1 - IA tipper
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onvention
elieve that the RHA was enough to convince the Hthermore," he said, rators are frequently led of axle overload of; that are extremely diffif not impossible to avoid )t a single voice is raised in ;t.
rhaps the RHA should not ending money on inviting ) lecture but should be ing it elsewhere on i mig its public image," he red.
lere is growing public rn over enviromental matid yet nobody presents the : with the reality of road
; remark was greeted with J se and obvious agreefrom the majority of the ates, but understandably it d Ken Rogers, RHA lal chairman, who was sat :o Mr Lawton, to become what restless and keen to ,en a chance to respond to tack. While he was not to nied that chance, he had to
wait until the subjects of "marketing" and "financial control" had been touched on by both speakers.
Recognising the need for a response to Jonathan Lawton's stinging attach on the RHA, Theo James, the convention chairman, allowed Ken Rogers to open the question session. Mr Rogers asked: "How does Jonathan Lawton suggest that the RHA spends your money in a better way?"
But he prefaced this by wondering out loud where Mr Lawton has been for the past year. "We have been spending your money wisely," Ken Rogers assured the assembled RHA members. He said he personally had approached Norman Fowler "only three months ago" on the subject of axle overloading and requested that a plea for "due diligence" betaken into account.
"The request was flatly refused," he said, "but we will keep hammering away. The difficulty is that over-loading is an absolute offence."
Ken Rogers then described meeting magistrates on various occasions to discuss the overloading problem and he informed the convention that a meeting is planned for July in London with the Magistrates' Association.
None of this convinced Mr Lawton that he should retract any part of his accusation of ineffectiveness against the RHA.
"I have no conscience about what I have said," he replied. "The approach outlined by Mr Rogers is misdirected. It is no good going to a politicain to ask for a clause of "due diligence" to be introduced because if he were to go out on the hustings and claim responsibility for such a thing, he would be 'stoned' by the public.
"What the RHA should do, in my view, is go direct to the man on the street who will in turn put pressure on the politicians.
"I suspect that an association such as yours meeting with magistrates outside of court to discuss overloading is illegal, but in any case such action is ineffective. What you have to do is sell your image to the public in the same way that any product is sold."
David Lowe had a question for the 'RHA: "What," he wondered, "does the RHA do about people who go out of business, leaving many unsettled debts, and then start up again soon afterwards with a new company name?"
Ken Rogers sprang to the defence of the Association once again. "We have made a number of objections to Licensing Authorities in just such circumstances" he said. "The response we've had from the LAs is that they are governed by the law as it currently stands and if an 0licence applicant satisfies the laid down requirements then any LA is obliged to grant the licence."
Saturday's business session was devoted to the tipper market research study which had been commissioned jointly by the RHA and a selection of chassis manufacturers, bodybuilders, and ancillary component makers.
The study, which resulted from last year's forthright paper by Tony Wilding, was conducted by CVMS (Commercial Vehicle Marketing Support), and Richard Booth of CVMS delivered a precis of the results at the conference. Despite his direct style and clear approach to the subject some delegates missed the wider implications of the study, which had taken none months to complete and involved a great deal of painstaking research.
The study had been evolved because operators, it was thought, felt they were not get-. ting the vehicles or equipment they wanted, while manufacturers believed they were supplying their needs.
In a "put your money where your mouth is" situation the two sides contributed to the exercise. There were only three ex ceptions on the tipper chassis manufacturing side: MAN/VW.
Bedford and, perhaps surpris
ingly, ERF. Those that did participate are privy to the full report
which runs to many thousand words and is without doubt a most useful marketing aid.
However, last Saturday delegates were either loath or un
able to speak their minds about, the perhaps surprising results of the study — in spite of a 15-minute coffee break between the paper and question time.
The RHA national chairman was first to speak, and he put the point that "vehicle manufactur ers must be rubbing their hands with glee" — that the initial pur chase price figured low in operators' eyes as an important consideration when buying vehicles.
Richard Booth's reply that indeed initial purchase price figures low, except when it comes down to the final selection, brought forth gales of laughter from delegates.
High on questioners' priorities was the vexed problem of cab trim standards. The report had shown that operators want a less sophisticated cab interior, with rubber mats instead of car pets, easy to clean trim panels and no brushed nylon seat fac ings. All of them, it was said, would make the vehicle easier to clean out.
Delegates — some almost with tears in their eyes — waxed lyrical about new vehicles looking like 20-year-olds after a few days' use on site. It was
pointed out by Winston Wright
of Volvo that to produce the relatively small number of lower level trims would be at east as expensive if not more so than to make the luxurious ones for all models.
E. V. Molyneux claimed that
one third of all vehicles registered are tippers and this in itself warrants more attention to be given to cab-trim levels. He asked whether makers accept that and if they do, will they act on it?
A spokesman for Seddon Atkinson said that his company had subscribed to the report and would certainly be using its findings in its future plans. But, he added: "No maker can possibly meet every requirement of every operator and a certain amount of trade-off is inevitable."
