The son of the former head of service for Scania Scotland (Hugh Moore), Craig Moore aspired to be an engineer, ideally on heavy plant, but when apprenticeships weren’t readily available, he approached his father, who encouraged him to try Scania.
“I still had to sit the tests and had to apply myself – in fact more than others, because I not only had to impress my manager, but also mum and dad. Dad, at that time, probably wasn’t thinking as a father, but in terms of an asset coming into the business!”
Having finished at Scania Grangemouth, then 20 years of age, and with itchy feet, Moore moved to work at a dealer in Melbourne, Australia, where, since the competition for work is keen, he worked on both Scania and competitor brands. That helped him develop in a wider engineering sense, he recalls: “I was stripping and rebuilding engines and gearboxes from different manufacturers. And there was always someone in the workshop with experience keeping an eye on me.”
But when his father became ill in 2017, Moore returned to the UK. Little did he know a spot for him was being lined up at his nearby Scania dealer. “The manager of the Scania Edinburgh depot, where I now work, was told by my father that I was coming home. He phoned me when I arrived, came to see my dad on Friday, and I started work that Monday at 6am.”
Moore soon noticed that the dealership was sending out lots of gearbox repairs to a third party. Having done lots of that work during his apprenticeship, and when abroad, he offered to take over that function. “Now probably the majority of technicians in the workshop strip and rebuild them.” Not only did the move save Scania money, it also helped the customer, as service-exchange gearboxes from Scania come with a three-year warranty.
Soon after, Moore moved to field service at Scania Power Solutions, a business that supports any Scania engine not in a truck or a bus. On the way to a call-out one Sunday night recently, he had a phone call from Scania assist in Bradford. A high-profile customer had mechanical trouble, and, having asked around, he was said to be the technician for the job. When could he be in Italy?
Having reached Sanremo, Moore discovered that the job involved two Scania engines generating auxiliary power on a superyacht. The main complaint was run-ability. One of the engines in particular was overrevving, and then hunting: it would drop down to 500-600rpm, then go up to 1,400rpm. Why it did so was a mystery, initially.
It turns out, explains Moore, that the engine – which runs a generator – was attached to a failed alternator. Attached to the generator was an AVR, an automatic voltage regulator. That sends a feedback signal to the engine to make sure that the generator can produce 50Hz to power the boat – so in effect it acted as a 24V alternator. When the engine underrevs, the output torque to the genset drops, and so does the voltage, prompting actuation of the AVR. “I only found this out because I watched it and could see the AVR kicking in. I had never seen that fault, nor ever worked on a generator, but I used my principles of basic electronics.”
The owner of the boat, one Lord Alan Sugar, was said to have been very pleased with the results. In fact the yacht’s chief engineer still asks Moore for advice on occasion.
Although that repair was a career high point, Moore is still under 30. What does he plan to do next?Moore responds: “Some people ask if I have aspirations to be a manager, but I like the technical side. The possibilities are endless, but I’ll definitely stay at Scania.”