Merchandising is big business, but customers at large summer events
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often have a limited choice when they buy souvenir t-shirts. The Big Blue Rig, a mobile screen printing factory, offers something different. Tim Maughar visited the truck at the Biggin Hill Air Fair, and saw how t-shirt artwork can be produced instantly, on site.
The Spitfire: a beautiful aeroplane, and an aviation legend. Summer airshows give the general public the opportunity to see such aircraft up close. When the show ends they can go home with their memories of wonderful flying machines; better still, they can take away a t-shirt marking the special day. As with most everyday products we buy, this instant availability oft-shirts has only been made possible by the use of an HGV. We pass through the mass of spec 6:tors, heading for a blue 4o Ft trailer with e letters of photographic film compan AGFA emblazoned on its side. A bon et protrudes from the tractive u it—first
glimpses suggest this truck is erent,
Common sight
When we reach the Big Blue , the versa tility of HGVs becomes strilci y dear. The tractive unit, a Kenworth W9 .o, is not the most common sight on B sh roads, but the trailer behind it is, ti5 use the words of the Monty Pyth team, something completely d erent.
The 4oft trailer ha transformed from a re gular box into a mo screen printing facto Large awnings stand Out from both sides of the trailer. Passers-by look upwards, peering at jets racing across the sky. But the Big Blue Rig is also attracting its fair share of admiring glances.
Up in the Kenworth cab we speak to Anna Brown, account manager for promotional company TSS-FP, the firm which runs the Big Blue Rig. "We buy the t-shirts then we print them up," she says. "We do operate on the Continent but most of the work is in the UK."
The venue list is impressive. Summer means a lot of visits: this year the Big Blue Rig team will visit rock concerts, as well as events such as Scottish Trucicfest. the British Superbike races and the Northampton Balloon Festival. "The work / ; fairly seasonal, and so we must capitalise n the summer months," Brown explains. It ; often time-sensitive work. Brown says: We can print t-shirts at a football match, for xarnple; at the end of the game we can print ae results on the t-shirt. We can produce .00 t-shirts an hour, although if the artwork n the t-shirts is more detailed, we produce around 700." Interesting stuff—but we are momentarily distracted as an RAF Harrier hovers to the right of the truck. It is an extraordinary sight, and the noise blocks out Brown's voice. A second or two later and the fighter is a good half mile distant. "Biggin Hill is quite a small event," Brown continues. "Today we have a driver, two printers and an engineer, but at bigger events like Silverstone we have 5o staff working at one time. The majority of these people are sales staff" Careful planning is essential. We carry as many t-shirts as we possibly can, so we don't run out," says Brown. TS S+P claims that the Big Blue Rig is the only mobile screen printing factory outside the United States. The printing equipment is highly advanced. Rather than simply printing letters on the t-shirts, it produces complex, full-colour designs.
Attention to detail is important, but this is only possible if the right gear is available. When we take a look at the printing equipment, the view is more akin to a science fiction film than the inside of a typical trailer. Metal arms protrude from a column; each arm bears the equipment which prints a certain colour onto a t-shirt.
This printing machinery cost Aciio,ctoci. Pricey—and the other costs were high too: L8 5,000 for the Kenworth unit, f26,000 for the trailer and a further L5,000 to convert the trailer to the printing operation. The Big Blue Rig was bought in
Belgium
and still bears Belgian registration plates; AGFA leases it to TS.S+P.
When up and running the Big Blue Rig requires 2c3om2 of space. It is a substantial area, but when the truck is in place the vehicle's identity is that of a t-shirt production line rather than a machine which transports goods from A to B. A generator in the trailer means that the printing apparatus can work in any location.
Plastic canopy
When we slip under the plastic canopy, and see printer Levi Lashley at work with the t-shirts, it seems odd to think we are aboard a truck. This is not your typical tractive unit and trailer.
No surprise, then, that driver Billy Roberts, a Liverpudlian, considers his job is out of the ordinary. "I have been driving trucks for 16 years," he says. "I have worked for small family firms, mostly carrying general loads from docks."
So how on earth did he get behind the wheel of the blue Kenworth? "Well, my friend used to drive it; he got another job and recommended me to TSS+P. He told me it was an American truck, so knew it was going to be different." That distinctive bonnet attracts a lot of looks, but Roberts is a modest sort of chap. "It does get a lot of attention, but I can't say that I really like it," he says. To him, driving is simply a way to make a living: "I don't let it go to my head," he says. That's impressive when you consider that Roberts knows one or two things about driving trucks, having driven Scanias, Renaults, Oafs, and Mercedes. The Kenworth has cruise control, which means when I am driving on motorways I don't have to drop a gear when I hit a hill. It also has good pulling power."
Once again, we have to stop talking as another jet thunders overhead. This time it is an RAF Nimrod, named after the biblical "Mighty Hunter". It is a formidable looking maritime aircraft, and it is the size of an airliner. The noise is earsplitting, but seconds later we resume our conversation.
"I have all the creature comforts in the truck, such as a CD player, television and air conditioning," says Roberts. The Big Blue Rig has luxurious trimmings, but for Roberts it is the driving itself which he likes. With this sort of work you don't have to deal with RDC queues and tight delivery deadlines. "This is a more comfortable way of life than working in general haulage," he says,