Being at the forefront of an industry is not something that happens overnight.
Lucidity Australia has near a quarter of a century of experience in supplying the transport industry in Australia.
Company President Mathew Jenkins says Lucidity is the largest manufacturer to the OEM trailer industry for wiring, lighting and DC electronics as combined kits. He explains that while there may be competition larger globally, that isn’t the case down-under.
“They’re certainly not in Australia, and they’re certainly not as proactive at solving issues and working as closely with manufacturers as us,” he says. “The mere fact is we can actually be a solution out of one box for wiring, lighting and electronics, all designed to work together.”
Education within industry is vital to understanding how your products are expected to operate.
“At Lucidity we understand that transport is just a term that covers every niche within the industry,” Mathew says. “For instance, we dig down to the specialty needs for refrigerated transport, livestock transport and so on. We are very fortunate that we have partners willing to share niche industry expertise with us to improve the overall experience and prove time and time again that we are the premium supplier to this industry.”
Lucidity is pioneering the visualisation that there are three voltages in Australia which Mathew says evolved from when European trucks came to Australia and resorted to bulb lights as that was the only option available.
“Bulb lights were only available in 12 and 24 volts,” he says. “They’re not multi-volt like the LED product. The reducer meant that you could have a trailer set up for 12 volts, and that’s all you needed.”
Mathew explains that the reducer isn’t a part of the Australian standard as the expectation of voltage from a truck is supposed to be 12 or 24 volts.
“The Voltage from a reducer is not 12V DC as expected and this is where some of the complications start, this is some of what Lucidity solve.”
“But these things are in the market, they’ve been in the market roughly as long as European trucks have been coming to Australia to make the cohesion between truck and trailer easy,” he says. “But when we do a design for a Lamp or electronic device for the industry, it’s all designed to operate on the three voltages.”
Lucidity have introduced a lot more automatic processing over the years, which Mathew says can be seen in their multicore and singlecore wire cutting and stripping, seal applications, injection moulding and resistance or ultrasonic welding.
“There’s a lot of processes that we do that are quite unique to this industry, and we’ve developed tooling and processes that are very specifically orientated towards trailer and the ways trailers are built,” he says. “And it’s not a generic off-the-shelf solution that you can use on automotive cars or trucks, it is quite specifically designed for trailer.”
Lucidity Is the first manufacturer to combine side turn indicators and side markers, pioneering products such as Lucidity Link lamps where every lamp can be used as its own junction box.
While there are many trends and factors in industries that see change in products, Mathew believes that the “poor quality of competitors’ products, and lack of industry consideration” has vastly contributed to the development of his product line.
“Particularly plug-in socket technology on the front of trailers is something that we’ve been able to redevelop into something that’s longer-lasting,” he says. “We’ve created a far-superior product and a superior connection, creating a lot more longevity in those products.”
According to Mathew, Lucidity is very much involved in the industry, by completing installations, offering training, talking to operators and solving issues. The biggest difference between Lucidity and its competitors is the quality of products.
“A lot of things are built to cost, whereas we built to industry,” he says. “We’re not just accepting a commodity off-the-shelf item that can be used for two months of a year, we build product that’s manufactured to work on a trailer every single day.”
“We are an Australian manufacturer, and we’re very proud that we can still manufacture in Australia.”
Fast fact
Lucidity’s Visual Dock Assistant (VDA) system utilises a lamp on the side of trailers. Once the truck is put in reverse, the marker lump activates a flashing warning lamp. As the truck gets closer to the target it starts to flash faster, and once the operator is 300 mm away from the target it goes to a solid colour.
Fast fact
As all Lucidity products – from wiring to lighting to electronics – are developed in-house they are also designed to be as efficient as possible when used together.
