TRAILER INNOVATIONS · 2019. 3. 5. · 4 OCTOBER 2018 > COMMERCIAL VEHICLE ENGINEER COMMERCIAL...

TRAILER INNOVATIONS

WHO ARE THE LEADERS OF THE PACK?

OCTOBER|2018

> Tructyre merges with ATS

> Exhaust emission alarm bells

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WELCOME TO CV ENGINEER, RE-ENGINEERED

hen the first issue of

Commercial Vehicle Engineer

was published in January

2010, we promised that

the new, independent,

online monthly for transport engineers and

fleet managers would deliver a unique blend of

news, analysis and hard-hitting comment on

the commercial vehicle market and aftermarket.

Whether you are among the thousands of

readers who have been with us from day one or the thousands more who have

joined us since then, we sincerely hope that you will agree that this promise has

been delivered.

On a host of subjects including truck operating costs, trailer and bodywork

innovations, the real stories behind the career moves of fleet managers and

engineers, and well-informed, truly independent comment on the latest vehicle

engineering and operations news, we are confident that CV Engineer stands out

from the crowd as much today as it did nearly nine years ago.

But just as the commercial vehicles on which we report regularly benefit from

modernisation and re-engineering from time to time, so too does a publication

like this. Following the title's acquisition three months ago by Immediate

Network, the Guildford, Surrey-based organisation behind a stable of respected

digital publications including The Car Expert, The Van Expert and The Truck

Expert, your magazine has been comprehensively redesigned this month.

The central aim is to make the content even more readily accessible, on pages

with a fresh contemporary design that complements the latest, highly efficient

commercial vehicles often described in them.

We have always genuinely welcomed all reader feedback, complimentary or

critical, on any aspect of Commercial Vehicle Engineer. Please do tell us what you

think about the latest design.

We look forward to hearing from you and to providing you with more

genuinely independent high-quality editorial on commercial vehicle operation

and engineering in the coming months and years.

Tim Blakemore

Editor

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4 OCTOBER 2018 > COMMERCIAL VEHICLE ENGINEER COMMERCIAL VEHICLE ENGINEER > OCTOBER 2018 5

CONTENTS

11

30

TRAILER INNOVATIONS

PEOPLE AND JOBS

Who are the leaders of the pack?

6>> POINTS OF VIEWDoosan UK’s commercial director Paul Watson on new emissions limits for fork-lift trucks coming into force in January. ParcelHero’s David Jinks on the perils of an “Amazon tax”. RTITB boss Laura Nelson on what should and should not be read into a plunge in Driver CPC numbers.

9>> NEWSExhaust emission alarm bells rung by Volvo Group.

10>> NEWSDriver medicals: fitter than they were but still far from perfect.

11>> FOLLOW THE LEADERS IN TRAILER INNOVATIONSThe ingenuity of trailer-makers and bodybuilders seldom gets the recognition it deserves. That’s where the biennial, pan-European Trailer Innovation awards scheme comes in. Tim Blakemore is your guide to the 2019 results.

DRIVER MEDICALS

CONTENTS 24>> NEWS FROM THE NORTHTrucks taking centre stage in the Transport News TruckScot Scenery this month include a Volvo FH420 eight-wheeler from Peterhead, an Iveco Stralis six-wheeler from Elgin, a Renault C-Range hookloader from Inverness, and three 630hp Mercedes Actros 6x2 tractors from Aberdeen.

27>> NEWS FROM THE NORTHDirectors at Lancashire-based Monks Contractors explain why the Thompson ServiceTech offering is just the ticket from their point of view.

29>> NEWS FROM THE NORTHOur learned friend the Transport News Truck Advocate offers some expert advice on O-licences and vehicles below the 3.5 tonnes GVW threshold; asbestos loads and ADR licences; and safety inspections when vehicles are kept off the road.

30>> PEOPLE AND JOBSDavid Gregory takes charge of health, safety and environmental matters at Tiger Trailers. Jonathan Wood is promoted to global components engineering vice president at Cummins. Twelve months after acquiring Tructyre, Michelin reveals plans to merge it with ATS Euromaster.

10


POINTS OF VIEW

FUTURE FORK-LIFT POWER OPTIONS HANGING IN THE BALANCE

FPaul Watson

POINTS OF VIEW

particulate filters to comply with existing Stage III B and Stage IV standards. Only a couple of these can offer solutions across the whole range. Doosan is one of them, with a full range across all diesel-powered counterbalance trucks up to 25 tonnes.

The new Stage V regulations will almost certainly mean that DPFs will have to be fitted. Doosan needs only a very small DPF, however, as the in-house designed G2 engine is already exceptionally clean. Tests underway on G2 engines at Doosan’s Infracore engine division indicate that effective cleaning of the filter can take place while the truck is in normal use, much like a diesel car. So there is no costly downtime.

But the future for cars and vans seems to be electric. Is this true for fork-lift trucks too? Electric trucks certainly have a lot to offer. In 2016, Doosan launched a range of 48v electric trucks up to two tonnes and in early 2017 an 80v range from 2.5 to 3.5 tonnes was launched. Later this year the five-tonne electric series will be revamped. Six-, seven- and eight-tonne electric models will be looked at in the near future.

There are nevertheless plenty of applications where diesel or LPG trucks offer the best solution and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Much depends on the particular demands of the job, the application and the working environment.

As part of the US$21 billion Doosan engineering conglomerate, the industrial vehicle division can tap into the rich resources and in-house expertise of the Doosan Infracore engine division. Doosan is investing heavily in expanding our range of electric fork-lift trucks, offering powerful models capable of handling loads once thought possible only with internal combustion engine trucks.

If you are looking for expert advice on how Euro Stage V standards might affect your business, Doosan is well positioned to offer you a balanced view.

Paul Watson, UK commercial director,Doosan Industrial Vehicles UK

C hancellor Philip Hammond is proposing a so-called ‘Amazon tax’ on products sold online:

meaning the cost of products will rise for UK buyers.

The chancellor’s Conservative party conference speech this month in Birmingham was billed as being about “an economy that works for everyone”. His response to the collapse of high-street sales is a solution that works for no-one. Hammond’s extraordinary proposal is to restore the health of town centre stores with a new e-commerce tax. Yet everyone, from large town centre retailers to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), agrees that it is exorbitant business rates that are largely responsible for killing the high street.

Hammond claims that taxing online sales, the only growing sector of retail, will create a level playing field for high-street retailers. Online sales are up 14% this year, underlining growing popularity with consumers. Many of these shoppers would be hit hard by the new tax, and it is far from clear that physical stores would be helped. Additionally, many high-street stores have successful websites that also would be hit by the new tax. That would be a sucker punch to successful multi-channel bricks-and-mortar/e-commerce businesses such as John Lewis. Rather than creating a level playing field, the chancellor is proposing to dig up the pitch.

Commercial property taxes in the UK are now the highest in Europe. But the chancellor refuses to budge on them, arguing that they help stabilise local government funding. So, rather than cutting unreasonable business rates by funding a little more local spending, he

wants Britain’s hard-pressed consumers to dip into their pockets to pay more for goods bought online. Internet buyers would pay through the nose to create an artificial parity with the high street. Who exactly would gain from this?

Chances are that just as the new Amazon tax looms, Donald Trump’s new taxes on imported Chinese goods will also start to have an impact on British shoppers. Many well-known American brands popular in the UK incorporate Chinese components.

The latest round of US tariffs is a 10% levy on US$200 billion worth of Chinese goods. That is set to rise to 25% by the end of the year. This will have an impact on US traders who source their stock from Alibaba and then sell products to the UK. More significant still, Chinese components in well-known American branded electronics, cosmetics and clothing also will be affected. Chinese manufactured nickel-cadmium batteries are used in many US electronic items.

Trump’s new tariff is bad enough, but there would be a painful double whammy if Hammond’s new Amazon tax kicked in at the same time.