His feelings were endorsed by Graham Hughes of Leyland and Graham Turner of MercedesBenz. The latter called for "action to be taken in the light of the report." He was particularly interested in the findings about rubber suspension which conclude that operators are placing it more and more on their shopping lists. Mr Turner said M-B will be "looking very closely at this aspect of tipper construction."
Winston Wright came back to say that although 30 per cent of vehicle registrations might be of vehicles for tipper operation, a very small percentage are actually used on/off road so the higher level of cab trim is not an unnecessary expense.
Martin Alrod of Edbro said tipper vehicles can broadly be analysed into construction, road haulage and municipal categories; by far the most, upwards of 50 per cent, are used on construction.
Mr Molyneux said he would like makers to see the state of new vehicle cabs when used on demolition work or when shovel loaded. The dust adheres to the seat material and makes cleaning almost impossible.
Winston Wright said he felt he had been misunderstood. Operators could certainly have lower cab-trim levels, but the low numbers would inevitably mean higher cost.
Jack Male brought laughter from the delegates when he said: "We seem to be in the usual position. If we want a
lower level of trim we have to pay more and if we don't, we still have to pay more!"
Other areas of interest in the report were the almost overwhelming approval of the bodybuilders' products. Most of the 350 operators interviewed (they were in 11 selected areas nationwide) are satisfied, said Richard Booth. Ian Mackintosh of Taskers said his company will be investigating floor strength and materials for its products in the light of the report.
Although 50 per cent of interviewees had stated a preference for vertical exhausts, Winston Wright said hs company offers them, but less than 1 per cent specify them. Richard Booth explained that this is because the report had looked at the whole market and does not reflect the different shares of the market.
What it does do is show that operators would like to see them on offer although it does not necessarily mean they would take them, he said.
One irate delegate told the conference that he had wanted a vertical exhaust on his Leyland but it would have interferred with the body fitment.
Although it was not in the scope of the study, operators at the meeting raised the question of quality control. Reliability had figured as the most important aspect for all types of operator in the survey, but delegates claimed most faults are found in the first six to nine months and are caused by poor quality control or bad pre-delivery inspection (PDIs).
Richard Booth told delegates that there is no disagreement over this, but that to produce a workable interview technique, it had to be assumed that the vehicles were complete for purchase considerations. "You can't relate durability with post sales," he said.
The information from the re
port would, he said, give makers an idea of realistic performances.
But the delegates did not let the chance to complain about quality go by. In spite of assurances from Seddon Atkinson that the use of driver/operator/engineering clinics has helped, one operator said he had discovered a significant fault with his SA vehicles.
Brain Jones of Tarmac said he supported the poor quality complaint. One of his drivers had said on finding defects on a new vehicle: "What can you expect for £30,000?".
Mr Jones felt the main advantage of the survey had been lost. No one critises design, he said. Options enable operators to meet their requirements, but it was all for nought if the product does not come up to scratch.
Delegates felt that quality was fundamental, that makers should spend more money on getting it right, and that relying on distributors with the PDI to correct faults is a poor situation. "After all, they are less au fait with the product," he added.
Taking up Richard Booth's earlier claim that a vehicle off the road for two days costs the operator £1,000, IN. McLucas said, amid laughter, that he would be pleased to earn £1,000 in two weeks. What is needed is value for money, and not gimmicks, he said.
Congratulating Richard Booth on the report, the Yorkshire Licensing Authority, John Carpenter, said such studies have the advantage of making people think of priorities. He was pleased that safety figures large in the report. But, he went on: "The report seems to show that driver influence has been lessened and that their opinions didn't score much." He believed this to be invalid.
"Expensive kit" (Mr Carpenter is an ex soldier) "can be ruined by a poor driver," he said. Makers, he said, should aim to make the vehicles "soli proof" an army expression idiot proof.
Jack Male hoped that ma would take note of the neec interchangeability. In th times it is necessary to canr lise vehicles and often it is possible because minor char had been made to componE he said; "stick to the same p throughout," he added.
Defending distributors Muston of P. Davis Trucks, that an order time of six mo ahead means accurate fore ing of demands.
Often, if the distributor is -hurry, the wrong specificatic ordered, said Mr Muston.
The advantages of electr tachographs — an operator ference in the .study v discussed as were such m tenance saving devices as a matic slack adjusters. In study operators had felt tf latter to be an unnecessary pense and complication.
However, one deleg claimed brake lining saving 30 per cent on tractive units 50 per cent on trailers w these are equipped with a matic slack adjusters. He said brake diaphragms are m less frequently replaced.
Tipping rams were, of cou discussed in detail with protagonists of both internal external sealed types sta their cases. It was felt by c gates that too few people un stand the difference between two. Ron Hopkins of Teleh told delegates that although company majored on in sealed rams, it still ma outside ones and these coulr ordered, but that these are as popular.
Edbro's representative that the company will be lool hard at the ruggedness requ ments put forward by opera in the survey.
The business section en with the chairman re-itera the need for quality control ly makers of vehicles and ancil equipment.