For The Drake Group, 2024 has been nothing short of success. Record trailer deliveries, significant business growth, new market opportunities and various company highlights across the board have all been contributing factors.
As The Drake Group Director, Sam Drake, reflects on the past 12 months, he says 2024 has been one of biggest years ever for the business.
“We’ve been in a super cycle, and it’s been absolutely crazy,” he says. “We’ve grown the Drake Collectibles business which has attracted a lot of interest due to the new models we’ve released this year, and our engineering company, DBE, has also experienced a lot of growth to the point that we’ve acquired more property for it. So, it’s been a big year with heaps of highlights and growth across all of our businesses.”
Headlining the latest developments at The Drake Group is its arrival into the rental market.
Following increased demand from companies looking to hire equipment, The Drake Group has created a trailer fleet rental business which, although in its infancy, is already showing great signs.
“We’ve entered the trailer hire business for low loaders,” Sam says. “We saw an opportunity in the market for medium to long-term rentals and so we decided to get into the rental business.
“Some people can’t justify buying a trailer straight away. They might want to trial one first, or they might have a specific project where they only need a trailer for 12 months or two years. So, we’ve now got a fleet of about half a dozen trailers which are a mix of used and brand-new 4×4 full wideners, deck wideners and 2×4 and 2×8 dollies, and we’ll be building it up over time.”
Simultaneously, The Drake Group has opened a major 22,800-square-metre service and repair facility in Richlands, Queensland.
“The service and repair business is huge,” Sam says. “We’ve taken on a new facility which is highlighting aftersales, remanned parts including leg exchange, service and support. We’re trying to grow that full end-to-end service business where we can do basic servicing right through to midlife and full rebuilds.”
The new facility replaces a shed at The Drake Group’s Queensland headquarters which the business quickly outgrew this year.
“We identified it as a growth business,” Sam says. “We moved into the new shed last month. It has overhead cranes, wash bays, service pits, reman component bays and great access especially for our clients with larger trailers.
“Our spare parts, collectibles, storage, service and repairs are going to move all under the one roof over there, and then we’re going to centralise our trailer building warehousing at the existing site.”
Around this, The Drake Group has been working hard to improve its existing services. It has introduced a lot of lean practices into its business to streamline operations, enhance quality and become as efficient as possible.
“Trying to be as lean as we can has been a big focus,” Sam says. “With rising material and labour costs, you’ve got to find every single bit of efficiency you can.”
This builds on one of the company’s initiatives earlier this year which saw it completely restructure its Queensland factory. With multiple equipment upgrades and a new ‘stock’ spec program introduced for Drake quad full wideners and quad deck wideners, this reduced lead delivery times on specific models by 60 per cent and improved efficiency across the board.
More than eight months down the track, Sam says the benefits are still showing, both from an OEM and a customer perspective.
“It’s been going really well,” he says. “We’re trying to become as efficient as we can as well as streamlining our manufacturing processes as best as we can.
“The stock program has been helping with that by getting people into trailers quicker.”
As part of the program, customers can opt for a stock spec full widener or deck widener that are fitted with The Drake Group’s most popular components.
“The spec that we came up with is based on the most common specs that we sell,” Sam says. “The market has been pretty accepting of it. People have been happy to forego their exact specification requirements because they can get into a trailer quicker.
“For example, someone might have a specific axle brand that they use or a wheel size that they generally go for, but if the trailer’s there and they can get it quicker, they’re happy to compromise and take what they can get.”
The stock program, Sam says, has also played a part in The Drake Group’s ability to rein in its lead times as of late.
Looking ahead, The Drake Group is gearing up for an even bigger year in 2025.
Growing its service and repair business even further will be a main priority, as well as a series of other plans in place such as the relaunch of an O’Phee flat top trailer as ‘The Queenslander’ which will take place at the 2025 Brisbane Truck Show in May.
But for now, it’s focused on closing the year out with the finish it deserves.
“We’re finishing the year strong, there’s no doubt about that,” Sam says. “We’ve got plenty of builds to complete. We’ve got a full order book for 18 months to two years, but in terms of this year’s production output, we’ve got committed deliveries happening. And there’s still plenty of interest in the market.
“I think the customers are a little bit happier that they can get equipment quicker now, whereas before they had to wait a lot longer. That’s been a real benefit to us and the customers, which is something we will continue to strive towards.”