David Jinks, Head of consumer research,ParcelHero

LESS LEVELLING THE PLAYING FIELD, MORE DIGGING UP THE PITCH

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rom 1 January 2019, new fork-lift trucks fuelled by diesel or LPG and sold in the EU will have to comply with the world’s

toughest emission standards for non-road vehicles, known as Euro Stage V.

Though the UK is set to exit the EU in 2019, the same standards will almost certainly be adopted here too.

What will this mean for fork-lift truck fleet plans? Should buyers be reconsidering fuel or power options? Possibly, but there are several important considerations to take into account.

The headline news is that limits on emissions of particulate matter (PM) are to be reduced by a further 40% under the new regulations, taking the current Stage IV A limit of 0.025 g/kWh down to 0.015g/kWh. The carbon monoxide emission limit will be set at 5.0g/kWh for all engines up to 128kW. Limits for oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and hydrocarbons (HC) will remain unchanged.

Euro Stage V standards are much clearer and simpler than the existing tiered arrangement, staggered across a range of

engine power outputs: Stage III A (less than 37kW), Stage III B (37kW to 81kW) and Stage IV A (greater than 81kW).

But life is about to become more complex, rather than less, for fork-lift truck buyers. Under Stage V standards, all fork-lift trucks with internal combustion engines (diesel and LPG alike) will have to comply regardless of engine size, even trucks below the current minimum threshold of 37kW.

For LPG trucks, particulate matter emissions will not be a problem, but a three-way catalytic converter will be needed to eliminate NOx. Catalytic converters are relatively inexpensive, require minimal maintenance and do not have to go through the regeneration processes associated with diesel particulate filters (DPF).

The biggest impact of these new standards will be on diesel engine models. Most diesel fork-lift trucks on the market at present require a DPF to meet current standards.

The introduction of more stringent Stage V regulations means that significantly more advanced DPF

cleaning systems and operating regimes will be required by most manufacturers. For less sophisticated diesel engines this will mean longer periods of downtime and more expense.

Most fork-lift truck makers do not build their own engines. The solution generally for them has been to adapt ill-suited automotive engines and cut NOx emissions by using cooled exhaust gas to lower combustion temperature and dilute the oxygen in the combustion chamber. But the big penalty is that soot (PM) is increased, making a DPF essential.

As anyone who has purchased a new fork-lift fitted with a DPF will know, it has to be regenerated at regular intervals. This is a lengthy process that for most users must be performed once or twice a week, and requires the truck to be taken out of service and revved highly for about 20 or 30 minutes to burn off the soot in the filter.

Large amounts of fuel are used in the process and the truck is not available for duty – increasing downtime and significantly impacting productivity, not to mention the sheer inconvenience of the whole lengthy, repetitive process.

But not every diesel engine needs a DPF to comply with current regulations. A small number of fork-lift truck manufacturers have diesel engines on the market that do not require diesel

www.doosanforklifts.co.uk

https://www.parcelhero.com/


igures from the DVSA confirm the number of Driver CPC (Certificate of Professional Competence) “periodic training”

attendees fell by 20% in the first half of 2018 compared to the previous six months.

This equates to more than 100,000 drivers. The fall was small until February after which it accelerated sharply.

This drop is substantial and the industry needs to ask what lies behind the trend. It would be easy to say that employers are dismissing Driver CPC in the hope that the requirements will disappear after Brexit. That may be what is thought in some organisations, but there may well be other important reasons for the shortfall.

The road transport industry is busier than ever, so perhaps operators are simply too stretched delivering goods to send drivers for training. If this is the case, we can expect to see the deficit made up later in the cycle. This may be a worry for transport operators, who could lose weeks next year making up training hours.

The Driver CPC scheme and its “periodic training” requirement for LGV (large goods vehicle) drivers was introduced in 2009 with the aim of maintaining high

driving standards and improving road and vehicle safety. Existing, qualified drivers are required to complete 35 hours of training over a five-year cycle. From 2009, new drivers need an initial Driver CPC qualification. They, too, must complete continued training hours but they are not tied into the same cycle, with their five-year period starting at the time of qualification.

So the latest fall in attendee numbers could be a sign of older drivers retiring. New drivers do not face a September 2019 deadline for Driver CPC hours. This poses important considerations for employers needing to ensure they have plans in place to recruit talent to fill this skills gap.

Planned and used correctly, Driver CPC can provide a valuable professional development opportunity, used by employers both to attract new drivers and retain existing professionals. The government has just confirmed that Driver CPC will continue in its current format after Brexit. Getting safe, skilled drivers on the road has to remain a priority for our industry.

Laura Nelson, Managing director,RTITB

A PLUNGE IN DRIVER CPC NUMBERS RAISES IMPORTANT QUESTIONS

POINTS OF VIEW

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NEWS

EXHAUST EMISSION ALARM BELLS RUNG BY VOLVO WARNING

A larm bells have been rung among truck operators in Europe and North America by a Volvo Group warning

about unexpected “degradation” of emission control equipment, thought to be the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system used with the latest D13, 13-litre, six-cylinder Volvo truck engine. According to a cryptic statement issued this month by the group’s head office in Gothenburg, Sweden, “an emissions control component used in certain markets is degrading more quickly than expected, which could cause the engines to exceed emissions limits for oxides of nitrogen (NOx).”

No further information is provided about the number of engines affected or about exactly which component is “degrading” faster than expected. The main supplier of SCR systems for the latest (Euro VI) D13 Volvo truck engines is thought to be Eberspächer of Germany.

“A full analysis of the issue and plans with regulatory authorities are not completed and the company is therefore not yet able to estimate the volume of engines or vehicles that may need to be addressed,” says the Volvo statement. “Consequently it is not possible to assess the financial impact at this stage; however the cost to redeem the issue could be material.” If Volvo Group’s main intention in issuing the statement had been to reassure investors and customers it seems to have backfired. Volvo Group’s share price plunged by 5% in response to the announcement.

One reason for investor and truck operator nervousness in the US could be the huge recall a few months ago of about 500,000 truck engines powered by Cummins diesel engines. That recall campaign too was caused by a “faulty emissions control systems component

that causes excess emissions of nitrogen oxides.” The recall is thought to have cost Cummins about US$400 million.

Earlier in Europe there had been an entirely separate big recall campaign related to Euro VI truck exhaust aftertreatment, but nothing to do with Cummins or Volvo engines.

Roadside tests of exhaust emissions from a selection of cars, vans, trucks and buses in the UK last year resulted in the voluntary recall by Iveco of nearly 6,000 Euro VI Eurocargo trucks in the UK, and many more in the rest of Europe. The trucks were recalled to have exhaust aftertreatment equipment control software recalibrated to bring emissions of oxides of nitrogen back into line with Euro VI limits.

The tests were conducted by the government’s Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), using sophisticated portable emissions measurement systems (PEMS) equipment. The results, published in March, showed that “real world” emissions from most of the vehicles tested did not exceed type approved levels based on laboratory tests. But there were some glaring exceptions, including Ford Transit and Renault Trafic vans.

Five types of Euro VI trucks were tested last year by the DVSA: the Daf LF, Volvo FM, MAN TGM, Mercedes Actros and Iveco Eurocargo. The Eurocargo was the only one to exceed Euro VI limits.

The NOx conversion rate of all SCR catalysts is highly sensitive to temperature. AdBlue injection cannot start until exhaust temperature reaches 200 degrees Celsius. And every second spent waiting for AdBlue injection worsens NOx emissions.

“An emissions control component used in certain markets with stringent emissions standards is degrading more quickly than expected, reducing its ability to convert nitrogen oxides (NOx) as efficiently as intended, which in turn could cause the engines or vehicles to exceed emissions limits for NOx,” says the Volvo Group statement of 16 October.

