Low-floor models are easier for elderly and handicapped riders to use. I'm extremely impressed with the NABI bus, the way it's manufactured, the quality of the workmanship, the strength of the bus and the quality control steps they take to keep these buses going long into the future,'' he said. On the grimy, battered concrete of the factory floor quality is verified by jumpsuited company inspectors who check every step on the production line. While most passenger car factories are filled with welder-wielding robots, NABI's bus plant has few. In the large sheds that make up the crowded plant, workers are welding, grinding, bending and bolting metal parts by hand to make the chassis.
Volumes are too low and the parts too intricate for robots to be viable.
Last year, NABI built about 430 buses, and in 1998 it is planning to build 470. Instead, NABI is investing in designing the first commercial bus for the United States to be built on a carbon-fiber chassis. Expected to be 25 percent lighter than conventional, steel-chassis buses, it will offer substantial savings on fuel and maintenance. With a carbon-fiber bus, NABI officials say they may eventually attack the European market.