AROUS SLIN
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Along with other Japanese manufacturers, premier bodybuilder Nissan Freuhauf, member of the global group Fruehauf international, has felt the cool winds of recession. Will 1994 be any different? Bryan Jarvis reports.
Ona clear day at Atsugi, 150 miles west of Tokyo, Mount Fuji peers over the horizon at Nippon Fruehauf's 30-acre factory as though keeping an eye on its fortunes. The Atsugi plant is the largest factory of the 30-year-old Nippon, one of Japan's major body and trailer manufacturers and a specialist in gull-wing sided bodywork for dry freight or refrigerated vehicles.
Although Japan is ably managed by big corporations, in their view it is not business as usual.
Domestic truck/trailer body sales are forecast to drop 40% this year from the 200,000 units of 1989 to 120,000. Last year's total of 150,000 units was a bitter enough pill to swallow in a country renowned for business success.
Last year Nippon Freuhauf built and supplied over 18,000 body kits plus 1,000 trailers. This it says gave it an estimated 25% share of the Japanese market and there was a fair amount of exports to places such as Thailand and Taiwan.
Although business has fallen again this year, Atsugi is still a busy plant with production lines operating on a par with the UK majors before the recession. Although sales amounted to around 50 billion Yen (E340m), general manager Masufurni Kawashima declined to reveal its profits. He admitted they were thinner than the company would have liked With more than 2,000 employees in 10 factories from Sapporo in the North west to Kyushu, Okinawa in the East and hungry investors to appease, it is a worrying situation.
But new European-like legislation on maximum weights and length limits on the cards for 1 January,1995, could be a salvation. Multi-axled rigids go up to 25 tonnes, trailers move up from 12-13.6m and their GCW limit goes up by 8.0 tonnes to 36 tonnes GCW This will call for radical design changes from Nippon's CAD/CAM section which could then stimulate growth in other areas.
Nippon still managed to re-invest 2% in new developments including new designs for the heavier limits, loading/unloading systems and swap/intermodal containers.
GULL-WING
Nippon was the first with gull-wing bodies. In 1988 its patents expired allowing others to improve the original design. It builds them at Atsugi in various forms from dry freight to refrigerated and to fit rigid or semi-trailer chassis either there or waiting at group sites. The wings comprise half roof and side sections that hinge up and over hydraulically from a centre spine. This runs full length and projects 100mm downwards into the load space. Drop sideboards on longer bodies have spring dampers and secure using a simple over-centre catch.
The Atsugi plant is presently making between 300 and 400 of varying sizes each week for assembly across the group. Its high cube versions are usually based on special six or eight legger chassis from the big four manufacturers Hino, Isuzu, Mitsubishi or Nissan. These are produced with standard lOR 22.5in wheels on the front axle and 225/90 R17.5s on those behind allowing quite low frame heights of 880mm. Load bed heights are correspondingly low.
A common model is the 6.5m, 4.0 tonne dry freight van for light trucks such as the Isuzu 5.0-tonne GVW Elf F150. There are highvolume versions for the same chassis fitted with 185R14 front and rear twin 145R13s Most of the refrigerated bodies use coated aluminium/polyurethane sandwich panels— foam has been CFC-free since September. Lightweight dry freight versions have thinner folded sides with outer strengtheners.
Usually, aluminium sections and extrusions are supplied by Nippon Light Metal which holds 51% of Nippon Freuhauf's equity, Isuzu has 34% and Fruehauf International the rest. In keeping with the Japanese 'just-in-time' ethos, stocks of materials are kept to a low level which explains the high volumes of trucks on the freeways leading to the industrial areas.
Using computer-controlled machinery, Nippon Fruehauf makes everything it uses in body production right down to hydraulic cantilever taillifts. Cutting lists relate directly to the amount of orders in hand.
Side panels are cut or welded to length then pressed, formed, folded, drilled or bored to design. Front bulkhead and door frames are jig 1,velded.
Roof and side extrusions are also cut to length using CAM methods then the entire kit prepared for use at Atsugi or despatched to its subsidiaries.
At Atsugi, Nippon Fruehauf is making around 1,100 kits of all types every month, a third of which are gull wings. Its two container lines are continually churning out 35-a-day or one every 15 minutes from a slow-moving production line.
These are mainly 12m reefer boxes with Carrier's Transicold ThinLine fridge units and are mostly for GenStar.
Nippon's adjacent tail-lift plant produces aluminium or steel lifts with 600kg and 1,000kg capacities_ Everything is made inhouse, apart from the seals.
CUSTOMERS
Production of the lifts is currently running at around 250 a month. The majority go to NF's customers; the rest to other bodybuilders including its competitors.
Once bodied, completed chassis usually end up in Nippon Fruehauf's customising section. This adds all the extras from stainless steel toolboxes, lockers and other attachments to spray painting and sign writing.
Sideguards on reefers are a standard requirement—stainless steel tubing is normally used—and spray suppressant will be introduced quite soon.
Nippon also has a neat line in door locks which can be mechanically or electrically operated. Yet another popular line is its lightweight air cargo body with swaged aluminium panelling and external reinforcing. Sides are 18mm thick giving a 2.44m interior within the 2.5m limit.
Its 4.0-tonne payload, light truck body line caters for up to 150 chassis at any one time. The image reflects Japan's reliance on hordes of small trucks involved with break-bulk delivery work. Depending on size, vehicle body life varies from four years for up to 6.0tonners to seven years for the heavier rigids.
Trailers are a small sector and they tend to last from 10-to-15 years.
The new limits will help but with Japan's economy still on the slide Kawashima believes vehicle life will extend still further,"which is not good for business".