EuroVI Volvo D13 exhaust aftertreatment (above).Iveco Eurocargo: European recall (below).

https://www.rtitb.co.uk/



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NEWS

The pan-European Trailer Innovation awards scheme runs every two years to coincide with the world’s biggest

commercial vehicles show, the IAA (Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung) in Hannover, Germany, organised by the German automotive industry association, VDA (Verband der Automobilindustrie). Innovative engineering at trailer and bodywork manufacturers and their suppliers gets overlooked too often, overshadowed unfairly by glitzy truck launches. The central idea behind the

Trailer Innovation scheme always has been to try to redress the balance.

At first the entries came, as might be expected, mainly from German trailer-makers and bodybuilders. But soon international interest grew as did the overall number of entries year on year.

Now the judges are editors of top European road transport magazines from no fewer than 16 European countries, including Commercial Vehicle Engineer in the UK and Fleet Transport in Ireland. The collective readership of all these titles is well over 250,000.

The key criterion by which all entries are judged, in seven categories, continues

to be the contribution made or promised to road freight transport efficiency. Working independently, each judge can award between zero and ten points to each entry. So the maximum possible score for any entry this year is 160.

One clear trend among Trailer Innovation award-winners two years ago was the proliferation of telematics and “digitisation” in its many forms. This trend has accelerated further this time around, not least in the “safety” and “smart trailer” categories.

Read on for our summary of the top-scoring three entries in all seven Trailer Innovation 2019 categories.

FOLLOW THE LEADERS IN TRAILER INNOVATIONS

The ingenuity of trailer makers and bodybuilders seldom gets the recognition it deserves. That’s where the biennial, pan-European Trailer Innovation awards scheme comes in. Tim Blakemore is your guide to the 2019 results.

PUBLICATION COUNTRY

Revija Transport & Logistika Slovenia

Revista Automotive Portugal

Samochody Specialne Poland

Stragü Austria

Trailer-Journal Germany

Transporama Belgium

Tranzit Romania

Vie & Trasporti Italy

new chief executive at the government's Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) seems to have wasted no time

in tackling some of the serious failings highlighted two years ago in a hard-hitting Parliamentary Ombudsman report on truck and bus driver licensing. But problems persist with driver medical assessments, not least the extortionate fees demanded by some general practitioners (GPs).

Julie Lennard was appointed DVLA chief executive six months ago, the first female boss of the Swansea-based Department for Transport (DfT) agency in its 50-year history. For four years before taking the top job, Ms Lennard had been DVLA director of strategy, policy and communications so certainly would have been painfully familiar with the Driven to Despair report of October 2016 from the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO).

This report focused on eight specific complaints which led to the conclusion that many drivers were being let down by the DVLA. Further evidence of serious flaws in the truck and bus driver medical assessment process were exposed two years ago by a separate Commercial Vehicle Engineer investigation. We asked the British Medical Association (BMA) how it could justify the extortionate fees being charged by some general practitioners (GPs) for "group 2" (truck and bus vocational licence) medical examinations. This brief examination typically takes no more than 15 minutes, most of it spent form-filling. Yet the BMA recommended fee was and is £136 and we had no difficulty finding one doctor in Surrey charging £170. The highest figure we have heard of is £205. This equates to an hourly charge rate of well over £700.

We asked the same Surrey practice this month what the current fee is. It remains at £170. A quick internet search reveals several organisations specialising in truck and bus medical examinations for little more than £50. It seems certain that most truck and bus drivers are choosing to go to such organisations for their medicals rather than to their own GP. This raises several concerns, highlighted starkly by the Glasgow city centre refuse collection truck horror of four years ago which left six people dead after the driver passed out and the truck kept moving. The subsequent inquiry heard that the 58-year-old driver, Harry Clarke, had a long history of fainting and dizziness which he had kept hidden from several employers and, presumably, from the DVLA. "Doctors do have concerns that because the law does not require an individual to see their own GP for this examination then the individual may be able to hide a long-term medical condition," said a BMA spokesperson.

The D4 medical assessment has to be completed by "a doctor registered and licensed to practice in the United Kingdom or registered within the EU", says the DVLA guidance sent out with

licence renewal forms. The nearest it gets to recommending drivers see their own GP is to point out that this may "speed up your application."

Neither the BMA nor the Surrey doctors' surgery was able to offer any justification for charging £136, let alone £170 or more for this examination. The D4 medical examination report for a group 2 licence has to be completed when a driver gets a vocational licence initially and then every five years after the driver reaches the age of 45. The examination is needed annually from age 65.

The BMA does not know how many truck and bus drivers go to their own GPs for these examinations and how many go to doctors they have never seen before.

The Driven to Despair report called for action "to improve the robustness of assessments of fitness to drive for people with certain medical conditions and disabilities." Without this, it warned, "there are risks that people fit to drive will be denied a licence to do so, and others, who pose a risk to the public and themselves, will keep their licence and continue to drive."

DRIVER MEDICALS: FITTER THAN THEY WERE BUT STILL FAR FROM PERFECT

A

In safe hands? The DVLA has responded to a fiercely critical report.

PUBLICATION COUNTRY

Auto-en Transportwereld Netherlands

Auto, tekniikka ja kuljetusa Finland

Commercial Vehicle Engineer United Kingdom

Fleet Transport Ireland

Kamioni Bulgaria

KASA Turkey

KFZ-Anzeiger Germany

Mobilität Switzerland

TRAILER INNOVATION


he diversity of this whole award scheme, both in international reach and product types, is epitomised as much by this category as any this year. Entries come from Poland, Italy, Belgium, France, UK and

Finland as well as from Germany.The UK’s top-selling trailer-maker, Northern Ireland-based

SDC Trailers, has been part of China’s giant CIMC (China International Marine Containers) group since a takeover deal was clinched in June 2016. As if to underline that the company is just as keen now to stay in touch with market demands as it always was as an independent, SDC takes third place with 100 points for its hydraulic lifting-deck curtainsider. There is nothing new about the idea of increasing a trailer’s pallet-carrying capacity by adding a second, lifting-deck. But SDC is right to point out that rival lifting decks have been prone to hydraulic failure and sensor reliability problems. SDC’s engineers have worked hard at trying to avoid such all-too-familiar shortcomings with a design which they confidently predict will prove “simple and effective”.

TRAILER INNOVATION TRAILER INNOVATION

Caption here: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxx

Delete: stackable skip system.

SDC: hydraulic lifting-deck curtainsider.

Goldhofer: wind turbine blade tip lifting device.

T

BODY

Body (top-scoring three entries)

COMPANY PRODUCT POINTS

Goldhofer Bladex wind turbine blade tip lifting device

105

Delete SkipUp stackable skip container system 102

SDC Trailers Hydraulic lifting-deck curtainsider 100

A Finnish company with the unlikely name of Delete takes second prize in this category for

a skip-stacking system which is certainly novel. The SkipUp system in effect multi-tasks and thus saves time and effort by allowing a truck to pick up a full skip at the same time as an empty one is lowered to replace it. The skip-stacking system is compatible with “all conventional hooklift” equipment, it is claimed. All Trailer Innovation award entrants are invited to explain what value is added by their product for transport operators. Delete’s bold claim is that the SkipUp system can cut transport costs in half, increase site safety and “triple the capacity of skip storage areas.” How on earth does it do all this?

Go to www.delete.fi for a helpful video showing exactly how the system works. There you will also find the answer to where the curious company name comes from: a determination to delete your problems.

Goldhofer, a heavy haulage trailer specialist based in Memmingen, Germany, is no stranger to Trailer Innovation awards. Four years ago its STZ-MPA low-loader trailer won the chassis category, impressing the judges with its MacPherson strut suspension, reckoned to be a first on trailers of this type. Two years later and Goldhofer was on the podium again, taking second place in the chassis category with the Addrive high-speed, self-propelled (diesel-powered) modular transporter (SPMT). This year Goldhofer goes one better with first place in the body category for its Bladex FSH 10, in essence a scissor-lift system for the huge wind turbine blades that are often carried on trailers of this type.

