EUROPEAN TRANSPORT: THE FUTURE
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IVIAINTAINANCE?
JUST LIKE SEX!
• Truck maintenance is like having sex, said the conference paper prepared by Norfolk Line-Holland's Terry Ball. Most people do it, some more often than others, but no-one ever admits to doing it badly — and no-one ever asks for help!
Ball was unable to attend the conference due to ill health, but in his entertaining paper he laid down four important ground rules to be observed before establishing any sort of maintenance programmes — make sure that: the vehicle is legal because if not it will he unsafe and untrustworthy; 0 it is properly reliable or it will fail its annual test;
0 the unit can do what you and your customer require; El your maintenance set-up can go into action as quickly as possible.
Plan ahead, warns Ball's paper, because otherwise, "your gearbox is as sure as hell not going to fail in the workshop."
Planned maintenance is indeed the key — and buy proper spares for the stock shelves. "Do it on the cheap and it's going to be expensive."
Norfolk Line runs nearly 2,000 trailers "and not one carries a spare wheel. The capital required for tyres, wheels and carriers would amount to some 23 million. To service that amount of money would require about £300,000 a year. We do not pay that on roadside tyre problems," says the paper.
Other papers on truck maintenance and vehicle replacement policies included a thought-provoking talk from Leyland's operator support manager Ray Ashworth, entitled: Who needs old trucks?
He told delegates, "trucks do have an economic life for the first generation customer, and that life is three years." The average British lorry is run by its first owner for six to seven years, but that pattern is rapidly changing, mainly due to the rise of contract hire and other leasing and funding systems.
It is better to trade in your truck after three years than six, says Ashworth, because engineering developments will improve fuel efficiency costs over the three year difference, probably leading to savings of up to £1,000. Buying another unit after three, rather than six years, doubles purchase costs — but resale values soar. On a £15,000 Leyland Roadrunner-type truck, an operator will recoup about .£500 after six years. Two three-year-old lorries sold in the same period will fetch about £6,000 each — a total of £12,000. Furthermore, repair costs on a six year run are around 26,000, reckons Leyland. The total for two three year runs would be just £2,700.
These figures give the three year option a £750 advantage, said Ashworth, who added on £3,000 for lower weight costs on the second new truck for the three-yearcycle operator, plus a £500 cost saving on improved servicing techniques. "Therefore, the total benefit on a £15,000 truck could easily be £4,250 over six years," he concluded.
Remember that maintenance never makes money, it will always be essentially a cost, said Ingersoll-Rand's Rudy Lehouk.
The thing to do is to save money by using the best tools for the job — modern and efficient tools can help keep your workshop as productive as possible, he told delegates.
For example, an impact wrench will decrease wheel change times by 70%, said Lahouk, and he argued that air tools are one of the best workshop options.