1.
Doncaster
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Doncaster, is a large market town in South Yorkshire, England. Together with its suburbs and settlements, the town forms part of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. The town itself has a population of 109,805, the Doncaster Urban Area had a population of 158,141 in 2011 and includes Doncaster and the neighbouring small village of Bentley as well as some other villages. Possibly inhabited by people, Doncaster grew up at the site of a Roman fort constructed in the 1st century at a crossing of the River Don. The 2nd century Antonine Itinerary and the early 5th century Notitia Dignitatum called this fort Danum, julius Agricola during the late 70s. Doncaster provided a direct land route between Lincoln and York. The main route between Lincoln and York was Ermine Street, which required parties to break into smaller units to cross the Humber in boats, as this was not always practical, the Romans considered Doncaster to be an important staging post. The Roman road through Doncaster appears on two recorded in the Antonine Itinerary. The itinerary include the section of road between Lincoln and York, and list three stations along the route between these two coloniae. Routes 7 and 8 are entitled the route from York to London, several areas of known intense archaeological interest have been identified in the town, although many—in particular St Sepulchre Gate—remain hidden under buildings. The Roman fort is believed to have located on the site that is now covered by St Georges Minster. The Register names the unit as under the command of the Duke of the Britons, Doncaster is generally believed to be the Cair Daun listed as one of the 28 cities of Britain in the 9th century History of the Britons traditionally attributed to Nennius. It was certainly an Anglo-Saxon burh, during which period it received its present name, Don- from the Roman settlement, the settlement was mentioned in the 1003 will of Wulfric Spott. Shortly after the Norman Conquest, Nigel Fossard refortified the town, by the time of the Domesday Book, Hexthorpe in the wapentake of Strafforth was described as having a church and two mills. The historian David Hey says that these represent the settlement at Doncaster. He also suggests that the street name Frenchgate indicates that Fossard invited fellow Normans to trade in the town, as the 13th century approached, Doncaster matured into a busy town, in 1194 King Richard I granted it national recognition with a town charter. Doncaster had a fire in 1204, from which it slowly recovered. At the time, buildings were built of wood, and open fireplaces were used for cooking and heating, in 1248 a charter was granted for Doncaster Market to be held around the Church of St Mary Magdalene, built in Norman times
2.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
3.
Facebook
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Facebook is an American for-profit corporation and an online social media and social networking service based in Menlo Park, California. Facebook gradually added support for students at other universities. Since 2006, anyone age 13 and older has been allowed to become a user of Facebook, though variations exist in the minimum age requirement. The Facebook name comes from the face book directories often given to United States university students, Facebook may be accessed by a large range of desktops, laptops, tablet computers, and smartphones over the Internet and mobile networks. After registering to use the site, users can create a user profile indicating their name, occupation, schools attended and so on. Additionally, users may join common-interest user groups organized by workplace, school, hobbies or other topics, in groups, editors can pin posts to top. Additionally, users can complain about or block unpleasant people, because of the large volume of data that users submit to the service, Facebook has come under scrutiny for its privacy policies. Facebook makes most of its revenue from advertisements which appear onscreen, Facebook, Inc. held its initial public offering in February 2012, and began selling stock to the public three months later, reaching an original peak market capitalization of $104 billion. On July 13,2015, Facebook became the fastest company in the Standard & Poors 500 Index to reach a market cap of $250 billion, Facebook has more than 1.86 billion monthly active users as of December 31,2016. As of April 2016, Facebook was the most popular social networking site in the world, Facebook classifies users from the ages of 13 to 18 as minors and therefore sets their profiles to share content with friends only. Zuckerberg wrote a program called Facemash on October 28,2003 while attending Harvard University as a sophomore, to accomplish this, Zuckerberg hacked into protected areas of Harvards computer network and copied private dormitory ID images. Facemash attracted 450 visitors and 22,000 photo-views in its first four hours online, the site was quickly forwarded to several campus group list-servers, but was shut down a few days later by the Harvard administration. Zuckerberg faced expulsion and was charged by the administration with breach of security, violating copyrights, Zuckerberg expanded on this initial project that semester by creating a social study tool ahead of an art history final exam. He uploaded 500 Augustan images to a website, each of which was featured with a corresponding comments section and he shared the site with his classmates, and people started sharing notes. The following semester, Zuckerberg began writing code for a new website in January 2004 and he said that he was inspired by an editorial about the Facemash incident in The Harvard Crimson. On February 4,2004, Zuckerberg launched Thefacebook, originally located at thefacebook. com. com and they claimed that he was instead using their ideas to build a competing product. The three complained to The Harvard Crimson and the newspaper began an investigation and they later filed a lawsuit against Zuckerberg, subsequently settling in 2008 for 1.2 million shares. Membership was initially restricted to students of Harvard College, within the first month, eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, Andrew McCollum, and Chris Hughes joined Zuckerberg to help promote the website
4.