Which problems does the Bladex solve? A long list offered by Holger Stahnker, Goldhofer’s head of design, includes “ fast delivery of long wind turbine blades over long distances; blade tips can be raised to pass over obstacles at difficult or narrow points en route; vehicle length can be reduced where space is limited such as on roundabouts (the Bladex system is mounted on longitudinal rails in the trailer bed); and significant cost savings as the FSH 10 avoids the need for an operator to switch to a self-propelled vehicle en route.”

www.delete.fi


he top three awards in this category go to a tandem-axle dolly for 25.25-metre roadtrains, a self-steering

axle aimed mainly at milk tanker operators, and an extendible platform skeletal container-carrying trailer with a novel central spine for its chassis frame.

Fliegl is a family owned group based in Triptis, Germany. Its trailer-making division has earned a reputation for sound, innovative engineering among a host of German truck fleet operators. Fliegl’s engineers are among the many who support the economic and environmental benefits offered by truck/trailer combinations that go beyond the length limits applying currently in most European countries. The new Fliegl CLG (“clever, light guided”) tandem axle dolly is designed primarily for one of those combinations, what Fliegl calls Road Train 2.0, with a rigid three-axle prime mover pulling a dolly with a fifth-wheel coupling that in turn is coupled to a semi-trailer.

The CLG dolly is claimed to be remarkably light - saving as much as 1,300kg by comparison with other dollies of this type. That may ring durability alarm bells among sceptical fleet engineers. Fliegl is keen to reassure them. “Mechanical is

logical. Mechanical is reliable. Mechanical is sustainable,” says marketing manager Tina Böttcher. “That is why Fliegl Trailer favours mechanical solutions. This is how the CLG avoids breakdowns and the resulting downtime and costs.”

BPW has been making self-steering trailer axles for decades. Improved manoeuvrability and extended tyre life are the selling points which often strike a chord in particular with the likes of milk tanker operators having to cope with difficult-to-access collection and delivery on farms and in congested urban streets. But axles of this kind generally have to be locked in the straight-ahead position, losing the manoeuvrability benefits, when trailers are being reversed. BPW’s new electro-hydraulic auxiliary steering system maintains the self-steering function just as well when a trailer is being reversed as when it is going forwards. The system is summed up as “an easy-to-install discrete solution consisting of a control unit, hydraulic power unit and steering cylinder.”

Kässbohrer, based in Ulm, Germany and part of Turkey’s fast-growing Tirsan trailer-making group for the past 16 years, took first prize in the Trailer Innovation “safety” category two years ago with an extensively re-engineered bitumen tanker. This time around Kässbohrer engineers turned their attention to extendible, PSK (platform skeletal) trailers designed to carry ISO shipping containers ranging in length from 20ft to 45ft.

The trailer-maker’s research suggested that one of the most common operational problems with current extendible trailers employing a rectangular-section central spine is stress to welded parts such as axle support beams and suspensions, the result of repeated twisting of the central spine. Kässbohrer’s answer is a novel,

octagonal-section central spine for the trailer chassis frame, which now boasts far greater torsional stiffness. “Front, middle and rear extensions and carefully-designed locking mechanisms enable the most-user-friendly operation, even for an average driver,” claims the company. The Kässbohrer multifunctional container chassis scoops top prize in this category for 2019.


Kässbohrer Multi-functional, skeletal container chassis, K.SHG AVMH, with octagonal section central spine

111

BPW Electro-hydraulic auxiliary steering system for self-steering trailer axles

108

Fliegl Fahrzeugbau CLG (Clever Light Guided) for roadtrains

105

Fliegl: hello dolly (the clever, light and guided variety).

BPW: electro-hydraulic steering.

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CHASSIS


Chassis (top-scoring three entries)

Kässbohrer: octagonal-section spine for platform skeletal.


COMPONENTS

he top three awards in this category are shared between four countries. How so? Because third

place goes to a join entry from Firestone Industrial Products of the Netherlands and Knorr-Bremse of Germany. An electronic sensor from Firestone has been integrated into a Knorr-Bremse control system for a tri-axle semi-trailer air suspension. Operating engineers may be surprised that this has not been done before, given the popularity of trailer air suspensions, but it seems not. “Current (electronic) levelling control systems use a mechanical lever arm, typically mounted between the axle and trailer chassis,” explains Firestone business development manager Thijs Versteegh. “The installation, consisting of several mechanical components, is exposed to the environment and to suspension movements. Wear effects, misalignment, faulty installation or adjustments are not directly detectable, risking wrong trailer height settings and even dangerous trailer operation or vehicle damage.” The electronic sensor integral with the airbag is far better protected and its software provides continuous monitoring, he points out.

Second place goes to what is claimed to be a “world first” from Takler, an Italian group specialising in trailer components such as sideguards, access ladders, and load-restraint systems. The Trailer Innovation 2019 prize-winning Takler product is a fresh twist on the humble trailer spare wheel carrier. The WheelEasy is boldly claimed to be the “only assisted wheel carrier in the world”. At the heart of the product is a stainless-steel, sliding platform employing rollers and gas-springs which is said to be easy to operate by anyone, such as a driver, needing to access the spare wheel, typically because of a puncture. “The operator applies a force of only about 20kg to move the wheel,” says Takler marketing manager Simona Simone. “The changed wheel then slides back on the carrier. The plate is taken back to the horizontal position with a force of only 6kg.”

Easy of use, with due regard for the latest health and safety regulations, is also at the core of the design of the product taking the top prize in this category. It is the Ergowall, moveable bulkhead for refrigerated bodywork and comes from Lamberet, one of France’s top manufacturers of controlled temperature trailers and bodies. What exactly sets this product apart from the many other types of moveable multi-compartment reefer body bulkhead already on the market? A question for Lamberet marketing director Quentin Wiedemann.

“All the handles have been created and positioned in such a way that the user remains in safe ergonomic positions, whatever its height,” he says. “It automatically locks into work and resting positions, without the user having to do anything. It ensures that the bulkhead is always safely positioned. Exposed surfaces, which are food-safe, are reinforced against impacts from fork-lift trucks and friction from transported goods. Risk of corrosion on metal parts has been eliminated by using stainless steel and aluminium parts only.”

Full production of the Ergowall started last month.

oad security, tipper trailer versatility, and a root-and-branch trailer re-engineering focused on greater stability

and lower kerb weight are the disparate topics addressed by the top three entries in this category.

Theft of cargo, especially the high-value variety, is rising sharply across Europe, according to TAPA (the Transported Asset Protection Association), a respected, 600-member international standard-setting body based in the Netherlands. The total value of truck loads lost to thieves in Europe last year is put at an eye-watering €105 million (£93 million), up more than 10% on the 2016 total. Small wonder then that Dutch trailer-maker Talson Trailer is confident of finding customers aplenty for its new Secure Box dryfreight bodywork. What is described as a “layered design” of sandwich panel is said to make the panels strongly resistant to any attempt by villains to cut their way in with grinders or cutting tools. This includes the roof panels which are made from “optimum grade” aluminium on the outside, reinforced with galvanised steel sheet, with high-

density foam and polyester composite sheets to finish them off. More than this, wiring built into the composite panel, and described as “cage-type”, can be connected to any proprietary alarm system which would be activated when the panel is penetrated beyond a certain point. As for the rear closure, Talson sales manager Johan Verdonschot confidently claims: “Our Secure Box features one of the most impenetrable doors on the market. The layered design with optimum grade aluminium panels on the outer panel with aluminium omega-profile door frames and finished stainless steel features container

style longitudinal door-locks.” This, it is claimed, is now the most secure dryfreight box-body on the market.

Talson: boxing clever.

Secure Box body panels: stealing the show.

Takler: spare wheel access

made easy.

Lamberet: Ergowall moveable bulkhead.

T

L

Firestone and Knorr-Bremse: novel levelling control system.



