The coach manufacturer will increase its production by 50% in the next six months, to exceed its pre-pandemic rate.
The Sainte-Claire company has announced that it will increase its production to three vehicles per day in 2023, one more than its current daily rate.
A first boost will occur in February, with the addition of half a vehicle per day. A second effort of the same magnitude will occur in May.
With these accelerations, Prevost will even exceed its pre-pandemic cruising speed, which was set at 2.5 vehicles per day at the start of 2020.
The surprise coast
“We expected a recovery, because we knew there was latent demand,” commented François Tremblay, president of Prevost. “But surpassing our pre-COVID performance, that was a surprise! »
The order book occupies the production of the next 12 months “and we are already talking about contracts for 2024”, he underlines. “We haven’t seen that. Even before COVID, we were often in a window of five to seven months. »
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Francois Tremblay, President of Prevost
The Quebec manufacturer is climbing a long slope from the abyss of spring 2020. “When we reopened the plant in June 2020, we were at 0.5 vehicles per day. We had lost 80% of our production. »
Last September, Prevost had already increased its production from half a coach per day to two daily vehicles.
Two key factors
Two key factors explain this whirlwind restart.
“First, we see that our large customers, who hadn’t purchased for the past two and a half years, are starting to order new vehicles again,” informs François Tremblay. “While during the crisis it was with one or two vehicles, it is now in the double digits. »
He gives the example of the Canadian carrier Pacific Western, which recently placed an order for 24 coaches to honor a new contract to transport employees for an oil company.
In addition, “a lot of customers from the competition are approaching us”, he continues.
During the crisis, his company took care to maintain its service… and its prices. By not slashing the price of its new vehicles, Prevost enabled its customers to maintain the value of their rolling assets.
“Our competitors have not taken the same approach, and many of their customers are coming to us to work with us in the future. »
The aura of the brand
Prevost currently employs 1,600 people. At the rate of 70 additional people for each additional half-vehicle in production, some 140 new employees will have to be recruited over the next six months.
They will have to be attracted to Sainte-Claire, a small municipality located about sixty kilometers southeast of Quebec City – a prospect that does not seem to worry François Tremblay unduly.
When we do a new recruitment period, we are always pleasantly surprised by the number of people who apply. For our increase next February, we have already reached 90% of our objective.
Francois Tremblay, President of Prevost
Prevost still has a lot of appeal with the workforce, he maintains. This has not prevented the company from showcasing its charms in digital and social media.
“We now know what works well to reach and attract people. We have developed recruitment videos to show who we are to young people. When they see that we transport music groups, that there are plenty of celebrities who have our motorhomes, that the American president has two Prevost coaches, that increases the aura of the brand. »
Women get on board
For the increase in production last September, about a hundred new employees were added to the assembly line, including about twenty women.
Of the sixty people already hired for the February 2023 overproduction, 16% are women, a significantly higher proportion than in previous years, notes the company.
Moreover, François Tremblay sees the contribution of women as part of the solution to the problem of manpower in the manufacturing sector. “We have changed the way we recruit to attract more women,” he says.
No slowdown in sight
A possible economic slowdown does not dampen Prevost’s enthusiasm.
“We looked at it from all sides. We are going to ride the wave, ”says its president.
All market segments — intercity transportation, motorhomes, tour buses — are growing, he finds.
“You want a new Prevost motorhome, it’s about a two-year wait. This is unheard of. All this means that even if there is a slowdown, we anticipate that it will not have much impact on our industry, and in addition, at Prevost, we are increasing our market share. »
Destination growth.