Twitter
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Twitter is an online news and social networking service where users post and interact with messages, tweets, restricted to 140 characters. Registered users can post tweets, but those who are unregistered can only read them, users access Twitter through its website interface, SMS or a mobile device app. Twitter Inc. is based in San Francisco, California, United States, Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams and launched in July. The service rapidly gained worldwide popularity, in 2012, more than 100 million users posted 340 million tweets a day, and the service handled an average of 1.6 billion search queries per day. In 2013, it was one of the ten most-visited websites and has described as the SMS of the Internet. As of 2016, Twitter had more than 319 million monthly active users. On the day of the 2016 U. S. presidential election, Twitter proved to be the largest source of breaking news, Twitters origins lie in a daylong brainstorming session held by board members of the podcasting company Odeo. Jack Dorsey, then a student at New York University. The original project name for the service was twttr, an idea that Williams later ascribed to Noah Glass, inspired by Flickr. The developers initially considered 10958 as a code, but later changed it to 40404 for ease of use. Work on the project started on March 21,2006, when Dorsey published the first Twitter message at 9,50 PM Pacific Standard Time, Dorsey has explained the origin of the Twitter title. we came across the word twitter, and it was just perfect. The definition was a short burst of inconsequential information, and chirps from birds, and thats exactly what the product was. The first Twitter prototype, developed by Dorsey and contractor Florian Weber, was used as a service for Odeo employees. Williams fired Glass, who was silent about his part in Twitters startup until 2011, Twitter spun off into its own company in April 2007. Williams provided insight into the ambiguity that defined this early period in a 2013 interview, With Twitter and they called it a social network, they called it microblogging, but it was hard to define, because it didnt replace anything. There was this path of discovery with something like that, where over time you figure out what it is, Twitter actually changed from what we thought it was in the beginning, which we described as status updates and a social utility. It is that, in part, but the insight we eventually came to was Twitter was really more of an information network than it is a social network, the tipping point for Twitters popularity was the 2007 South by Southwest Interactive conference. During the event, Twitter usage increased from 20,000 tweets per day to 60,000, the Twitter people cleverly placed two 60-inch plasma screens in the conference hallways, exclusively streaming Twitter messages, remarked Newsweeks Steven Levy
5.
Automotive industry in the United Kingdom
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Volume car manufacturers with a major presence in the UK include Honda, Nissan, Toyota and Vauxhall Motors. Commercial vehicle manufacturers active in the UK include Alexander Dennis, Ford, GMM Luton, Leyland Trucks and London Taxis International. In 2008 the UK automotive manufacturing sector had a turnover of £52.5 billion, generated £26.6 billion of exports and produced around 1.45 million passenger vehicles and 203,000 commercial vehicles. In that year around 180,000 people were employed in automotive manufacturing in the UK, with a further 640,000 people employed in automotive supply, retail. This declined to 147,000 including supply industry in 2014 The UK is a centre for engine manufacturing. The origins of the UK automotive industry date back to the years of the 19th century. By the 1950s the UK was the second-largest manufacturer of cars in the world, since the early 1990s many British car marques have been acquired by foreign companies including BMW, SAIC, TATA and Volkswagen Group. Rights to many dormant marques, including Austin, Riley, Rover. Notable British car designers include David Bache, Laurence Pomeroy, John Polwhele Blatchley, Ian Callum, Colin Chapman, Alec Issigonis, Charles Spencer King and Gordon Murray. Simms acquired the British rights to Daimlers engine and associated patents, in 1893 he formed The Daimler Motor Syndicate Limited for his various Daimler-related enterprises. Simms documented plans to manufacture Daimler motors and Daimler Motor Carriages were taken over, together with his company and its Daimler licences, by London company-promoter H J Lawson. Lawson contracted to buy The Daimler Motor Syndicate Limited and all its rights and on 14 January 1896 formed and in February successfully floated in London The Daimler Motor Company Limited. It then purchased from a friend of Lawson a disused mill in Coventry for car engine and chassis manufacture where, it is claimed. The claim for the first all-British motor car is contested, but George Lanchesters first cars of 1895 and 1896 did include French, in 1891 Richard Stephens, a mining engineer from South Wales, returned from a commission in Michigan to establish a bicycle works in Clevedon, Somerset. Whilst in America he had seen the developments in motive power and this was entirely of his own design and manufacture, including the two-cylinder engine, apart from the wheels which he bought from Starley in Coventry. This was probably the first all-British car and Stephens set up a line, manufacturing in all, twelve vehicles, including four- and six-seater cars and hackneys. Following intense advocacy by motor vehicle enthusiasts, including Harry J. Lawson of Daimler, under this regulation, light locomotives were exempt from the previous restrictions, and a higher speed limit –14 mph was set for them. To celebrate the new freedoms Lawson organised the Emancipation Run held on 14 November 1896 and this occasion has been commemorated since 1927 by the annual London to Brighton Veteran Car Run
6.