Kögel Trailer Novum modular trailer chassis frame and bodywork design

114

Huesker Synthetic Flexcover Combi Plus flexible bag allowing tipper bodywork to switch between solid and liquid loads

103

Talson Trailer Secure Box dryfreight bodywork claimed to be “ultra secure” against cargo theft

99

Concept (top-scoring three entries)

Components (top-scoring three entries)


Lamberet Ergowall moveable bulkhead for multi-compartment, controlled-temperature bodywork

112

Takler WheelEasy easy-access spare-wheel carrier for semi-trailers

103

Firestone Industrial Products and Knorr-Bremse

AirRide Pro and iLvL air suspension system with electronic levelling control

99

CONCEPT


Huesker Synthetic of Gescher, in Germany’s North Rhine-Wetsphalia region, specialises in technical textile materials. What has taken it to second place in the Trailer Innovation 2019 “concept” category? The answer is the bright idea of applying one of these technical textile materials to allow a truck or trailer tipper body built to carry solid bulk material to carry liquids as well. The Flexcover Combi Plus is a giant flexible storage bag designed to hold liquids including fertilisers, pesticides, brine and many others. Huesker likes to call the system “a volume tailgate” which can quickly and easily replace a tipper body’s standard tailgate, enabling the operator to take advantage of liquid return loads after an outward trip carrying solid material.

The trailer-maker with arguably the most innovations of all on show in Hannover last month is Kögel, of particular interest to UK-based operators since the appointment last year of Staffordshire-based Trans UK Equipment Management as its UK distributor.

Kögel’s German parent group, Humbaur, has invested heavily in modernising the company’s two main factories, in Burtenbach, Germany and Chocen, Czech Republic. This already seems to be paying off handsomely with orders said be up 50% so far this year compared with 2017. Kögel expects to build 18,000 trailers this year. Its latest design of robot welded chassis frame, called Novum, boasts greater torsional stiffness yet significantly lower kerb weight than its predecessor. A kerb weight as low as 5,550kg is said to be easily achievable, for instance, with a standard Novum Cargo tri-axle curtain-sider. Weightsaving on the latest Kögel coil-carrier curtain-sider is even more impressive: as much as 410kg compared with the previous model.

And the company’s list of innovations does not end with the chassis frame. A novel load restraint system for curtain-siders, called FastFix, employs textile straps in place of conventional slats made

of wood, aluminium or steel, thus saving more weight and considerable driver inconvenience without, it is claimed, sacrificing anything in load security.

The Novum’s 114 points from the judging panel make it the clear winner of the 2019 concept category.

Huesker Synthetic: Flex Cover Combi PLus (above).Kögel: Novum modular chassis frame and bodywork.

18 OCTOBER 2018 > COMMERCIAL VEHICLE ENGINEER

It can be seen as a measure of the extent of current concern about the poor environmental credentials of conventional, diesel-powered transport refrigeration units that the top three point scorers in this category all offer alternatives.

Most radical of the three is the plug-in, lithium-ion battery pack from AddVolt of Portugal. It is designed to be bolted on easily to a truck or trailer and enable the diesel-fuelled refrigeration unit to run on electricity, perhaps in ultra-low emission zones or whenever quiet operation is demanded, perhaps at night in a city.

“Trucks and trailers equipped with refrigeration units driven by a dedicated diesel engine consume between three and five litres of diesel per working hour (around 500 litres per month), emit large amounts of carbon dioxide (around 13 tonnes per year), have high maintenance costs, and a huge level of noise emissions,” says AddVolt founder and chief executive Bruno Azevedo. “AddVolt’s engineers identified the need/opportunity and developed the world’s first plug-in electrical solution to run the refrigeration unit always in electric mode, while the truck is parked and/or during transport on roads. The solution is very easy to install by any bodybuilder and simple to use by the driver and maintenance team.” A regenerative braking system is used to top up battery charge while the truck or trailer is on the move.

A rather different solution to the same essential problem is offered by the Frigoblock division of the giant Thermo King global transport refrigeration group in the shape of the SLXi hybrid which combines a diesel (or gas or bioethanol) engine with an electric motor to power the refrigeration unit’s compressor.

What Frigoblock calls its Enviro-Drive package for a tractive unit comprises an alternator and inverter filter.

Thermo King’s arch-rival Carrier Transicold beat it to the top Trailer Innovation environment award this year with a Supra truck refrigeration unit fuelled by compressed natural gas. Surprisingly, given the growing popularity of CNG truck engines, this is claimed to be the only refrigeration unit of this kind currently available. “The CNG-powered Supra was developed to be fully compatible with trucks using a gas engine, without adding complexity but offering multiple benefits for users,” says Carrier. “It is easy to operate and because there is one common fuel for both engines, the truck and refrigeration unit have a single point of refill.”

ENVIRONMENT


Carrier Transicold Europe

Supra truck refrigeration unit fuelled by compressed natural gas (CNG)

111

Thermo King group’s Frigoblock division

SLXi hybrid (diesel/electric) trailer refrigeration unit drive system

106

AddVolt Bolt-on and plug-in electrical drive system for truck and trailer refrigeration units

99

Frigoblock: diesel/electric hybrid.

AddVolt: current affairs for truck and trailer refrigeration.

Carrier Transicold: truck refrigeration fuelled by compressed natural gas.


Environment (top-scoring three entries)


SAFETY Safety (top-scoring three entries)

Bernard Krone: how smart can a trailer be?

Companies from France, the Netherlands and Germany ended up in contention for the top three honours in this category. Third place goes to D-Tec Products of the Netherlands for its on-board container weighing system, development of which was prompted by the introduction two years ago of a new international law requiring that logistics companies and freight forwarders always stipulate the actual laden weight of shipping containers.

“Using the D-Tec system makes it unnecessary to drive additional kilometres looking for a weighbridge,” says marketing assistant Joanne Arends. “We have a solution that can function worldwide and can exchange details such as verified gross mass worldwide.”

The latest refrigerated semi-trailer from Chereau of France is claimed to be the first anywhere with a multiplex electrical system, using CAN-bus (controller area network) technology of the kind that has long been familiar on powered vehicles of all kinds. “For the first time, a tractor and its trailer can fully communicate with each other,” says Chereau marketing director Christophe Danton. “Our Next trailer is also the technological base for future autonomous vehicles. All trailer equipment is linked together on a network, so information about its status can be shared.”

But the 128 points amassed by Schmitz Cargobull, Europe’s biggest trailer-maker, proved unbeatable in this category this year. The company’s Trailer Connect SmartTrailer system is claimed to set a new standard in the field of trailer telematics.

Marco Reichwein is managing director of the Schmitz group’s Cargobull Telematics division. He says that the new reefer telematics system comprises “four pillars”, designed to please not only operators but also their customers and drivers.

Pillar one is TrailerConnect, involving data from sensors all over the trailer including brakes, tyres, door locks, temperature sensors and the refrigeration unit.

Pillar two, TrailerConnect TCU3, is described by Reichwein as “the fruit of 20 years experience of trailer telematics.” The unit stores temperature data going back up to twelve months, controls door locks, controls and records tyre pressures, records brake wear, and battery condition. The TCU3 can be retrofitted to old trailers and is compatible with other, non-Schmitz telematics systems, it is claimed.

SMART TRAILER

Chereau: Next-generation trailer multiplexing.

D-Tec: detecting demand for container-weighing system.

Schmitz Cargobull: 3D cameras and telematics.



Bernard Krone Smart Trailer Check digital system for trailer walk-around safety checks, employing tablet computers and “augmented reality”

113

BPW iGurt electronic buckle for monitoring tension of load-securing straps

109

Wabco Trailer EBS new-generation electronic braking system for trailers

99

Wabco: taking EBS to the next level.

This was probably the hardest-fought of all categories this year, with no fewer than 14 entries. At the top of the list when all points were counted are three familiar Trailer Innovation names: Wabco, BPW and Krone.

