BUILDING
Page 102
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
FOR THE
FUTURE
Despite the gloomy business climate some bodybuilders are looking to the future and investing in new plants.
• Last month's report by the Confederation of British Industry that Britain is in 'serious recession' came as no surprise to anyone in the road transport industry. Certainly many bodywork and trailer manufacturers have felt the drop in demand over the past year or so and casualties like Coachwork Walker, Carrymaster, Doncaster Trailers, Oldbury Trailers, Transliner and Trailmaster have piled up.
The latest, Bingley-based Wilson Truck Services went into receivership last month.
Some blame the continuing high interest rates, uncertainty over drawbar lengths and the inability to take advantage of changes in EC legislation. Others blame 'bad management'.
Last year was a bumper year for new vehicles and trailers but it stretched manufacturing capabilities.
OPEN MARKET
The imminent arrival of the Channel Tunnel and its dedicated rail terminals plus the unfolding open-market has prompted many firms to restructure their production facilities with a view to achieving the highest quality on a competitive cost-effective basis.
Craven Tasker for example has benefited from a £5m investment programme and has moved from the Sheffield railside premises it has occupied for 125 years to Carr Hill, Doncaster.
The 12,100m2 facility, which was opened last month by Transport Secretary, Cecil Parkinson, sits on a 4.51-la (11 acre) site, adjacent to a similar sized plot for associate company CV Auctions and not far from the proposed intermodal terminal that has also attracted Gray & Adams (see page 12).
Taskers' Garstang plant has been improved, another factory has been added to its Cumbernauld operation while the Woodville plant has been handed over to sister company Montracon which will build trailers there. According to managing director Dennis Kenyon CT's new factory, with its two 18.3m (60ft) paint spray bake and Tilghman automatic shot blast booths is only a third of its intended size.
Carr Hill will produce the full range of Task van bodies and trailers including some for German associate Blumhardt and the Roadrailer intermodal semitrailer, beginning with three prototypes for Charterail.
In addition it is offering a conversion service to bring customers' existing trailers up to the 13.6m mark.
Across the Pennines. Bedwas has opened a new 3,250m2(35,000ft2) factory on a 1.8Ha site close to its existing Common Bank, Chorley plant as part of a Lim investment.
This includes new production lines and 17m (55ft) Weinmann paint spray/bake facility.
The official opening coincided with the introduction of its latest PV600 Leyland Oaf 400-based parcel van with its 1.25 tonne/17m3 capability and the MiniCool reefer box for pickups.
Made initially for P100, Brava or Mitsubishi L200 chassis, the MiniCool has a 6.3m3 (165f13) volume and will carry 660kg at chill temperatures using a topmount Hubbard unit.
There has also been activity at Wisbech where Wilcox-Seadyke has completed a move into a more modern 10,000m2 factory with adjacent 460m2 (4,951ft2) head office/design centre.
Wilcox remains one of Britain's biggest truck bodybuilders, with a turnover of E18 million and a work force of around 275. Apart from the two modern factory units in Wisbech, it retains its existing large factory at Market Deeping, near Peterborough, as well as small regional factories in Glasgow, Darlington and Ilminster and the network is still growing.
The company has just type-approved an all-aluminium ISO container for international carriage of feedstuffs and a tipping body with extruded aluminium plank sides. This offers significantly more internal width than ribbed bodies.
Wilcox-Seadyke is forging links with a continental manufacturer, and hopes this will soon give it the ability to import and market conventional liquid tankers (in steel and aluminium) and reefer vans.
COMMITMENT
Despite the current economic downturn this activity confirms Wilcox's commitment to the bodybuilding market — laying to rest any doubts left by a top management shake-up in the summer. According to commercial director Barry Fiske "Wilcox-Seadyke remains a force to be reckoned with."
With this year's 30% increase in its trailer production looking set to continue into next year, Cartwright Freight Systems has expanded its trailer chassis and bodybuilding capacity. In addition to a new 750m2 (8,073ff2) spray bake paint shop, it has added an extra 3,250m2 (34,983ft2) of manufacturing space to its Altrincham factory.
While CFS attracted considerable attention with its aerodynamic trailer for TNT recently, it is also concentrating on building reefers and drawbar demounts.
At the municipal end of the business, Scarab has built another 930m2 (10,000ft2) of production facility onto its Tonbridge, Kent factory.
E by Barry Vanjis