Manufacturing in the United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom, where the Industrial Revolution began in the late 18th century, has a long history of manufacturing, which contributed to Britains early economic growth. During the second half of the 20th century, there was a decline in the importance of manufacturing. Manufacturing, however, remains important for trade and accounted for 44% of goods exports in 2014. In June 2010, manufacturing in the United Kingdom accounted for 8. 2% of the workforce, the East Midlands and West Midlands were the regions with the highest proportion of employees in manufacturing. London had the lowest at 2. 8%, Manufacturing in the United Kingdom expanded on an unprecedented scale in the 19th century. Innovation in Britain led to changes in manufacturing, the development of factory systems. The main sectors were textiles, iron and steel making, engineering, in many industrial sectors, Britain was the largest manufacturer in the world and the most technologically advanced. In the later part of the 19th century, a second phase developed which is known as the Second Industrial Revolution. Germany and later the United States, which developed the American system of manufacturing, caught up, nonetheless, Britain remained one of the largest industrial producers. By the middle of the century, in 1948, manufacturing made up 48% of the UK economy, in the post-war decades, manufacturing began to lose its competitive advantage and heavy industry experienced a relative decline. By 2013, the percentage of manufacturing in the economy had fallen to 13% and this trend is common in all mature Western economies. Manufacturing employment fell faster in the UK since 1998 and this started with manufacturing productivity flatlining from 1993 to 1997 and a rise in pound sterling. PricewaterhouseCoopers presumed that British manufacturing was less able to adapt to new production immune from Asian competition, since 1993, the UK also invested less in R&D and adaptation than its OECD competitors. However, manufacturing remains an important sector of the modern British economy, the Blue Book 2006 reports that this sector added a gross value of £147,469 million to the UK economy in 2004. Engineering and allied industries comprise the single largest sector, contributing 30. 8% of total Gross Value Added in manufacturing in 2003, within this sector, transport equipment was the largest contributor, with 8 global car manufacturers being present in the UK. The British motor industry also comprises numerous components for the sector, such as Fords diesel engine plant in Dagenham, triumph Motorcycles Ltd is the only wholly British owned major transport manufacturer. A range of companies like Brush Traction and Hunslet manufacture railway locomotives, associated with this sector are the aerospace and defence equipment industries. Commercial shipbuilders include Harland and Wolff, Cammell Laird, Abels, Barclay Curle, companies such as Princess, Sealine, Fairline Boats and Sunseeker are major builders of private motor yachts
7.