A new generation of trailer electronic braking systems (EBS) comes from Wabco, a giant multinational component and system supplier with its head office in Belgium. The new Wabco EBS is available in four variants. Tyre pressure monitoring is said to be one of the functions built in as standard with all variants but blind spot monitoring is there only with the more costly “premium” variant.

BPW has earned a reputation for coming up with several practical bright ideas since it stepped up diversification away from its core axle- and suspension manufacturing activity. Here is another to add to the list: the curiously-named iGurt “ intelligent strap monitoring system” for load retaining straps. In essence, this is a sort of electronic buckle which continuously measures and displays strap tension. Should the tension drop below a pre-set level, the driver is warned by means of a smartphone app linked by Bluetooth to the iGurt system.

But even this clever system was trumped in the safety category this year by the Smart Trailer Check system from Bernard Krone, Germany’s (and probably Europe’s) second biggest trailer-maker. Kurt Kunz is Krone’s research and development manager. “All the driver needs is a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet computer,” he explains. “Using augmented reality, information is visually depicted, superimposing images or information alongside actual surroundings. And information from the walk-around check process is sent to the truck operator

before the trip starts by means of the Krone telematics unit on the trailer and the Krone Smart Collect system. This allows the driver to check the trailer efficiently, thus contributing to road safety, while the fleet operator has greater instant transparency on the current state of the trailer.”

BPW: feeling the tension, electronically.


Pillar three, TrailerConnect Portal 2.0, can host a vast array of data regardless of trailer and refrigeration unit type. The system’s on-line display includes vehicle location, internal trailer temperatures and door openings. Temperature settings and door locks can be controlled and adjusted remotely. Geo-fencing can be used to prevent the doors from being opened outside of predetermined locations.

Pillar four is a cellular phone and tablet computer app called beSmart. The main idea of this is to enable truck drivers to more easily control SmartTrailer systems such as the refrigeration unit and door locks. The app can even be used to trigger a temperature recording printer.

Peter-Hendrik Kes, boss of the Schmitz group’s parts and service division, believes that no other trailer-maker is as advanced as his company in using telematics

for condition monitoring and predictive maintenance. The Schmitz Smart Services system started in 2002. Now the maintenance history of around 650,000 trailers are on file.


Schmitz Cargobull Telematics Load Compartment Detection, load area monitoring system using 3D cameras

128

Chereau Multiplexing system, called Next, for refrigerated semi-trailers

119

D-Tec Products On-board weighing and track-and-trace system for shipping containers

106

Smart trailer (top-scoring three entries)

TRAILER INNOVATION


NEWS FROM THE NORTH

Volvo FH420 eight wheeler with Fassi crane in the livery of MB Plant, Peterhead. Photo: Sharon Moffat.

TruckScotSceneOriginally published in

An Iveco Stralis 330 six wheeler loaded with a couple of Marshall Trailers from Graham Mutch Transport, Elgin. Photo: Sharon Moffat.

Brand new addition the IG Currie fleet in forestry spec. The Volvo FH4 500 is loaded with a Cat bulldozer. Photo: Alan Shearer.


NEWS FROM THE NORTH ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN

New addition to the fleet of B&M Steel, Aberdeen. Smart DAF CF Euro 6 rigid driven by Alexander Morrison. Photo: Alan Shearer.

C Range Tridem hook loader, one of several new Renault trucks to join the fleet of Barclay Transport, Inverness. Photo: Darren Green.

One of a pair of Renault T Range 6x2 tag axle units to join the fleet of Steven Barclay. Photo: Ian Lawson.

Pat Munro of Alness recently put this new Mercedes Econic, six wheel refuse collection wagon on the road. Photo: Ian Lawson.

The second S580 Next Generation Scania, taken with livered curtain, to join the DM Carnegie fleet about to make her first trip. Photo: Alan Shearer.

DAF XF Super Space cab from Edward MacKay of Brora who had two trucks running from Netherglen Quarry into the new business park outside Elgin. Photo: Sharon Moffat.


POINTS OF VIEW

Now running a total of 50 artics and rigids on waste collection, landfill and recycling work, Lancashire-based Monks

Contractors has an ongoing need for professional backup and support that goes beyond the established schemes already offered by the truck chassis manufacturers.

‘Thompsons ServiceTech gives us a level of support that’s genuinely hard to beat,’ says director Chris Monk. ‘Where it really scores is in the range of services it offers for specialist components and bodywork.’

The Monks Contractors fleet features a wide range of top spec, heavy-duty trucks that are carefully configured to make light work of their arduous tasks. Notable among these are six recently delivered Renault double-drive tractors, a wide variety of Volvo FH 6x2 and 6x4 tractors, FMX 8x4 rigids and, most recently, a pair of brand new ‘68’ registered Scania XT hookloaders.

‘Before they go on the road, our tractors all go to ServiceTech for the fitting of their hydraulics and wet kits,’ says Chris. ‘Thompsons must have done over 50 tractor wet kits for us by now. We see this as a specialist area of engineering so we want the people with the most knowledge and experience doing the work. Similarly, we need a proven, professional level of response if there’s ever a problem with a vehicle in service.

‘Recently we had just such an issue with a faulty pump with one of our vehicles stuck on a landfill site. ServiceTech responded immediately, came to the site, got the unit swapped over and the truck was soon on its way. That’s the real world we all work in, and it’s good to see others having the ability to respond quickly and professionally when the need arises.’

Loading bulk waste into tall, high capacity trailers followed by tipping out on landfill sites is among the hardest work

that any truck can do, and on intensive, short-haul work the Monks trucks can do this up to six times per day. This is where the double drive tractors and their high capacity all steel 95cu.yd ejector trailers really come into their own, manoeuvring and reversing over soft, uneven ground before tipping up to 20 tonnes of general refuse each time.

Interestingly, ejector trailers are much preferred to walking floors for this work due to their much faster load discharge, typically around three minutes, with the added advantage that as the load is pushed rearwards and out onto the ground the whole truck is also pushed forwards and out of its ‘settled’ position on the soft ground surface.

With vehicles operating in such arduous conditions, effective maintenance support is vital to keep the trucks moving, which is why Monks now also relies on Thompsons ServiceTech for many of its ad hoc needs

North of England specialist haulage company takes full benefit from Thompsons ServiceTech’s ability to provide a full range of product support services, for both new trucks and those already hard at work.

THOMPSONS SERVICETECH SUPPORTS MONKS ENTIRE FLEET

NEWS FROM THE NORTH



One of three Mercedes Actros 630 6x2 mid-lift tractor units supplied to Grampian Continental. Photo: Ian Lawson.

Rare DAF95 400 Space Cab still puts in a load or two for McDonald Haulage Contractors, Invergordon. Photo: Darren Green.

New crane on its first run to Kilbraur Windfarm for Whyte Crane Hire. Photo: Peter Sutherland.

Fresh looking Scania Topline 164L 480 V8 in VG Mathers, Aberdeen livery. Photo: Darren Green.

The livery of Whyte Crane Hire heavy crane division in Grangemouth unmistakable on this Scania Topline Streamline R580 V8 6x4 heavy tractor unit plated for 150 tonnes, with Alcoa Dura-Bright wheels. Photo: Darren Green.


THE TRUCK ADVOCATE

I am a transport manager for a company with a large fleet

of vehicles. I have been told by management that vehicles below 3.5 tonnes are not within my remit as CPC holder. Is this accurate?

All vehicles being operated commercially, irrespective of weight,

should be diligently managed by the user.Whilst vehicles less than 3.5 tonnes do

not require to be allocated to an operator licence, they must still be properly maintained and managed to ensure general compliance. That means ensuring they are roadworthy, defects are quickly identified and promptly rectified, vehicles are not overloaded and that drivers are returning any necessary paperwork/records.

It must be noted that any prohibitions accrued by these vehicles can adversely impact your licence through the Operator Compliance Risk Score (OCRS) system.

