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Building up the business

26th June 2008, Page 60
26th June 2008
Page 60
Page 61
Page 60, 26th June 2008 — Building up the business
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It was an accident that paved the way for MV Commercial to move into assembling original-build crane lorries, now the firm is planning to revolutionise the industry.

Words: Kevin Swallow / Images: Andy Forman

For those willing to learn from misfortune, a dire situation can become a golden opportunity, and so it went for Livingston-based contract hire, lease and rental company MV Commercial.

Its first crane lorry out on contract hire for a customer four and half years ago was a second-hand stretched tractor unit with beaver tail body.

Unbeknown to managing director Tom O'Rourke (pictured above right), the truck was illegal. "It didn't have the appropriate front axle," he says. "It was 7.1-tonne front axle, with a 36-tonne crane, and cheese wedge plant body.

"Someone collided with the vehicle, and when it went to the police, a sharp-eyed inspector identified that it was overloaded on the front axle, and shouldn't have been on the road. We ended up with the liability," He adds: "One of the things we had said to the judge was, as a direct result of the incident, we saw a big market in the industry for original-build vehicles that are properly speceed from the manufacturer, and designed to be what they are."

The traditional build process for crane lorries is to stretch a used tractor unit and fit a new crane and body. "The key," says O'Rourke, "when stretching a chassis, is to make sure the front axle is appropriate, and that the chassis is double-flitched."

But it's an industry led by engineers, "so one man's meat is another man's poison", says O'Rourke, and the right specification, welding and bolting is open to interpretation.

He set about building his own crane lorry with original build parts: crane, body, and, most importantly, the chassis cab by approaching MAN. "They suggested a nine-tonne front axle as a minimum requirement on a rigid truck, and on a maximum length vehicle, with a lift/steer rear axle to minimise the risk of accidents and increase access. It was a 26.400 6x2 sleeper cab, with a drawbar coupling and trailer — we now have 40 of them on hire," he says.

PM, Palfinger and Fasi provide the cranes, and a joint venture with Davidson Truck Bodies in Cleakheaton, West Yorkshire, helps to build the cabin and plant bodies. Original-build, O'Rourke argues, holds sway over stretching second-hand tractor chassis, especially when it comes to depreciation and remarketing, since the chassis will always bring down the residual value.

"The first question people ask us when they enquire about a crane vehicle is, is it original build?' A new crane lorry with a full spec might be £125,000. People are paying £85,000 for a six-year-old tractor unit, crane and body.

The four key factors

-The right-now cost is £30-40,000 cheaper," he adds. -In three or four years time, you'll get more for the original build. In four years, that tractor unit will be 10 years old, and the crane/body will only be four years old," he says.

There was also another issue. Once specced. the crane and truck would remain together, whether an originalbuild or stretched equivalent, because of the welding process. "The first time I saw a crane fitted to a chassis, it looked like an afterthought," O'Rourke reckons. "One of our customers smashed up a tractor unit, it was only 11 weeks old, the crane and sub-chassis were fine, but the sub-chassis on the truck is on for life. "If you look at a Unimog. and its attachments, it looks like something Unimog made. I wanted to challenge the traditional method of fitting a crane and come up with an alternative that was creative, cost-effective and practical.

"There are four key drivers. First, a sub-chassis that looked like MAN made it. Second, I wanted it lighter. Third, to be moved straight on to another chassis— key because a crane will see three truck chassis away. Finally, something that could be built before the truck arrived.

A time-saving approach

O'Rourke adds: "We went outside of the industry to build a sub-chassis that was bolted [to the chassis] and could be transferred, with the crane, and be fitted to a new truck. Our concept is to build the crane/sub-chassis before the truck arrives, then fit it on. Then, 10 days later, it's on the road. It can save three months from a standing start on a new-build chassis."

After 15 months developing the idea, MV Commercial launched the bolt-on crane and sub-chassis on the back of a 6x4 MAN double-drive tractor at SED last May. A version for rigid chassis is due in July. A detachable crane and sub-chassis also reverses the trend of having younger equipment fitted to an older truck.

"A life-time expectancy of a crane is 20 years," explains O'Rourke. "Life-time expectancy of a tractor unit is 10 years. If someone does 200,000kms a year, after three years, they don't want the hassle of selling the crane, the tractor unit and the sub-chassis in one go, and order a new one.

"They can lift off the sub-frame and crane, and sell the tractor unit with 600,000kms. You do not have to re-invest in a new crane and sub-chassis, that's when the benefits kick in."

-There is nothing wrong with the traditional process, but if you want to build a crane vehicle, nothing can happen until the truck arrives. The manufacturer wants paying for the truck and you've got to pay for the crane. Until everything is fitted, all the money is tied up.

-Nothing is productionised, everything is a one-off, bespoke.

If you can't create a production line, you can't get the economy of scale right. The thing becomes time consuming and expensive."

He concludes: "When my MAN tractor arrives and 10 days later it goes out as a finished crane truck, most of the work has been done in tandem." •

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Locations: Livingston

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