Brand
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A brand is a name, term, design, symbol, or other feature that distinguishes one seller’s product from those of others. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising, however, the term has been extended to mean a strategic personality for a product or company, so that ‘brand’ now suggests the values and promises that a consumer may perceive and buy into. Branding is a set of marketing and communication methods that help to distinguish a company from competitors, the key components that form a brands toolbox include a brand’s identity, brand communication, brand awareness, brand loyalty, and various branding strategies. Brand equity is the totality of a brands worth and is validated by assessing the effectiveness of these branding components. To reach such an invaluable brand prestige requires a commitment to a way of doing business. A corporation who exhibits a strong brand culture is dedicated on producing intangible outputs such as customer satisfaction, reduced price sensitivity and customer loyalty. A brand is in essence a promise to its customers that they can expect long-term security, when a customer is familiar with a brand or favours it incomparably to its competitors, this is when a corporation has reached a high level of brand equity. Many companies are beginning to understand there is often little to differentiate between products in the 21st century. Branding remains the last bastion for differentiation, in accounting, a brand defined as an intangible asset is often the most valuable asset on a corporation’s balance sheet. The word ‘brand’ is often used as a referring to the company that is strongly identified with a brand. Marque or make are often used to denote a brand of motor vehicle, a concept brand is a brand that is associated with an abstract concept, like breast cancer awareness or environmentalism, rather than a specific product, service, or business. A commodity brand is a associated with a commodity. The word, brand, derives from Dutch brand meaning to burn and this product was developed at Dhosi Hill, an extinct volcano in northern India. Roman glassmakers branded their works, with Ennion being the most prominent, the Italians used brands in the form of watermarks on paper in the 13th century. Blind Stamps, hallmarks, and silver-makers marks are all types of brand, industrialization moved the production of many household items, such as soap, from local communities to centralized factories. When shipping their items, the factories would literally brand their logo or insignia on the barrels used, Bass & Company, the British brewery, claims their red-triangle brand as the worlds first trademark. Another example comes from Antiche Fornaci Giorgi in Italy, which has stamped or carved its bricks with the same proto-logo since 1731, cattle-branding has been used since Ancient Egypt. The term, maverick, originally meaning an un-branded calf, came from a Texas pioneer rancher, Sam Maverick, use of the word maverick spread among cowboys and came to apply to unbranded calves found wandering alone
8.
Alexander Dennis
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Alexander Dennis is a British bus building company based in Scotland. In early 2016, Alexander Dennis had a 44% market share in the United Kingdom, as at April 2014, Brian Souter and Ann Gloag collectively held a 55% shareholding. Alexander Dennis was formed as TransBus International on 1 January 2001, TransBus International produced a range of both bus and coach chassis and bodies as well as fire engines. Included among its range of chassis were the Dennis Dart, one of the all-time best-selling buses in the UK, TransBus also produced export variants for service in Hong Kong, New York City and other locations. The Dennis Trident is the most common bus model in service in London, on 31 March 2004, TransBus International was put into administration. On 17 May 2004, the Plaxton coach business was sold in a management buyout, TransBus had been in the process of eradicating the traditional company names from the vehicles. On 21 May 2004, the part of TransBus was bought by a consortium of merchant bank Noble Grossart and businessmen David Murray. The new company was named Alexander Dennis, the sale did not include the former Alexander Belfast plant, which closed. On 26 January 2005, Alexander Dennis Wigan plant closed, after completing outstanding orders of its President body, Alexander Dennis secured a number of major orders from UK operators. In 2006 the company unveiled two new models, the Enviro400 double-decker and Enviro200 Dart midibus, in May 2007, Alexander Dennis purchased Plaxton, thus reuniting the two former TransBus businesses. In May 2012, New Flyer Industries and Alexander Dennis announced a new joint-venture to design, New Flyer will handle production and marketing, and Alexander Dennis will handle the engineering and testing. On 7 June 2012, Alexander Dennis acquired Australian bodybuilder Custom Coaches, however, in May 2014, Custom Coaches was placed into administration. In August 2014, Custom Coaches was sold to its former management, the bodywork on a majority of the chassis are built by a neighbouring company, John Dennis Coachbuilders Limited
9.
Plaxton
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Plaxton is an English builder of bus and coach vehicle bodies based in Scarborough. The Plaxton of today is the successor to a business founded in Scarborough in 1907 by Frederick William Plaxton and it became a subsidiary of Alexander Dennis in May 2007. The business was founded as a workshop, and expanded into building contracting. As a building contractor, Plaxtons built a number of buildings in Scarborough. Soon after World War I Plaxtons diversified and began to build charabanc bodies on Ford Model T chassis, of more importance at the time was the construction of automobile bodywork. This included bodywork for Rolls-Royce, Sunbeam and Daimler, but principally for Crossley car chassis and this activity continued through the 1920s, but the depression of 1929-1933 created difficulties for manufacture of luxury automobiles. As a result, the manufacture of charabanc, and later coach bodies became more important through the late 1920s, customers during this time tended to be local to the Scarborough area, Scarborough being a popular seaside resort. By 1936 the company felt justified in construction of a new manufacturing facility in Seamer Road. This allowed increased production, and Plaxtons became popular with independent operators throughout Northern England. Many of these operators purchased their vehicles through independent dealers, rather than directly from the factory, in this regard, Plaxtons sales were through Lancashire Motor Traders Ltd of Manchester and Arlington Motor Co Ltd of London. The company became known as FW Plaxton & Son by 1937, as the founders son, FW Plaxton junior was to be known as Eric to avoid confusion with his father. Plaxtons built a number of different coach designs through the 1930s, the style typically consisted of a very rounded front profile at the windscreen area with side windows that sloped backwards at the front, were upright at the centre, and sloped forward at the back. Bodywork for the Bedford WTB chassis was particularly distinctive, sloping severally from the bottom of the front wheel arch to the roofline, the WTB chassis was very popular choice for operators at that time, together with the Dodge RBF and SBF. Leyland and AEC chassis were popular for larger coaches, notably the Leyland Tiger. On the outbreak of World War II in 1939, coach production halted, many records from the early years were lost when an incendiary bomb set fire to the Seamer Road factory in 1943 causing much damage. As the factory was under control of the Ministry of Works, some adjacent land was loaned by a market gardener who subsequently joined the board years later. Production restarted at the end of 1945, and in 1951 the business was registered for the first time as a private company, two new models were exhibited at the 1950 Commercial Motor Show, with names instead of model codes for the first time. On front-engined chassis the Crusader employed the Envoys front trim, both Envoy and Crusader were produced to the new maximum dimensions of 30 ft by 8 ft, and many examples were originally fitted with rear wheel spats
10.
