WANTED: RUGGED RELIABILITY
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SLD uses a computer to keep an eye on its fleet of 7.5-tonners which have to operate in some of the worst conditions imaginable, and get a real hammering in the process.
• In the view of Allan Robinson, transport manager of the SLD group of companies, the 7.5-tonners in a fleet need to be just as rugged and dependable as their heavier counterparts. Their drivers are often recruited for their skill and experience: in SLD's case it could be as fitters, pressure-jetting operators or site building erectors. As a result, non-HGV vehicles tend to be driven with less of the professional respect and understanding that one expects an HGV-qualified driver to exhibit.
Adding to the demands on SLD's 7.5tonners, of which there are now 44, is the group's construction industry connection. Although member companies are engaged in widely-diversified businesses, offering very different products (for sale and for hire) and services, they are all involved in tough, outdoor site operations.
It is therefore not surprising to learn that in specifying vehicles to move its products and plant to sites all over the country, SLD demands rugged reliability to withstand the worst weather and ground conditions. SLD's fleet of trucks and vans come in for plenty of punishment, frequently working round the clock and right through the year, negotiating rough ground and sharp gradients. Drivelines, brakes and suspensions get a real hammering and engines are called upon to deliver their power at constantly varying speeds and loads.
Troublesome vehicles
Diligent monitoring of vehicle operating costs has long been SLD policy, explains Robinson. Using a system integrated into the group's accounts computer, it is possible to track cost patterns and quickly pinpoint troublesome vehicles and recurring repair jobs.
A triplicate purchase order system is rigidly applied when repair or parts replacement costs are incurred at local depots where, for the sake of minimising downtime, local truck and van dealerships inevitably come into the picture. A "repair code" identifies depot locations and individual vehicles. One copy of each purchase order goes to SLD's group transport department at Birtley, County Durham, where it is entered in the computer costcontrol system.
Most of the 7.5-tonne chassis operated by SLD are Mercedes. They include eleven of the older-generation "flat fronted" LP813 models and 28 of the current six-cylinder 814s. Five Bedford TL750 chassis are in service with SLD Pressure Jetting, as the basis for mobile cleaning units which, complete with pump installation, water tank and hosereel, are too heavy to go on a Mercedes chassis without exceeding its plated weight. Robinson says, however, that for all other applications, the sacrifice in payload implicit in the 814 chassis' high tare weight is outweighed by its rugged dependability.
Monthly computer cost-monitoring printouts show the Mercedes to be consistently less expensive to operate than the Bedfords and other makes of lightmiddleweight chassis run by the company in the past, both in the short term and on a whole-life basis.
Widely-spread fleet
Of the group's widely-spread fleet of 7.5tonners, SLD Pumps operates the largest number, delivering sold and hired portable pumping equipment, handling water and semi-solids (eg slurries) at construction, mineral extraction, open-cast coal, power station and other sites. They operate from over 50 SLD Pumps depots, each vehicle covering an average of 48,000Imi a year.
Many of the 7.5-tonners have 5.5m long beaver-tail bodies on to which wheeled plant — notably mobile pumping units — can be winched. Lorry-loader cranes, which have until now been specified by SLD only on vehicles grossing 12 or 13 tonnes, are now being considered for the 7.5-tonners following a diversification into site generator hire and supply, and a growth in smaller skid-mounted pumps, both of which imply bodily-lift handling.
Drawbar combinations A relatively new company in the group is SLD Bobcat. It handles the sale and hire of Clark Bobcat compact skid-steer fourwheeled loaders, with operating capacities up to 3.7 tonnes. Five Mercedes 7.5tonners with 5.5m flatbed bodies deliver Bobcat machines, sometimes two at a time, to sites all over the UK.
Mobile offices and site buildings are the speciality of SLD Rol!along, a longestablished name in the field of portable business accommodation. Seven Mercedes trucks are used to delivery and collect Rollalong units, from six company depots. Rollalong units are delivered using four 7.5 tonne GVW 814s with unusually-long (7.3m) Dependable Bodies winch-fitted bodies. They can be used to haul closecoupled trailer-based modules, again up to 7.3m long, taking full advantage of the 18m limit for drawbar combinations. All-up weight is nevertheless well below the 18-tonne maximum train weight rating of the Mercedes 814.
by Alan Bunting