If the above vehicles do not come into your remit as transport manager (i.e. what has been outlined in your contract of employment), they should be managed and monitored by another member of staff.

I work for a waste recycling company and was recently stopped

by DVSA. The examiner asked me if I ever transport asbestos and advised that if I do, I would require an ADR licence. Is this true?

This is true, but it’s not a straightforward ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ answer.

Without being too technical, there is more than one type of asbestos classified under ADR: Amphibole and Chrysotile.

For Asbestos Amphibole, 333kg can be carried before full application of ADR regulation is required; for Chrysotile, 1,000kg can be carried.

That means that whilst the load must still be properly packaged and labelled, it does not require the driver to hold ADR qualification.

Anything above those levels however, and ADR would apply. Asbestos is classed as a miscellaneous substance (class 9) and a driver would require the qualification in packages.

If you carry hazardous waste like asbestos, and think that you might be in the scope of ADR, GRT provide regular initial training courses in Glasgow. Visit our website for dates and more info.

My CPC Driver Qualification Card (DQC) expires on 9

September 2019. I completed my last course in January this year but still haven’t received my new card. When will this arrive?

In the past, JAUPT issued DQCs that had more than five years

validity. As soon as you completed 35

GRT is a transport and training organisation specialising in road transport legislation and regulation, offering a range of commercial vehicle compliance services, advising on a number of issues, and operating across Scotland and the north of England.

In conjunction with Transport News, GRT presents this regular Q&A column dealing with compliance and legislation issues relating to road haulage. Readers who have any queries can call 01236 422517, visit grtconsultants.com or post questions on Twitter page, @GRTConsultants.

hours of periodic training, a new card was issued. So for example, if you held a card that expired in September 2019 but completed your 35 hours in September 2016, your new card would have validity from September 2016 to September 2024.

However, this was changed a couple of years ago, and now drivers will only receive their new card within the last 12 months validity of their current card. Your card issue date will be synchronised to the date when your last 35 hours was completed.

To take the example above, the new qualification will be valid from January 2019 until September 2024, so the new card should arrive this coming January.

We have a vehicle that has been off road for some time. Do we

have to remove it from our operator licence? If we keep it allocated to the licence, do we still need to have safety inspections carried out even though it’s not in use?

When you decide for whatever reason that a vehicle will not be

operated, you have the opportunity to remove it from your operator licence and return the vehicle disc to DVSA or place a notice on the vehicle stating that it’s V.O.R (vehicle off road).

If the vehicle is only scheduled to be off road for a short period, you should place a notice within the vehicle inspection file on the day it is removed from service. On this notice should be the vehicle mileage and a short explanation detailing why it’s not being operated.

If the vehicle is still off road by the time the next safety inspection is due, an inspection report should still be completed with the date and vehicle mileage detailed along with V.O.R to highlight the fact the vehicle isn’t in use.

Prior to the vehicle returning to service, a full safety inspection must be carried out. This inspection should be in addition to the other scheduled dates in order to keep within the agreed inspection intervals.

Q

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AA

A

Q

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NEWS FROM THE NORTH



such as routine trailer servicing and repairs. In particular, reliable hydraulic systems are central to the smooth working of Monks’ ejector trailers, both for the ram that pushes out from the front bulkhead and also in operating the lifting rear door.

Trailers working with waste are particularly prone to incidental damage as well, all of which makes the availability of speedy and efficient repairs invaluable. For all these reasons, Thompsons ServiceTech has become Monks’ ideal service partner.

Located on a purpose-built six-acre site halfway between Preston and Blackburn, 2018 sees Monks celebrating its 25th year in business. ‘It all started with a single agricultural tractor and a handy knowledge of mechanics,’ says Chris, ‘but year on year we’ve just done more and more, and now we’re active in other areas too, such as plant hire and drainage services.

‘As far as the haulage side goes, moving waste has almost limitless future potential, especially with the huge emphasis now being put on recycling. Right now, on transport our recycling ratio to landfill is about 80/20, and it’s increasing all the time. In moving recyclable products we’re also traveling much further afield, as well as taking woodchip to power stations in Scotland.

WALKING FLOOR TRAILERS

For all this work, our 6x2 Volvo FHs working with lighter maximum capacity alloy-bodied walking floor trailers are ideal vehicles.

Whilst the core of the Monks fleet are artics, rigid 8x4 hookloaders are steadily becoming more prominent, these being used not just for collecting waste from industrial premises but also bins at local authority operated household waste sites.

Drawing Monks and Thompsons even closer together is the fact that ServiceTech is now one of the UK’s leading suppliers of hookloaders and skiploaders, with the result that Thompsons has fitted and supplied six new hookloaders to Monks in the last year, four on Volvo FMX chassis and two on Scania XTs.

One of the key reasons for Monks’ success is that despite its current 90-plus headcount, the company is still very much a family firm operated with a strong family ethos. Jointly owned and run by Chris and his wife Louise, their daughters Hannah and Lauren are also highly active in the business.

So what’s next for this steadily growing enterprise? Whatever else happens in the UK economy, the waste and recycling industry can only get bigger, which in turn gives the whole Monks operation particular confidence in its future.

As a result, the workshop area is now being extended to include a DVSA approved MOT test bay, which will provide an invaluable facility as the fleet continues to grow. Further aiding vehicle productivity is an on-site waste shredding facility which helps to ensure that trailers carrying products for recycling are fully loaded.

As for Thompsons, it’s been just two short years since ServiceTech was set up as a separate business unit within the parent group. ServiceTech has now blossomed

into a major supplier of specialist engineering services covering all types of vehicles employed across the tipping, waste, utility and environmental services industries.

As manager Nathan Ewins notes, ‘ServiceTech now offers truck operators a virtually unlimited range of services for bodywork and specialist components. We can supply and fit everything from tractor kits, catwalks, cranes and sheeting systems through to complete new skiploaders and hookloaders, all backed up by extensive facilities for repair, refurbishment, shotblasting and paint. Our relationship with Monks goes back some 15 years, which suggests there’s real value in everything we do.’

Chris Monk concludes by saying, ‘In our experience, the range of services, capability and depth of expertise that ServiceTech offers are quite unique. As a result, we trust them with not only delivering many of the specialist requirements on our new vehicles, but also in looking after those already on the road when needing servicing or repairs.’

Chris and Louise Monks

Hannah and Lauren Monk Nathan Ewins

https://grtconsultants.com/

https://twitter.com/grtconsultants


PEOPLE PEOPLE

PEOPLE

avid Gregory has joined Tiger Trailers, a fast-growing Cheshire-based trailer-maker and bodybuilder set

up four years ago by brothers Steven and John Cartwright, to take charge of health, safety and environmental (HSE) matters. Mr Gregory is a health and safety specialist who has worked for the past ten years at the giant GE group’s oilfield services and products divisions, latterly as “HSE leader” at Skelmersdale, Lancashire-based Baker Hughes. For three years before that he was health and safety adviser at Indesit, an Italian manufacturer of domestic appliances.

“Dave’s vast amount of experience in the area of health and safety will be a significant benefit to Tiger Trailers, and strengthen our reputation as a socially responsible business,” says joint managing director John Cartwright. “All of us at Tiger look forward to working with Dave as we continue to develop our already outstanding culture of safety awareness.”

He and his brother quit the Cartwright-family-owned Cartwright Group of Altrincham four years ago to set up a new company following an acrimonious split with other Cartwright family members over business development plans. Sceptics doubted that there was room in the highly competitive UK truck and trailer bodywork market for a new entrant starting from scratch but the Tiger Trailers success story so far has proved them wrong. The workforce has grown fast to around 200 at present, and a new, purpose-built manufacturing plant in Winsford, Cheshire is due to be opened officially within two months.

“This is a fantastic opportunity to work in such a fast-growing business and at such a pivotal moment, with the company shifting to its new state-of-the-art facility in December,” says Mr Gregory.

