REAR-STEER AXOR DELIVERS BES OF BOTH WORLDS
13 October 2005 - Mercedes-Benz

One of Britain’s leading independent builders’ merchants has come up with an innovative solution to an age-old industry dilemma in the shape of three Mercedes Axor 26-tonners with rear-steer axles.

Covers’ new six-wheelers arrived via Worthing dealer Rossetts Commercials. All Axor 2533L models with high performance, 330bhp six-cylinder engines, they are fitted with 21ft (6.5m) dropside bodies by Solent Bodybuilders, of Fareham, and remote radio-controlled, rear-mounted, Hiab 144 cranes.

Established some 150 years ago, Covers has nine depots across Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire and stocks over 30,000 product lines in building and construction materials.

One of the biggest challenges facing builders’ merchants arises from the need to deliver consignments of bricks, blocks, sands and aggregates to the homes of domestic customers both sensitively and economically.

The sensitivity issue arises because it’s all too easy when attempting to make a delivery with an 18-tonne truck, for example, to do considerable damage to someone’s property. Lawns and borders can be driven over, walls damaged, drain covers broken.

The obvious solution is to use a smaller vehicle. But to do so may be expensive and inefficient, as it must return to base several times a day to reload. Since many residential customers order relatively small quantities of materials for their patios, conservatories and extensions, the economic attractions of sending out a big truck, fully loaded, on a longer delivery route with multiple drops are obvious.

By opting for 26-tonne Axor with the greatly enhanced manoeuvrability provided by their rear-steer axles, however, Covers has achieved the best of both worlds.

As Group Vehicle Manager Geoff Watts explains: ''The rear-steer option gives us the gross weight and body length we need to maximise productivity, but with the versatility of a much smaller vehicle.''

The new Axor are working from Covers’ headquarters in Chichester, and from depots in Bognor and Brighton. The company runs some 70 trucks – including a handful of older Mercedes – but has now begun rationalising the fleet by reducing its overall size.

''We’ve achieved a 14,050kg payload with these new six-wheelers and that’s meant that as each has gone on the road we’ve been able to stand down both a 7.5-tonner and an 18-tonner,'' says Mr Watts. ''One in, two out, and an improvement in customer service levels as well – it’s a ‘win-win’ situation!''

No surprise, then, that Covers is planning to repeat the formula when it embarks on the next phase of its fleet regeneration programme.

Mr Watts’ enthusiasm is more than matched by that of Richard Cosens, Covers’ Heavy Side Manager, who worked closely with his colleague on drawing up the specification for the new vehicle. It was at Mr Cosens’ instigation, for example, that rather than fitting three caged side panels of equal length down each side of the vehicle, the bodybuilder made one longer, at 2.5m, than the other two.

As a result, where previously they had to drop two panels to load 2.4m-long packs of plasterboard and plywood, Covers’ operatives now need drop only one. It’s a small saving in time and hassle, but a typical example of the thought and care that has gone into ensuring that these new Mercedes are tailored perfectly for the job.

''This new Axor is a fantastic truck!'' declares Mr Cosens. ''It has loads of power and the cab is really well laid out, while it’s also nice to turn up at a customer’s home or premises in a prestigious vehicle.

''But it’s the manoeuvrability that’s most impressive. The rear-steer axle means we can get this lorry into a space that we would probably only previously have managed in a 7.5-tonner, certainly not an 18-tonner. And then, using the crane, we can put 14 tonne of materials up to 30ft further away – it just makes the driver’s life so easy.''

Covers has also just bought a fourth 26-tonne Axor 2533L from Rossetts. It has a tag rear axle and a maximum length, 25ft (7.6m) platform body, again by Solent Bodybuilders, designed to carry up to 14,100kg of timber. Mounted immediately behind the cab is a huge, Hiab 200C 20-tonne/metre crane, also remote radio-controlled.

This vehicle is allocated to Richard Marshall, a long-serving Covers employee who also drove the company’s first ever Mercedes, a 16-tonne rigid dating back to 1986 that has only just been decommissioned.

''We look after our vehicles, keep them smart and well maintained, and as a result have been able to run some of them for a long time,'' says Geoff Watts. ''The fact that we’re looking to get a good 10 years out of each of our new

26-tonners goes a long way towards explaining why we’ve specified them so highly, and why we’ve chosen Mercedes-Benz.

''It’s all about investing in the future. Experience has shown that Mercedes trucks can give us the reliability and durability we’re looking for, while the after sales back-up from Rossetts in terms of warranty work and parts deliveries – we maintain our trucks in-house – is also very good.''

www.mercedes-benz.co.uk

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