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The right size
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As big-volume trailer-makers struggle to fill their production lines, Cartwright is busy building trailers for operators who want something that little bit different.
Words: Brian Weatherley / Images: Tom Cunningham Whoever said 'big is beautiful' clearly never ran a large trailer manufacturing plant during the worst economic downturn on record. Just ask KOgel. When the German trailer-maker one of 'The Big Three' recently filed for insolvency, the shockwaves were felt well beyond its home turf.
For Cartwright director Mark Cartwright, however, the key to the company's success, let alone survival, is not to go down the big numbers path in the first place. In fact, he's adamant: "Everybody talks about the magic 15,000 trailers a year in the UK. The first 10,000 will be standard-spec curtainsiders, and that's the sector that will really be hurting with the lower volumes. But it won't hit us so hard because what we're interested in is the remaining 5,000 units that's where we compete and where we do well."
That said, Cartwright does acknowledge that volumes for the Altrincham, Cheshire-based manufacturer will be lower than last year. "Trailers will be down," he says. "We'll probably do around 1,500, but what's more important? Volume or getting business in and making money?" It's a philosophy few trailer producers would question right now. Indeed. Cartwright insists: "If we only do 1,000 trailers this year, we'll still make a profit from them and it will keep men busy. I'm happy with that. It's not our goal to be the biggest. We can do big volumes, but considering the prices being bandied about, it's simply not worth going into. Sure, everything is built to a price, but if it's not at the right price, we would walk away. Our complete product range from trailers through to rigid bodywork is going fantastically well the foot hasn't been lifted off the gas as far as we're concerned."
That reluctance to play the numbers game and, instead, seek out business from operators who don't want a 'vanilla' product has clearly underpinned the company's current fortunes.
'All these extra features separate 'them' from `us'," asserts Cartwright. "We'll build a tri-axle curtainsider, but we'll make it different. We'll do the things the bigger players don't want to do. We'll do what the customer wants and have very good relationships with the big fleets" Growing demand Showing CM around the plant, Cartwright points to a group of new trailers for a major Scottish fleet being fitted with previously-used, but perfectly serviceable, curtains with a high load-security specification. "They asked us if we'd swap them to the new trailer.., and we will," states Cartwright matter-of-factly.
The growing demand for trailers with ever-more carrying capacity has undoubtedly accelerated Cartwright's double-deck business -They've gone up exponentially." he says. "Every time we get a fuel price increase we get a stack of double-deck enquiries."
Not being hamstrung by the same height restrictions as Continental Europe doesn't hurt either, admits Cartwright: "UK legislation suits us down to the ground the UK lends itself to bespoke trailer building." Among its double-deck customers are organisations such as TNT, Royal Mail and Asda, with double-deckers amounting to 10% of all current trailer production -and growing, too" Demount drawbar bodies are also going through a bit of a purple patch.
"They seem to come in cycles," ventures Cartwright. "We've hit it at exactly the right time. We've previously done 800 demount bodies for Kellogg's and 300 for DHL.They [demounts] had gone away, but now we've seen a resurgence.
Turning to the subject of 'bigger' trailers, does Cartwright see them happening, and more importantly, would his firm want to build any? -Absolutely!" he states "Sure, it provides some challenges, but we've got some solutions up our sleeves. We've taken more than an 'educated guess: We think they [the Department for Transport (DfT)] are going to go for it. But it's a case of watch this space. They can't afford to ignore it, they'll probably embrace it. I'd say it's 'evens' on whether or not they'll do it."
Biggest challenges
However, he cautions: "The challenge will be how to market it. It isn't a 'longer' trailer, because we have drawbars at 18.75m. But my gut feeling is that it won't happen much before 2011, if it happens at all. The key is the DtT communicating any decision quickly. It's not a good idea to keep everyone in the dark because you've then got to make assumptions."
Ironically, one of the biggest challenges that is facing Cartwright is persuading operators that the company builds more than just trailers. In fact, half its production is now made up by rigid bodywork. "We'll do around 1,500 this year," predicts Cartwright. "We've just got orders in for another 260, having recently delivered 140."
The point about diversity is also made by Cartwright rentals sales director Paul Burn. "People have a narrow perception of our product range, but when they look around the factory, it's completely different. We do a lot of customer tours and ask them at the end for their impressions. They're genuinely knocked out by the diversity of what we do. We've got more strings to our bow than people realise."
One of those strings is Bum's own bailiwick — Cartvyright's rental and leasing business, although it's certainly not like your average trailer rental business. When ex-leasing equipment comes back to the trailer-maker, it's frequently given a second life through modifications.
As Bum says: "Urban equipment is growing in demand. We can take a tandem-axle trailer and turn it into a 9m-10m single-axle unit. There aren't too many of them in the market, but there is a demand for them. We can get a second life from a trailer by converting it into something the customer needs, and that could be as simple as fitting a set of curtains. A 40ft white curtainsider goes in, and comes out as a 30ft yellow one with tail-lift on the back."
Creative thinking
Burn continues: "It's like having a magic wand. Our rental business doesn't require the new equipment to operate well, and it keeps the shop floor busy. It's a more solutionbased approach, getting in front of the customers and seeing what they want. If you're talking creative thinking, we've got 450 blokes in the factory behind us... there's a real crossover and it works very well."
Meanwhile. Cartwright maintains that the business "...has changed dramatically over the past few years': "It's had to because customers' needs have changed. We've changed our production methods, and I'm proud of what we've achieved. Refurbishment has kept people busy, and, while it's not the same as new-build, we're not talking about laying people off like others."
The current economic uncertainty hasn't hurt rental and leasing enquiries, either, says Burn. "We've seen levels of demand grow steadily. We've definitely been busier over the past few months."
Among the sales tools Cartwright has developed is an electronic agreement, which provides a photograph of the trailer going out and coming back in.
-It's all very transparent," says Burn. "And a major plus for those operators frightened of being harassed over a [damage] recharge when they're not sure about the validity of it. With our system, we'll show exactly what damage has been done."
Intriguingly, Burn believes: "It not only helps develop the dialogue between us and the customer, but also helps the operator understand what damage has been done and how to prevent it in the future."
Cartwright concludes: "Our business five years ago was no way like it is today in terms of efficiency, auditing and value. It's all about selling labour time, and we're in a very good position to attack the market."