Jonathan Wood has been promoted to global components engineering vice president at Cummins, a giant

US-based multinational engine and power systems manufacturing group with extensive UK operations. Mr Wood has been research and engineering executive director at the group’s “emissions solutions” division, based alongside the long-established Cummins diesel engine manufacturing plant in Darlington, County Durham, since April 2017. For nearly seven years before that he was research and engineering executive director at Huddersfield, West Yorkshire-based Cummins Turbo Technologies. Both these operations are part of a global components division, headed by Tracy Embree, and encompassing electronics and fuel systems, turbochargers, filters and exhaust emissions control equipment used on many other engines as well as Cummins’ own.

Mr Wood joined Cummins in 2005 as advanced engineering programme leader. His posts since then include heavy-duty turbocharger chief engineer and director of engineering in the group’s Asia operation. He has a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Sheffield.

“Jonathan has shown a commitment to technical excellence throughout his career,”

says Mrs Embree, Cummins Components president. “His technical oversight of our product development programmes globally for different emissions levels is critical to our success.”

Mr Wood recently outlined how engineering teams at Cummins Emissions Solutions and Cummins Turbo Technologies are now working more closely together than ever to meet the challenges facing all diesel engine manufacturers at present .

D L ong careers in commercial vehicle engineering are far from

uncommon. But passing the half-century mark nevertheless always warrants celebration. So it is at the Leyland Trucks plant in Lancashire and Optare’s bus-manufacturing site near Leeds, West Yorkshire.

At Leyland Trucks is a DAF Trucks sister company in the Paccar group. Most DAF trucks for the UK market are assembled there. Overall average employment span is put as high as 18 years. But some who have worked at Leyland for as long as 25, 40 and even 50 years were singled out recently for long-service awards.

“It is always a great pleasure to thank long-serving staff for all their hard work and commitment,” says Leyland Trucks managing director Bryan Sitko. “Leyland Trucks employs over 1,000 people, who together have a staggering amount of expertise.”

Manufacturing engineering manager Barry Hodgson this month chalks up a half-century of truck-building at Leyland. “I started my working life as a young lad at Leyland Motors,” he says. “It was a very different company in those days as we manufactured a lot of the components that went into the trucks and buses we built. Factories were spread through the heart of the town of Leyland and further beyond, and the business offered me many opportunities. There have been highs and lows, and I have worked in several areas of the business. Fifty years seem to have passed by very quickly but they have given me some fond memories, and of course I’m still adding to them.”

David Gregory

Tiger Trailers: growing order book, including a first from Ryder, for 15 curtainsiders on its Woodland Group contract.

Tracy Embree

Jonathan Wood

Bryan Sitko and Barry Hodgson


John Seale, senior sales and marketing engineer at Optare for the past

three years, retires this month after a 53-year career in bus and coach engineering. That career started in 1965 at Metro Cammell Weymannn which he joined as an apprentice draughtsman. Mr Seale left the company 23 years later to pursue his ambition to produce his own design of bus and coach bodywork at C G Whittaker (Europa Coaches), based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Subsequently, following the company’s crash, he became engineering design manager at Autobus Classique, later acquired by Optare.

After a brief spell in caravan design, Mr Seale returned to the mainstream bus and coach world.

Seven years ago he rejoined Optare, now part of the India-based Ashok Leyland group, as homologation engineer. He has been senior sales and marketing engineer since 2015.

“Working in a job that you have a real passion for is a privilege enjoyed by few,” he says. “I am fortunate that I have been able to achieve my ambitions. People are an important part of this industry and I will miss them the most. I would not have been able to make this journey without them.”

teve Abrahams, a vehicle glass fitter based in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, is among the latest winners in

a global annual skills competition run by a US-based organisation. Mr Abrahams, who works for the Auto Windscreens business run by a company called Trifords, part of the sprawling Markerstudy group of insurance companies and associated businesses, last month won the “large company” category in the finals of a technician competition run by Auto Glass Week, a publication owned by a Virginia-based publishing and event-organising company, Key Communications.

Among other top award-winners in the 2018 skills competition finals, held in San Antonio, Texas together with an Auto Glass Week conference and exhibition, are Jason Martin of Florida in the “regular-sized company” category; Suzanne Allen of Texas in the “windshield repair” category; and Josh Bradley of South Carolina in the “auto glass technician calibration” category.

Mr Abrahams is no stranger to the Auto Glass Week skills competition. He came third in 2016 and was runner-up last year. His rewards this year for winning the “large company” category include a cash prize of US$5,000 (£3,700).

“I felt like I had unfinished business following last year and am absolutely over the moon to be bringing the winner’s trophy back home to the UK,” he says.

“It was a nerve-wracking experience but I’m beyond happy.”

Two other Auto Windscreens technicians from the UK were among this year’s Auto Glass Week finalists. They are Tom Barker and Craig Richmond-Cole.

“It was an absolute pleasure to witness Steve in action and I’m ecstatic with how all three of our technicians performed at the event under intense pressure,” says Auto Windscreens managing director Rupert Armitage. “They have all done us proud and expertly showcased our technical excellence on an international playing field.”

The Auto Windscreens operation, based in Chesterfield, has around 400 employees and is one of the UK’s biggest vehicle glass repair specialists. But it has a chequered history.

The business was established originally in Chesterfield by a local entrepreneur, Brian Holmes. Subsequently it was bought and sold by a string of giant companies, including the HSBC bank, Lex Service, insurance company Aviva, and German investment firms.

In 2011 Auto Windscreens went into administration. In what seemed like a carefully pre-planned move, the huge Markerstudy group of insurance companies, claims-management firms and at least one body-repair business (Tonbridge Coachworks), set up Trifords specifically to buy some Auto Windscreen assets, including rights to the brand name, from the administrators.

T welve months after acquiring Tructyre, a big Hampshire-based tyre management and services company specialising in heavy commercial vehicles, Michelin has unveiled plans

to merge the business with its ATS Euromaster tyre distribution operation. The new division is to be called Tructyre ATS and will focus on vehicles at 3.51 tonnes gvw (gross vehicle weight) and above, including trucks, trailers, buses and coaches, leaving ATS Euromaster to concentrate on lighter vehicle tyres and vehicle maintenance. The plan is understood to be to try to replicate Tructyre’s successful southern England business model throughout the UK, with four additional regional Tructyre ATS managing directors: for the south-west, midlands, north and Scotland.

It remains to be seen whether the new operation will need to recruit additional employees. ATS Euromaster says that “selected staff ” will be transferring to the five Tructyre ATS regions.

ATS Euromaster is reckoned to be the UK’s biggest tyre distributor with around 330 sites, 700 service vans and around 2,300 employees. Tructyre grew consistently after being established in 1996. Its workforce now includes around 130 technicians based at 25 service centres in southern England.

Glenn Sherwood is Tructyre’s founder and has remained as chief executive following the Michelin acquisition. “Tructyre ATS is set to become the largest service provider in the UK specialising in the management of tyres for heavy vehicle operators,” he says.

“We will also be in the unique position of having the only truly consistent national offering for local, regional and national heavy fleet customers. Our goal is to ensure we provide continuity and consistently high levels of service. We will draw upon the expertise of both organisations and utilise the latest tyre management technology to deliver first-class service and maximum fleet uptime.”

Martin Kellett is ATS Euromaster group managing director. “Our goal is to achieve long-term sustainability,” he says. “To that end, it makes sense for us to separate the two very different sides of our business. By setting ourselves up in this way, our teams will be able to deliver tailored support and the highest standards of dedicated customer service. This will also create significant opportunities for our people whose experience and talent will form the core of each business.”

PEOPLE PEOPLE

Steve Abrahams

Tructyre ATS: set to become UK’s biggest truck tyre specialist service provider.

John Seale

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TRAILER INNOVATIONS · 2019. 3. 5. · 4 OCTOBER 2018 > COMMERCIAL VEHICLE ENGINEER COMMERCIAL...

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