Coming up golden

After a bumper 2024 and showcasing a head-turning exhibition at this year’s Brisbane Truck Show, it’s fair to say that The Drake Group has the Midas touch. Especially if its Queensland production centre is turning out trailers with iconic names such as ‘Bling King’ and ‘The Queenslander’.

With a 4.9-tonne rotating O’Phee Trailers skel suspended vertically on its rear being a jaw-dropping feature of The Drake Group’s Brisbane Truck Show stand, you’d expect nothing less than a ‘wow factor’ to be delivered by the team. The Drake Group Director and Business Unit Manager – New Trailers, Sam Drake, said it came down to a simple wish that set the ball rolling to become the talk of the show.

“We were talking about which models we were going to bring and what theme we would be going for when Mick O’Phee said, ‘I’ve always wanted to put a trailer on its end’,” he explained at the Brisbane Truck Show. “But he didn’t just want it on its end. He wanted it to be rotating. It was definitely something different.”

The finished product didn’t disappoint.

“The rotating skel has been a massive wow factor,” Sam said. “Everyone that comes to the stand is telling me that it’s the best stand they’ve been on.”

Apart from having the requisite ‘wow factor’ that had everyone talking, the three-way container skel also represented what The Drake Group is ultimately all about.

“It’s an example of what we can do and where we take things to the next level,” Sam said. “We’re always looking at different innovations and different ways to skin a cat, so to speak.”

The man behind the suspended 42.5’ concept, Mick, said he wanted it to be a statement piece for the Brisbane Truck Show.

“We always have a very good stand each year where we elevate things to the next level, and we think this is the next level,” he said on the day. “We thought we would put the trailer on its end so that people can easily see how we build the underside of the main frame, how we finish it off and how quality-driven it is. 

“Then we thought we would rotate it, so we designed and manufactured a base frame and incorporated a ball race electric motor to slowly turn it at 58 seconds per rotation.”

The Brisbane Truck Show was also the perfect opportunity for The Drake Group to showcase its updated O’Phee Queenslander model with a unit built for Heavy Haulage Assets.

“The Queenslander is a flat top trailer that that can do anything,” Mick said. “It’s a hamburger with the lot – custom built with extra toolboxes, heavy duty floor and a unique rear end which gives the operator more clearance when operating as a road train. It is built tough just like us Queenslanders.”

Just when visitors were coming to terms with the spinning engineering feat above them, their eyes had to adjust to another coruscating vision before them – a Membrey’s Transport & Crane Hire 5×8 Swingwide Extendable known as ‘Bling King’. The Drake Group’s version, front and centre at its Brisbane Truck Show stand, is no ordinary beast of the road. Painted in ‘Regal Peacock’ and gold livery with ramps covered in glitter, it was as if a bigger, more brutish version of Priscilla Queen of the Desert was in Brisbane.

The Drake Group Director and Head of Finance, Maggie Nilson, said the trailer is another showstopper which was tailored to meet all of Membrey’s specifications.

“Anyone that knows Craig can attest to the fact that this is him all over,” she said at the Brisbane Truck Show. “Craig likes to make a statement, and this is very much a statement piece for him in his fleet.

“It’s exciting for us because it gives us the opportunity then to showcase what we can do best.”

The Drake Group also had a stack of trailers on display including a heavy duty O’Phee drop deck, 2×8 dolly, quad-axle Deck Widener, quad-axle Full Widener and an O’Phee Swinglift/BoXLoader trailer which were real-world examples of the business’ most popular units. But for all the bling and razzamatazz on show, The Drake Group also offered insight on a few more strings to its bow.

“The Brisbane Truck Show is also about Drake Collectibles, our After Sales Support and Service and Repair division, our Rental department and our Parts and Engineering Services,” Sam explained. “So, it’s about flying the flag for all of these other business units as well.”

Maggie sees these various components of The Drake Group as providing a complete service to customers.

“We have the ability to service the customer and be there for them from the very beginning”, she said, “from when they want their transport solution fixed all the way until the aftermarket part of that whole process.”

This holistic approach to customer satisfaction is now further bolstered with The Drake Group’s new partnership with German trailer manufacturer, Goldhofer AG, which was announced just days before the gates to the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre opened.

“We saw an opportunity to partner with Goldhofer who are a like-minded company to us,” Sam said. “We’ll sell their product in Australia which will give our customers the opportunity to tap into that product line that we currently don’t offer – a different range of fully modular trailers, Self-Propelled Modular Transporters and other specialised products.”

Sam sees the Goldhofer arrangement as a long-term partnership, mutually adding value to both companies.

“There should be some good synergies between the two businesses,” he said. “We look forward to collaborating with them on different models and transport solutions.”

For The Drake Group, it’s a non-stop approach to business growth. The Goldhofer deal adds to its investment
in the niche trailer rental sector which Sam sees as a future growth market.

“We’ve been offering this service to our customers either as medium- or long-term rentals while they’re waiting for their new trailer to come through,” he said. “It gets them into a trailer and keeps their customers happy while they’re waiting for a new trailer to get built.

“This bolsters the rest of what we do. There is also opportunity in the market for our rentals to enter the project space, whether that be the oil and gas, mining or construction sectors.”

There is also the company’s expanding service and repairs offerings out of the Richlands location.

“This is a significant growth area for us,” Sam said. “We’ve been building it slowly over time and focusing on general service, repairs and maintenance, but also doing major rebuilds and refurbishments.”

With several developments in place, Maggie said The Drake Group has a firm grip on the road ahead.

“We’ve been spending a lot of time laying the foundations for growth and setting ourselves up to be able to service all of our customers,” she said. “We want to focus on general continuous improvement and systemisation, ensuring that we’re the most efficient that we can be.

“It’s a challenging market being in Australian manufacturing, but we want to be here for the long term.”

According to Sam, an ongoing focus on efficiency will be paramount.

“Our focus on efficiencies goes hand in hand with what we do as Australian manufacturers,” he said. “We continue to scrutinise our costs by managing rising material and labour costs across the industry and absorbing what we can through efficient manufacturing and organisation.”

An important factor in The Drake Group maintaining its success-based growth will be appearances at future editions of the Brisbane Truck Show.

“It’s pretty amazing being here,” Sam explained. “We invested significant time and resources to be here and really showcase the best of the best of what we do.

“A huge thank you to all involved is definitely in order, from our staff at Drake to the event organisers, our suppliers and of course, most importantly, our customers.”