The NPC and CPPCC annual sessions in 2014 have opened. Despite having been in charge of vehicle support for the sessions since 2004 and having accomplished the mission of vehicle support in major events like the Beijing Olympic Games and the Shanghai World Expo, the 17th and 18th CPC National Congress, Yuchai's service support team still dare not slack off on the annual political event and moved into action early. As they are to protect engines, the "hearts" of the vehicles for the sessions, they must be careful enough.

Active deployment, full support

According to usual practice, preparations for session vehicle support began before the Spring Festival. In normal circumstances, support enterprises would move into action upon receipt of notices, but Yuchai started earlier. "Session vehicle support has been our annual tradition. Whenever the sessions drew near, we would voluntarily contact the passenger transport enterprise undertaking transport service and set about preparations," said Zeng Gong, service manager of Yuchai Beijing Office.

As a leader in China's bus power field, Yuchai engines powered many vehicles for the sessions in previous years, all the more so this year. According to Zeng, 136 of 203 vehicles dispatched by Shouqi Group for the sessions were 7m+ large and medium-sized buses. Among them, 125 were powered by Yuchai (mostly YC6L), accounting for 92 percent and covering key vehicle brands like Yutong, Higer, Golden Dragon, Beijing North Huade Neoplan and Yougman Neoplan.

Upon receipt of the support notice, we should first work out an overall service support plan. "As the subject of support, Beijing Office knew the actualities better, so we led the formulation of the overall plan," Zeng said, adding, "As I was a commander on the scene, I drafted the plan this year and worked according to the plan after submitting it to the headquarters for verification, examination and approval. The headquarters offered full support."

Thus, the overall plan should be comprehensive enough. "Staffing came first surely, followed by the mode of site service such as determining service stations specific to hotels, and parts storage. In addition, we needed to budget the expenses for early inspection and troubleshooting in advance," Zeng said.

Intensifying trainings to the drivers and service stations was also important early preparation. "We primarily explained vehicle operation notes to the drivers, gave professional service trainings to the service stations to improve their technical capacity, thus bettering support the sessions," Zeng added.

(Three rounds of inspection + two inspections a day) x seamless communication = all-round support

According to sources, four Yuchai service stations provided vehicle support at 10 hotels during the sessions, and each hotel was in the charge of two service staff members. On this basis, four of the six service engineers from Yuchai's headquarters worked at the four service stations to provide technical support, and the other two made up a mobile squad at Shouqi in case of emergencies. "Our director is the team's commander-in-chief and I was in charge of coordination with the support of a marketing staff member of the office," Zeng said.

"We took the service mode of 'seniors guiding newcomers', one of the six engineers from the headquarters was a newcomer who had never supported the sessions," Huang Zhifeng, chief overseas service engineer of the Customer Service Center of Yuchai Sales Co., Ltd. said. The newcomer joined Shouqi mobile squad as his assistant. "Seniors' guidance to newcomers can train service talents for the sessions and add manpower virtually," he added.

Shouqi mobile squad was not in a certain and fixed place. Huang had to stay by on the scenes of the opening and closing ceremonies of the sessions. During non-plenary sessions, the squad had to move from hotel to hotel, "Go anywhere we are needed". "The squad was mainly in charge of the eastern part and I was in charge of the western part together with another staff member. In this way, problems can be resolved in time," Zeng added.

Early preparations are vital to service support. Just as Huang said, even the smallest problems are big ones during the sessions, though few problems were found every year, inspection should be more careful to ensure there were no problems with vehicles.

"We generally conducted three rounds of inspection early: the driver inspected basic problems like oil leak and gas leak, the repair factory further inspected these problems and Yuchai conducted the most professional inspection by using instruments for parameter detection," Huang introduced.

Apart from the three rounds of early inspection, during the sessions, vehicles should be inspected twice before their dispatch every morning and after their return in the evening. Coordination and communication with vehicle plants and passenger transport enterprises were also important in the service process. "We must made massive and seamless communication with all related parties in regard to issues like vehicle inspection, parts storage and emergency handling to ensure timely service," Huang said.

Additionally, Yuchai has also established a special support team for Yuchai gas engines operating at the Tian'anmen Square and the bus lines nearby to ensure the normal operation of the vehicles in ways such as seamless communication with vehicle plants and public transport companies, and visiting service.

No small problems in session support

Both Zeng and Huang are seasoned support staff of major events like the NPC and CPPCC annual sessions and the 18th National People's Congress, but they felt stressful every year.

During the vehicle support for the sessions, Huang generally got up at 5 AM and finished work at 10 PM. "In a word, we must be there before vehicles arrived and must make a careful check before vehicles returned, and had to make a tour inspection of all hotels during the period," Huang said, adding that the service support for the sessions is a physical and mental test.

Yan Ping, chairman of Yuchai Group, is an NPC deputy who has served his term of office for many years. According to Zeng, during the sessions every year, he would take time from his busy schedule to concern himself about their work on vehicle service support, showing Yuchai's great attention to the task.

Is there anything impressive since you have worked on session support for many years? "No, because we made good preparations early," Huang said, the reliable quality of Yuchai engines and elaborate preparations for service support ensured the smooth operation of the vehicles for the annual sessions.

"However, we are stressful, even minor problems during the sessions are serious," Huang said. Then what punishment will you get if vehicles are problematic? "I don't know I have no such experience!" he said smilingly. Yuchai's record of serving the sessions is zero faults.

(Source: Xue Yapei/cvnews.com.cn)