Newton sets up new home
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Newton Trailers, the PPG Weightlifter and Knapen trailer agent and all-parts supplier, has opened a £3.5m site near Milton Keynes, and gained ATF status
Words: Kevin Swallow
PPG Weightlifter and Knapen trailer agent Newton Trailers has opened a new six-acre £3.5m site on the edge of Milton Keynes, which includes authorised testing facility (ATF) status.
The new site, just off J13 of the M1 and eight miles from the old site in Harlington, has a four-bay workshop with 26m pits, a German-built Maha multi-post lifting system than can elevate a fully loaded artic, parts storage, and enough space to park more than 300 trailers.
Company proprietor Andrew Smith, who bought the site in 2001, says the decision to move had everything to do with the need for more space. “We buy, sell, refurbish and hire out a lot of trailers and we were bursting at the seams. We spent a lot of time shunting and parking trailers,” he says.
Smith is also keen for Newton Trailers to increase its parts presence in the tipper and moving-loor markets, as well as becoming a specialist bodywork repairer.
“The life of the products is 20 years but, as the manufacturers go out of business every ive years, Newton Trailers is outliving the suppliers,” he says.
Many operators run small leets of tippers and don’t always have brand loyalty, says Smith, so in maintaining a mixed leet they often don’t know where to get the parts.
“Newton Trailers lies the lag for new products [PPG Weightlifter and Knapen] but after that we are trying to supply everyone equally – we have a growing reputation in body parts for tipping trailers and moving-loor. We are doing [approximately] £750,000 [a year] but we would like to double that over the next 18 months,” he says.
As an oficial agent for Cargo Floor and Keith Walking Floor, Newton Trailers wants to expand its presence in the moving loor trailer aftermarket.
“Because the parts are infrequently used, we keep a doctor kit for every system made, which means we carry dead stock. That is a lot of investment [£100,000] in moving loor components,” he says.
The decision to install an ATF test lane, which cost £150,000, means Newton Trailers can service, refurbish and test trailers in one go, reducing journey time and down time as the nearest VOSA sites are at Leighton Buzzard, Royston and Weedon. ■