Krone bids for throne
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Krone, the latest contender for king of the UK trailer market, built 13,000 units last year. Bryan Jarvis reports on a third-generation success story.
• German trailer manufacturer Krone s targeting the UK for an all-out sales drive this year and hopes to make a good impression when it kicks off at this month's CV Show at the NEC in Birmingham (23-25 March).
RH Freight Services is already running more than 100 triaxle TIR tilt trailers from Krone in its fleet and another big order for around 75 curtainsiders is imminent from a north-eastern operator, so Krone is confident of becoming a major supplier to UK hauliers.
Two of its trailers will be on show at the CV Show: a Profi Liner curtainsider and a Cool Liner reefer which was built in the US by Wabash of Lafayette, Indiana, and "europeanised" by Krone. Both will have BPW running gear, but the former is built to a particularly high specification complete with disc brakes and EBS.
Unlike most other trailer and bodybuilders, Krone outsources the chassis manufacturing along with all other associated parts.
It also uses an extremely expensive pre-painting system called the KTL-E (electrolytic) powder paint process and then assembles the trailers and swap bodies in its own factory. They are largely built to order.
The new preparation and paint system is the major part of a massive ElOrn investment in two sites—the main trailer factory in Werlte and a swap body plant in nearby Hertzlake.
According to Bernard Krone, the third-generation owner of this family firm, last year's output came to 7,800 trailers, 1,200 drawbars and 4,000 swap bodies, giving a turnover of some .£140m.
At present the two plants build 40 trailers, 24 drawbars and swap bodies every day. At the time of Commercial Motor's visit, 650 mixed trailers destined for central and east European customers sat on Werlte's 30-acre "out" park, while Hertzlake held 400 finished swaps ready for dispatch.
Krone saw Britain as a potentially lucrative market, especially with the continuing strength of sterling, and one of the few remaining parts of the EC without an active Krone sales force.
So two years ago Tony Hird was appointed UK sales director with an office in Hungerford, Berkshire; with Clayden Engineering, of Stallingborough, Linos tasked to appoint a service and repair network. To date Clayden has a network of 190 repairers.
Profi Liner
Krone's main product for the UK is its 13.62m Profi Liner tilt or curtainsider which comes with a 100mm neck, Edscha roof, 30mm/7.1-tonne Wisadeck and 13 deck lashing ring sets.
With standard BPW running gear it tares out at 6.5 tonnes, mainly through using pressed steel sections in the chassis rather than cross-members.
There's also a new design of customs sealing, and for continental users wanting to carry two extra pallets, Krone has a special bulkhead with pivoting spring-loaded edge panels. These push forward for the extra space but demand loading with care.
Other variations include coil carriers with a 150mm neck, 8.8m-long coil wells, and four stanchion pocket sets. These weigh in at 7.58 tonnes.
Nearly 20% of the company's production comprises coilers, mainly for German customers, but Hird thinks he can sell around 200 a year in the UK.
Krone's high-volume mega-trailers have a low chassis and run on 445/45R 19.51n wheels to give nearly 100m1 load space. For specialist use they can be fitted with a special double stacking superstructure.
Trailer chassis suspension mountings are adapted to take either BPW or SAF axles and nearly all are supplied with drum brakes.
"Despite the claims of Schmitz and Mercedes for the Discos axle assembly," says Krone, "many of my customers remain unconvinced about the service longevity of disc brakes."
He adrores the Transamerica stance on disc brakes but then cites DFDS, which has taken around 1,800 of his tilts and curtainsiders—all but 10 with drum brakes. Fewer than 10% of his factory production have disc brakes and Bernard Krone stresses that in his view they are still largely unproven. He's particularly sceptical about their use on huckpack traffic, where he feels the suspension travel is wholly inadequate.
Novel assembly
Bernard Krone has gone for a novel system of vehicle assembly at both factories in North East Germany.
All chassis and sub-assemblies are built or fabricated away from the main factory in small sites owned and staffed by ex-Krone employees. Most of them are next to the main assembly site or a few kilometres away but some items, including chassis sections, are made as far away as Czechoslovakia.
Each component is designed by Krone via its CAD/CAM systems and in a specific grade of material, with deliveries made at the right time and place for the build process.
Large trailer frames are pre-assembled then delivered into a factory system that is amazingly quiet compared with trailer building elsewhere.
Krone's entire process is ISO 9000 rated and to ensure quality is maintained, he employs a team of mobile examiners. A TV (type approval) examiner is also based in the factory.
Powder paint
The 210m twin K1L powder paint processes are fully automated; according to Krone, the finished article is almost as good as galvanising.
Chassis and components are carried on gantries through a huge shot blaster for a thorough descaling and cleaning. They then travel through a series of 17mlong, 7.0m-deep dip tanks where batches are degreased, washed, de-dusted, washed again and iron phosphated before getting their catalytic primer coating.
Here the paint in the tank is positively charged and the immersed chassis has a negative charge to ensure every part of the frame is coated.
When the components are dry they are re-washed, dried, then baked at 180°C and finally cooled down in two stages.
Next the powder paint is applied in an automated booth with banks of moving paint guns, then baked at 230°C to give a hardened top coat. With the paint operation completed, the chassis travels on to the final modular assembly process and every 20 minutes a finished trailer pops out at the other end. Krone says the new process saves £360 a trailer and £180 per swap box.
Despite a huge over-capacity in trailer manufacturing, his new facilities need heating 365 days a year, so Krone is hungry to double his production.
Sales potential
He's sure the sales potential is out there and aims to grab it by sticking close to all the freight forwarders and rental companies while pushing on into other markets, particularly those of Britain and Ireland.
Krone is bullish about his company's presence in the UK and has every intention of staying.
So long as the pound stays strong he believes he can be "as competitive as is necessary. if the UK trailer manufacturers want to beat us," he adds, mischievously, "then it will certainly have to be on something other than price."