Since establishing in 1981, Lucidity Australia has become a leading Australian manufacturer for the transport industry.
With a complete product portfolio of lighting, wiring and electrical products backed by over 40 years of experience, it can deliver for many requirements with a vast array of solutions and custom offerings.
This ability is clear in its latest project for ABS Trailquip, where Lucidity was able to develop a solution that was best catered to the customer’s needs.
ABS Trailquip started out as an air brake equipment supplier 20 years ago, known at the time as Air Brake Services.
It originally specialised in just air brake valves, fittings and trailer brake control systems until 2008 when the business decided to branch out into axle and suspension setups for trucks and trailers under the business name of ABS Trailquip.
From there, it expanded its offering even further – this time into the production of dollies in 2013.
“The dolly was a fantastic trailer to complement the gear that we were selling,” says ABS Trailquip Managing Director, Michael Green. “We were able to start building dollies from start to finish with everything that we already had in stock. So, the dolly was a great way to put a lot of our gear on the road.”
Since the introduction of the units, ABS Trailquip has increased its production output to around 18 dollies per month, in part with collaborating with Lucidity for its plug-and-play system.
In an effort to reduce labour and shorten delivery time, Michael considered getting an effective wiring harness solution from Lucidity and the benefits that it could bring to his manufacturing processes.
“When we were doing installations, we were having to cut, splice and solder wires to put the whole lighting system together,” he says. “So, we approached Lucidity in regard to a wiring harness that we could very easily incorporate into our dollies.
“The thinking behind this was that with a bit of slight modifications to some of the brackets and other parts, we could have a pre-made wiring harness that could be rolled out, fed through the body of the trailer and simply be cable-tied into place with no cutting, soldering or anything like that.
“From there, we would simply plug the cable straight into the light and the job would be done. That’s what we wanted, and Lucidity was able to give us that feature and specifically to what we needed.”
The harness itself is tailored to suit ABS Trailquip’s dollies by being manufactured at the exact length required.
ABS Trailquip achieved this by providing Lucidity with a simple mud map drawing of what it wanted, and from there, the lighting specialist was able to make the harness based off of that.
With Lucidity keeping the harnesses pre-made and in stock, ABS Trailquip is also able to completely avoid delays and downtime.
“Lucidity understands what our usage is and they have them ready to go,” Michael says. “So, we’re not waiting for stock because they’re always making sure that they have them available on-hand for us. Because of that, there’s never a delay due to cabling.”
As a result of the harness, ABS Trailquip now also fits the Lucidity Link series of tail lamps and side marker lamps, as well as its LED license plate lamps as one complete plug-and-play package for all of the dollies it manufactures.
“We basically get a box, and inside that box are the two taillights, the number plate lights, the side marker lights and the harness,” Michael says. “Everything’s there. We roll the harness out, cable tie it into place and plug it in.
“The lights are fantastic. They’re nice and bright, they look good and they’re well-known too. We’ve been using them for around 18 months now and we haven’t had any complaints or issues. The response has been very good.”
By applying the entire solution to its dollies, ABS Trailquip has seen success in what it set out to accomplish – significant time savings in the production of its dollies.
“Previously we would spend around five- to six-and-a-half hours wiring lights and electricals on the dollies,” Michael says. “With Lucidity, we have the wiring done in under two hours. So, we’ve saved roughly four to five hours’ worth of labour for each build.
“Building dollies is a very competitive market, and we’ve always been very conscientious of the time it takes to build a dolly. We have a very strict build time that we try and make these trailers in. This way, the dollies can be sold at a competitive price and in a shorter build time which allows us to pass savings onto our customers.
“So, ultimately it all comes down to labour – putting the dollies together and being able to put more dollies through production. Every hour that we can save on the build of a trailer means we could possibly put another dolly through production.”
Another advantage of the plug-and-play package can be seen when it comes to repairs. Michael explains that in the case of lights being damaged, his customers can simply remove the old light and plug a new light into the wiring harness, and the problem is fixed.
“You’re not having to cut any wires, rejoin, solder or tape up any lines because it simply plugs in,” he says. “So, the key feature with Lucidity and the praise that we get is the plug-and-play setup.”
For ABS Trailquip, the cherry on top is that the products are also pre-tested by Lucidity.
“Knowing that Lucidity always test their wiring harness and lights before dispatch gives us confidence that when they go on the dolly, they always work,” Michael says.
According to Michael, his customers are also big fans of the Lucidity equipment they get with their dollies. The fact that they can get high-quality lights as part of a plug-and-play solution, he says, is a big win.
Through continuous innovation and its extensive work in designing solutions to real world transport industry hurdles, Lucidity is a tough and reliable contender in the market.
All products are designed in-house in Australia to ensure they are as efficient and effective for the Australian market, and based on their success with customers like ABS Trailquip, they’ve proven to be worthy investments.
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