CUSTOMER STORY / THANDI COACHES
Thandi Coaches: Four Decades, Three Generations and a New Era of Technology
How a family-run West Midlands coach operator moved from spreadsheets to Savari TMS and is now bringing its workshop operation onto Savari WMS
Thandi Coaches is a business built on family, experience and over four decades in passenger transport.
The Thandi story began in 1985, when Ajay’s father started the business and laid the foundations for a long-standing family coach operation in the West Midlands.
More than 40 years later, that family story continues. Today, Ajay is taking the business forward, with his son Arjun now representing the third generation of the Thandi family to become part of the business.
From those early beginnings, Thandi Coaches has grown into an established operator based in Smethwick, West Midlands, with a fleet of around 30 vehicles.
But while the business has continued to evolve over four decades, the technology supporting it hadn’t always kept pace.
From spreadsheets to Savari
Like many long-established operators, Thandi had historically relied heavily on spreadsheets to manage parts of its operation.
Spreadsheets can work well when an operation is smaller. But as a business grows, so does the amount of information that needs to be managed.
More vehicles. More drivers. More bookings. More customers. More administration.
For Ajay and the Thandi team, the time came to move beyond spreadsheets and introduce a dedicated Transport Management System.
That’s where Savari came in.
Moving to Savari TMS
The move to Savari TMS gave Thandi a central platform for managing its transport operation.
Bookings, scheduling, vehicles, drivers, customers and operational information can all be managed within one connected cloud-based system.
Instead of relying on multiple spreadsheets and manually moving information between them, the team can work from a central source of live information.
For a business built over more than 40 years, the move gives the next generation the tools to take that experience forward.
Technology for the next generation
There’s something particularly fitting about Thandi’s technology journey. The business itself has moved through three generations.
The foundations were laid by Ajay’s father. Ajay is now leading the business. And Arjun represents the next generation coming through.
Now, the technology behind the operation is going through its own transformation.
Savari gives the Thandi team a modern platform that can continue to develop alongside the business, bringing decades of industry experience together with modern transport technology.
From TMS to WMS
Thandi’s journey with Savari is now moving into its next stage. After adopting Savari TMS, the team has also signed up to Savari WMS.
The next step is to bring the workshop operation into the same connected platform as the transport operation.
Maintenance, defects, workshop jobs, inspections and vehicle records can all be managed alongside the wider fleet operation.
For an operator with around 30 vehicles, keeping the workshop and transport operation connected is increasingly important.
A vehicle being unavailable affects planning. A defect can affect availability. Maintenance affects scheduling.
With WMS connected to the wider operation, Thandi can have greater visibility of what’s happening across the fleet and the workshop.
Four decades of experience. A new generation of technology.
Thandi Coaches has spent over four decades building its business. Three generations of the family are now part of that continuing story.
The foundations were laid by Ajay’s father. Ajay is taking the business forward today. And Arjun represents the next generation.
Now, the technology supporting the business is evolving too. From spreadsheets. To TMS. Now to WMS.
It’s a journey from traditional ways of working to a more connected, modern transport operation, while retaining the family experience that has been at the heart of Thandi Coaches for over 40 years.
We’re proud to be supporting Ajay, Arjun and the Thandi team as they take the business into its next chapter.
Four decades of experience. Three generations. One connected future.
Built by operators, for operators.