INDUSTRY PEOPLE
company who were experiencing 70% carryback. After
Wiltech fitted a 19mm lining, they’ve reduced that figure
to 10%.
“Given that some operators are being paid by the load,
too, it can be a huge exercise in common-sense and
saving.”
Richard Bathurst originally trained as a butcher. He
then went into contract cartage, and on into contract
warehousing. He had a mate who was into plastic
wholesaling. He got to know people in the plastics industry.
The liners were already being sold in the industry and his
friend was a representative.
At the time General Electric owned the product here in
New Zealand but decided it wasn’t really a fit for their
core business, so the opportunity came up to buy in. And
we got in pretty quick.”
Richard only deals in truck liners, it’s his specialty area.
He explains there are a lot of companies who can line
trucks, but have also diversified into other plastic products,
whereas trucks are his core business, and to a degree,
are in his blood. His father was a diesel mechanic and
he’d been around trucks a lot growing up.
He has one other full-time staff member, he then employs
contractors to fit the liners. It’s a small family business,
but finding contractors hasn’t been difficult because
the liner fitting requires personnel who have common
sense and all that’s needed on top of that is precision.
There’s even a provision for a truck operator to fit the liner
themselves, and Richard provides the full instructions,
but by and large, Wiltech prefer to do the fittings so they
can guarantee it’s been done right.
Meanwhile, over on Richard’s screen, there’s footage
of side-by-side lined mini-trailers tipping their respective
loads off, just like on an infomercial. We watch in
wonderment as one (unlined) trailer leaves at least a
quarter of its load on while the QuickSilver-lined trailer is
left gleaming and clean after dispatching its load.
Once clients see this in action, they’re pretty much sold.
However, there is still some lag out across the trucking
industry about maintenance of vehicles and Richard
Richard in his realm
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CAM March 2019
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