In an office perched high above their 10,000 square metre rolling assembly line, Les Lange, General Manager, Genuine Truck Bodies (GTB) talks about the rapid development of the company and their commitment to adding value. Having doubled in size each year for the past three years, Les explains “it’s the quality of the product that is ultimately driving growth”.
Words by Adam Cross – TRANSPEC DIGEST AUTUMN 2014
GTB is part of Automotive Holdings Group, Australia’s largest automotive retailer. Employing more than 5,000 people across a network of more than 150 car and truck dealerships throughout Australia and New Zealand, the group established GTB in 2006 to carry out all predelivery and customisation requirements on its Hino truck range.
“You could say, any work that needed to carried out on a truck from the time it landed into the country up to delivery to the dealer, was performed by GTB,” says Les, “this included chassis extensions, wheel alignments, lazy axles, prime mover fit outs, diesel fuelling and delivery Australia-wide.”
With a 36,000 square metre vehicle storage yard and a 10,000 square metre purposebuilt manufacturing facility in Dandenong South, Victoria, the operation has the capacity to store and service more than 900 vehicles.
Initially set up to service just the AHG dealer base, the facility has evolved significantly over the past five years into a modern trailer manufacturing operation, with the capacity to build and supply a complete range of trailers to both group and non-group customers. The GTB manufacturing facility is perfectly suited for panel style builds, catering for six, eight, ten, 12 and 14 pallet rigid body trucks and semi-trailers. Currently producing about ten trailers a month, GTB expect to see production increase to 25 trailers per month within the next year.
In addition there is a stand-alone custom build section that works on special projects. Recent examples include an outside broadcast trailer for Sky Racing and 16 multi-temperature delivery vans for Mrs Macs.
Today, the company has a focus on refrigerated transport, which accounts for about 50 percent of the business. Considering where GTB sits today, it’s surprising to learn the company built its first refrigerated trailer just two years ago for sister company Rand Refrigerated Logistics.
When Rand went on to acquire Harris Transport later that year, the demand for refrigerated trailers increased significantly. As a result production has boomed, and the company has gone on to build more than 130 refrigerated trailers in the last two years. “It’s an exciting stage of the business,” says Les. “Servicing the Rand and Harris fleets provided an excellent foundation for us. Fortunately we were in a position to follow our trailers around the country to ensure they were performing at the highest standards.
“The benefit of being part of such a large group meant feedback from our national fleet managers allowed us to continually refine and improve our product along the way.
“For example, our rigid body range (typically constructed with a steel sub-frame), now uses an all-aluminium design borrowed from our refrigerated trailer bodies. This type of innovation sets us apart. We not only saw manufacturing efficiencies internally, but by adding strength and reducing weight we made a better trailer and now, a better truck body.
“As a result, fleet operators have seen immediate benefits in fuel consumption and lower maintenance costs,” he says.
“When it comes to build quality, the GTB trailers are flawless. Every component is designed to provide customers with ‘cost-of-life’ savings. The BPW axles and suspension definitely complement what we are trying to achieve. The trailers look great, have good running gear and drive beautifully. Right now, we are 100 percent confident the product is where it needs to be in terms of quality and refinement.”
Part of GTB’s success has been its ability to attract quality people from all areas of the industry. With the recent appointment of Tony Kerr as Executive General Manager, GTB is fortunate to have a strong executive team. Tony is in charge of both the GTB and Vehicle Storage & Engineering (VSE) businesses, and describes the company culture as ‘inclusive’. Every one of their 100 plus staff contributes to improving processes within the company.
“If you know what your goals are the decision making is easy. As a group we ask ourselves, ‘will this add value to our product or our process?’, if the answer is yes then the decision is easy – we do it,” says Les. According to Les, “there is certainly space ‘and a want’ in the market for another option when it comes to quality refrigerated trailers.
“Our trailers are designed, engineered and built in Australia for Australian conditions and fleet operators recognise the importance of that.” (Les laughs), “We’re finally at the stage in our business where we have an engaged and experienced team, the infrastructure is in place, but most importantly we have developed a product we are proud of.”
(Smiling, Les ads) “I think it’s safe to say we’ve well and truly found our groove.”
“Every component is designed to provide customers with ‘cost-of-life’ savings.”
From L to R: GTS’s Tony Kerr, Tom Livingstone, Les Lange, Aaron Commons and Bruce Thomson.
