Swop bodies save cash
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• Kidderminster-based Tornkinson Carpets has reduced its annual distribution costs by between 15 and 20% by changing its breakbulk fixed body delivery • fleet to stockless depots using Ray Smith swopbodies.
Under the old system carpets were unloaded at regional warehouses then transferred to local delivery vehicles. Now a drawbar outfit can trunk three pre-loaded bodies overnight from the Kidderminster factory to a delivery area for smaller locally-based rigids to distribute to the retailers.
Mercedes-Benz 1317 and 1617 rigids equipped for drawbar work handle the trunking operation, while Leyland 813 Roadrunners with their lower 820mm chassis heights take care of local deliveries_ Short 4.88mm swop bodies built by Transliner of Wolverhampton carry Tomkinson's standard 3.96m carpet rolls.
A specially-developed version of Ray Smith's guide rail demount equipment is used on the 7.5tonne vehicles while the wider-tracked full-size system is used for ten tonnes and above. This uses a single long-stroke hydraulic ram to raise the truck's body: the trailer suspension air system does the equivalent task for the pair of bodies at the rear.
Tomkinson's distribution director David Webb, who introduced the system, has already converted the company's south-east and south-western areas and says the others will eventually follow.