JCB (company)
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It is the worlds third-largest construction equipment manufacturer. It produces over 300 types of machine, including diggers, excavators, tractors and it has 22 factories across Asia, Europe, North America, and South America, its products are sold in over 150 countries. JCB was founded in 1945 by Joseph Cyril Bamford, after whom it is named, JCB was founded by Joseph Cyril Bamford in October 1945 in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, England. He rented a lock-up garage 3.7 by 4.6 m, in it, using a welding set which he bought second-hand for £1 from English Electric, he made his first vehicle, a tipping trailer from war-surplus materials. The trailers sides and floor were made from steel sheet that had part of air-raid shelters. On the same day as his son Anthony was born, he sold the trailer at a market for £45. At one time he made vehicles in Eckersleys coal yard in Uttoxeter, the first trailer and the welding set have been preserved. In 1948, six people were working for the company, in 1950, it moved to an old cheese factory in Rocester, still employing six. A year later, he began painting his products yellow, in 1953, his first backhoe loader was launched, and the JCB logo appeared for the first time. It was designed by Derby Media and advertising designer Leslie Smith, in 1957, the firm launched the hydra-digga, incorporating the excavator and the major loader as a single all-purpose tool useful for the agricultural and construction industries. In 1960, JCBs hydraulic tractors entered the North American market, JCB became, and still is, the brand leader in the world. By 1964, JCB had sold over 3,000 3C backhoe loaders, the next year, the first 360-degree excavator was introduced, the JCB7. In 1978, the Loadall machine was introduced, the next year, JCB started its operation in India. In 1991, the firm entered a joint venture with Sumitomo of Japan to produce excavators, two years later, a JCB factory was completed in Pooler near Savannah, Georgia in the USA, and the next year a factory was opened in Brazil. Production of the first engine designed and manufactured by JCB, the JCB444 diesel engine, in 2005, for the first time in nearly forty years, JCB bought a company, purchasing the German equipment firm Vibromax. In the same year, the opened a new factory in Pudong. By 2006, the firm had 4000 employees, twice what it had in 1975, during that year, JCB announced plans to make India its largest manufacturing hub. Its factory at Ballabgarh in Haryana, was to become the world’s largest backhoe loader manufacturing facility, JCB shed 2,000 jobs during the recession, but in 2010 it announced it was recruiting up to 200 new workers
11.
