Specialisation pays dividends
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by Brian Weatherley • Ask Colin Ess, boss of Wisbech-based trailer maker Maxilode, how well his company is performing and he'll tell you to talk to his suppliers.
Maxilode's turnover has jumped from zero to 0.5m since 1989, so they're arguably the best people to judge Maxilode's success.
"The other day the managing director of Rubery OwenRockwell told me that I've got to be one of the fastest growing trailer manufacturers in the country—he'd know better than anybody else as he's supplying to the whole of the industry. I can't think of any other manufacturer whose turnover has gone up by two and a half times in the recession."
Specialisation
For Ess the key to that growth has been specialisation. Most of Maxilode's trailers are niche products with clearly defined buyers—not least those looking at 44-tonne intermodal/container operations. For hauliers considering putting on more weight Maxilode has developed an impressive array of new products.
These include a refined pro duction version of the stepframe triaxle skeletal for tank containers first revealed by Commercial Motor in November 1993.
The new trailer has been developed in conjunction with Terry Redman of Liverpool. based Grafton Trailers, which will produce the chassis for Maxilode.
The revised version is on show at IRTE Telford this week and has gained RO-R lightweight axles and a stronger pressed section neck rated at 11 tonnes.
It comes with pet-reg wiring as standard and on the show trailer alloy wheels and air tanks provide an unladen weight of just 3,800kg.
Maxilode has been quick to provide solutions to those considering higher artic weights. "Everything we do is now designed for 44-tonnes—if it isn't, we won't be building it," says Ess. "We've reacted very quickly to the proposed increase. That's because we're small and we didn't have to do very much to our existing products, they were probably overengineered to start with!"
Maxilode's relatively small operation has, according to Ess, enabled it to tackle low-volume
specialist orders that are less attractive to high-volume makers.
It has supplied two rolling topframe triaxles to P&O for use at 44 tonnes hauling 20ft fridge container boxes.
The specification is similar to 12 sold to Railfreight Distribution two years ago, following extensive trials with a prototype.
Ess is a keen advocate of getting it right before final production. "If the operator doesn't get what he needs it's no good to anybody."
The need for a rolling top frame has been driven by the 8.0m outer-axle spread requirement written into the 44-tonne C&U amendments; a sliding bogie can't be pushed forward enough in the closed position. Only a 7.6m wheelbase can be achieved and consequently a 28-tonne payload at 42 tonnes is possible.
The P&O trailers have a very shallow rolling subframe with a fridge power pack mounted inside the frame.
There's also a new triaxle 44tonne drawbar trailer which can carry 7.15, 7.45 or 7.82m swap bodies depending on the towing vehicle. An example of the new drawbar trailer is also on display at IRTE with a fullair 6x2 Leyland Daf prime mover.
But the most significant product for Maxilode from a volume viewpoint is its 30tonne rolling subframe trailer: 240 have been built so far with TIP taking 100 and 53 going to P&O. A new version on show at Telford, which will carry a 13.6m swap body, has also been sold to TIP.
"To achieve this we've increased the wheelbase and fit. ted as standard a self-tracking axle, again from RO-R, together with a pull-out underrun bumper and light unit which will be necessary because of the overhang of the 13.6m swap body," says Ess, who reckons that 13.6m will be more popular with operators in the UK, particularly those running through France, Spain and Italy, than the shorter boxes on drawbars which in the main will go to Germany and Northern Europe.
A Krone 13.6 SwapTilt in GB Express colours will be shown on the new Maxiroll at Telford.
Lightweight
Completing Maxilode's IRTE display will be a 13.6m Krone Eurotrail lightweight chassis (Maxilode is Krone's UK agent) complete with a Boalloy Tautliner Cabriolet with three sliding posts fitted with wooden boards.
This is also destined for TIP which has placed orders worth more than £1.6m with Maxilode during the past six months.
"That must say something for their confidence in our trailers," says Ess who has not ruled out the possibility of setting up a joint manufacturing and marketing deal with other similarly sized manufacturers.