, many had worked for much
longer – a few having moved to Poland
from Baus’s original German base –a statistic
which immediately struck me as unusual
since many of the people I know who
work in the ambulance-build industry move
around frequently – some I have met have
worked for three or four different builders
during their careers! I asked Uwe why the
plant seemed to be staffed with such hardworking
yet apparently happy workers. “It’s
because we’re a family business and we see
all our staff…and their families…as part of
one big family.” In what way, I wondered?
“Well, for example, it’s not a big thing but
every year we have a big Christmas party…
local food, beer, vodka, music…and it’s not
just the workers, but all their families who
come along. This Christmas we had over
300 at the party. We had a good time!” he
replied, laughing.
It was becoming clear just how Baus
manage to construct such exceptionally
high-quality ambulances from their
unremarkable-looking base in Toruń. But as
Franz stressed, the location wasn’t selected
solely for the workpool of skilled vehicle
engineers available in the region. “From
here in Poland we can easily serve the
entire European market,” he explained. We
also have purchasing, sales and aftersales
sites in Germany, France, the Netherlands,
Finland, the UK and Ireland. We place a large
emphasis on preventative maintenance and,
as you saw in Lukas’s section, our engineers
always make sure we have impress stock
readily available for all the vehicles we supply
to our global customer-base. We could
be complacent about our three decades
ambulance build experience, but instead
we remind ourselves that a large part of
our current success is based on our aftersales
support set-up which means we can
guarantee that our customers’ needs are
always comprehensively, quickly and expertly
met, regardless of where they are located in
the world.”
The final stop was in the furniture section
where Franz again explained Baus At’s
decision to locate their plant in Toruń. “It has
given us a pool of exceptionally highly-skilled
vehicle build workers, that I don’t believe
we could find in any one other industrial
location in Europe,” said Franz, looking over
the busy cabinetry room. “So now, we’re
Spring 2016 | Ambulancetoday
Winter 2014 | Ambulancetoday3 61