Optare
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Optare is a British bus manufacturer based in Sherburn-in-Elmet, North Yorkshire. It is a subsidiary of Ashok Leyland, part of the Hinduja Group, in September 1984, Leyland closed its Charles H Roe vehicle bodywork building business in Leeds. In response, Russell Richardson, a plant director at Roe, backed by the West Yorkshire Enterprise Board and many redundant former employees. The company was created at a difficult time for the bus and coach industry. The first orders came from the publicly owned West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive. The publicly owned but arms-length company Yorkshire Rider, as successor to the WYPTE bus fleet, when the Roe business closed down, WYPTE had an unfulfilled order for five Leyland Olympian coach-seated double-decker buses in place for its Metro coach operation. Five went to WYPTE, and five to its successor Yorkshire Rider, the first Optare designed bodies were fourteen Dennis Dominos for the SYPTE built starting in February 1986. Optare also bodied fifteen Leyland Cubs for the WYPTE, a preserved Cub later visited the Optare plant in 2005. Starting in August 1986 Optare built fifteen minibuses converted from the Freight Rover Sherpa 350 vans for the WYPTE, in 1986, Optare introduced the CityPacer minibus. This was based on a version of the Volkswagen LT50 van chassis. The engine was a six-cylinder 2. 4-litre and the body seated 25, with space for a further five standing passengers, while its competitors looked like the modified vans they were, the CityPacer had attractive styling notable for its large one-piece raked windscreen. London Regional Transport bought 52, and other major operators bought small batches, more than 290 CityPacers were produced in total between 1986 and 1992. In 1987, the StarRider based on the Mercedes-Benz 811D chassis was introduced and this was a heavier chassis with a proven reliability record and had seating for 33 passengers. London Regional Transport took 123 StarRiders and a total of just under 320 were built between 1987 and 1994, in 1988 the first full size Optare product appeared, the Delta. This was a bus based on the DAF SB220 chassis. The Delta bodywork featured contemporary styling and was aluminium with a bolted frame licensed from Alusuisse, the Delta successfully found a niche in the full-size single deck bus market, which was very limited at that time. Approaching 370 Deltas were built before production ended in 1998, Dennis had effectively created a new market segment, known as a midibus, with the introduction of the Dennis Dart. Optare soon introduced a competitor, the Vecta, albeit slightly bigger and wider than the Dart at that time, the chassis was the MAN11.190 and featured a ZF gearbox and full air suspension
12.
Smith Electric Vehicles
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Smith Electric Vehicles is a manufacturer of zero emission commercial electric vehicles. The company was founded in 1920 in the North of England but in 2011 moved its headquarters to Kansas City, Smith manufactures the largest range of zero-emission commercial electric vehicles in the world, with gross vehicle weights from 3,500 kg –12,000 kg. It was formerly based in Washington, Tyne and Wear, Smith produces vehicles for the US, Canadian, European and it was formerly part of The Tanfield Group plc, which trades on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange. Tanfield established a company, Smith Electric Vehicles US Corp in 2009 to penetrate the North American market. Its headquarters is in Kansas City, Missouri, the United States company in March 2010 indicated it wanted to buy out the UK company. After many years of poor trading history the UK arms of Smith were shut down and this included Smith Electric Vehicles Ltd which was put into administration and Smith Technologies Ltd which was put into liquidation. The company was founded in 1920 as Northern Coachbuilders in Newcastle upon Tyne, after making a name as a producer of electric trams and trolley buses, it moved into road-going electric delivery vehicles. The name comes from the Smith family that founded the business, the family remains in North East England and it still owns Ringtons Tea, engaged in the importation, blending and distribution of tea. The Smith Electric Vehicles business in the 1950s and 60s focussed on the milk float, as the dairies phased out delivery by horse and cart, they opted for near-silent electric vehicles for their early morning deliveries, instead of the noisier ICE-powered vans and trucks. In the mid-1960s, Smith launched the Smith Cabac, the first float to have a rear entry cab so the milkman could exit the vehicle on either side, Smith produced four series of the Cabac, the 65,75, Jubilee 77 and 85. In 1989 the company acquired Wales & Edwards, the company took its first steps into North America in 1962. The Smith family approached the firm with the Battronic proposal in 1962, at that time there were more than 14,000 Smith Electrics in service across the United Kingdom and Western Europe. The new company was organised as the Battronic Truck Corporation, exide’s parent company was a producer of motor vehicle traction batteries and Smith was a producer of electric delivery vehicles. Boyertown’s contribution was its high-strength, lightweight multalloy body, early Battronics had a top speed of 25 miles per hour and could carry a 2,500 pounds payload up to 62 miles on a single charge. The Potomac Edison Company of Hagerstown, Maryland, took delivery of the first production Battronic in March 1964, Smith withdrew from the partnership in 1966, and Battronic ultimately produced and sold fewer than 200 vehicles in its entire 20 year life. Back in the UK, the rise of the supermarket coincided with the end of half of all milk rounds during the 1990s. Faced with a downturn in orders for its Cabac, Smith diversified into niche vehicles, the Smith ST range of 7. 5t low-speed electric trucks were marketed at municipal operations and interior applications that mandated heavy duty vehicles with zero exhaust emissions. Smith ST vehicles are used in power stations, large factories
