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'RENTING

13th March 1997, Page 50
13th March 1997
Page 50
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Page 50, 13th March 1997 — 'RENTING
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Continuing our series spotlighting finalists in Commercial Motor's Trailer of the Year competition, we take a look at how Rugby Cement uses its Feldbinder tanker, which won the 1996 best bulker award.

No sensible operator is going to hand .C60,000 worth of trailer over to a. subcontractor without first ensuring he receives training in how to use it correctly. That's why anybody who hauls Rugby Cement's tankers must meet the requirements of its Driver Authorisation Licensing scheme, says logistics and customer support manager Doug Seward.

"Every driver has to undergo a full day's training, and we accompany them on the first few deliveries they make so that we're sure they know what they're doing," he explains, Drivers also have to demonstrate they understand site safety rules, how to use personal protective equipment, and their health and safety responsibilities, and they must carry a licence indicating which activities they are competent in.

"Our customers have tribe sure drivers are safe to come on to their sites, and that no environmental harm will be done," says Seward.

Rugby Cement's tanker trailers are used to transport what is known as part one flyash in bulk, as well as bulk cement.

The ash comes from power stations—the Rugby group includes a company called Ash Resources—and is used to enhance the performance of nyncrete.

"We supply it to various concrete producers and to major construction sites." he explains "We also deliver bagged cement products to builders merchants with a fleet of 35 curtain

sided semi-trailers. We've recently switched away from flatbeds because we wanted a quicker turnround time and better load protection:' Rugby Cement doesn't own any tractive units; it relies exclusively on independent hauliers who provide a traction-only service under contract. Tractors and trailers run in Rugby house colours, and the subcontractors are responsible for maintaining both.

Each trailer is hired by the haulier throughout the contract. Rugby engineers inspect it every six weeks and can carry out spot checks at any time, says Seward.

When Seward took over his present job, in 1989, he inherited a collection of fairly elderly trailers, many of which were tipping tankers. So he sat down with Rugby engineer Nigel Cook and together they drew up a spec for the ideal replacement. Then they showed it to a number of trailer makers and asked them to come up with a suitable product.

"We had varying responses, and our early development trials were not totally successful. But then we became aware of Feldbinderthat was in 1990/91—and we asked them what they could do for us," Seward recalls. "We had decided we wanted to go for non-tipping tankers, both for the payload benefit and on health-and-safety grounds. We had experienced tippers going over, and although there had been very few incidents, there was a perceived risk." "It was a risk we felt we could do away with, and gain other benefits as well," he adds. "As vehicles have got larger, one of the benefits of a non-tipping tanker is that you can park it out-of-line while you are discharging. That can cause less congestion on a customer's site than might be created if you parked it in-line, as you have to with a tipper. In the event we acquired tankers from Feldbinder, Spitzer, and Metalair—two from each—and put them and the suppliers, on trial." The upshot was that Feldbinder Connnertial Motor's 1996 Trailer Of The Year winner in the bulker category—captured the lion's share of the business.

There have been minor updates and modifications over the years, but what Rugby Cement is currently taking from the German manufacturer is a 35m3 all-aluminium tank mounted on a triaxle trailer. The barrel's design has been changed recently, and it's lower, shorter, but wider than its immediate predecessors.

It rides on 9.0-tonne SAF axles with air suspension, and is equipped with a 14-tonne neck and kingpin.

"It was designed for the requirements of 44tonne operation, as best we could judge them back in 1992," Seward says. "The bit that we missed out on is the length. We have a 7-metre wheelbase instead of an 8.0-metre one, so it's quite short. That's where I may have a problem in the future—the design life is 10 years—but Feldbinder is being helpful in looking at how that can be dealt with."

Each trailer is equipped with a Deutz air-cooledengine-driven Gl-III-Rand Eco Air power pack that's enclosed to cut noise. "When we first introduced it customers were saying things like 'are you sure that thing is running?'," Seward laughs. "At 80dB it was markedly quieter than the norm.

"It offers very fast, highpressure, low air volume, discharge. If you use very little air to discharge the product, this minimises the risk of dust emissions," he says. "It operates at 2bar, and holds its pressure extremely well. And if you have a selfcontained unit rather than a PTO you can of course change tractor units without loss of operation."

Payload is 26 tonnes, and each trailer can be used to carry either cement or ash. Benchmark discharge time for both is no more than 1 minute per tonne through the centre rear discharge point, and faster times are often achieved, says

Seward. All the controls are grouped together on the nearside of the tank. "We've changed the valves on the discharge line to pneumatically operated pinch valves as opposed to butterfly valves," he continues. "They're proving more durable."

The tankers can be either rear or toploaded. Most Rugby plants top-load. "Although everything mechanical needs the occasional repair, the Feldbinders have proved extremely reliable," says Seward. Rugby Cement now has 75 in service alongside six Metalairs and 39 older tankers.

Bagged cement is also delivered by indepen

dent contract hauliers. The current crop of trailers they use are built by Wheelbase, with Lawrence David

curtainsider superstructures.

Rugby had stuck with flatbeds for so long because of their payload advantages, but the new curtainsiders offer a 25-tonne payload "that's competitive with what we could achieve on flatbeds" and an unladen weight of 5.7 tonnes.

"We're encouraging the market to move to 2.5kg hags for ease of manual handling," Seward adds, Rugby delivers them on shrinkwrapped disposable pallets.

So how healthy is demand for cement in the UK market?

"Construction is cyclical, and we're not at the top of the cycle, that for sure," he replies. "Things were a little bit busier in the latter part of 1996, however, and there are optimistic signs for this year."

by Steve Banner


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