Regal’s design team comes up trumps with new trailer head board design

To meet client delivery requirements, we created a longer trailer with a sloped front that allowed us to tip off in low roofed environments.

Background

At Regal, our drivers deliver bulk freight to multiple sites around New Zealand each week. Advances in legislation over the last four years have allowed larger, longer truck and trailer combinations on the road. These High Productivity Motor Vehicles (HPMV’s) allow for more efficient freight movement, however their size presented challenges with some pickup and delivery locations.

As the trailers became longer so did the height of the trailer with the hoist fully raised. This proved problematic when unloading in stores with low roof heights.

A large number of delivery sites with limited roof clearance meant our existing HPMV units were becoming limited as to the work they could do. Our design team was issued with a task of coming up with a solution..

The Problem

Multiple delivery sites with limited roof clearance were starting to have a flow on effect to our business operations. Deliveries were taking longer than intended and there was an increasing risk of damage to both the unit and the sheds. Our operators were also putting themselves at risk working in a potentially unsafe environment.

We needed an HPMV unit that could tip off in lower roof environments.

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There was greater compaction of product into our units which resulted in increased tonnes carted per load. This increased efficiency justified the use of larger units which could increase cartage capacity per load even further, which in turn meant we were able to give Waste Management a better $/tonne rate.

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- Peter Muir
The Solution

Regal’s design team came up trumps. They designed and manufactured a trailer with a sloped front and an even longer trailer tip body. This allowed for longer axle spacing which we needed underneath to achieve maximum weight distribution.

By leaning the front (head board) of the body back, we were able to tip these units off with minimal increase in tip height when compared to the previous industry standard 4 axle trailer. It also meant we could build the size unit we required.

The Result

The new design can tip off in roof heights where previously only our smaller standard units could. This gives us flexibility to deliver to a wider range of sites as we are no longer restricted with low roof levels. It has also improved the efficiency of service we can deliver to our clients.

Once again, the Regal design team has bought innovation to the fore.