Mean and green

Allow QuickSilver Heavy Duty to reintroduce itself.

Last year, E-Plas launched a brand-new floor liner to the Australian market in partnership with Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials (MCAM) which, having already demonstrated its dominance throughout Europe and the United States in global applications, was destined for Australia.

Building on the expertise behind the standard QuickSilver product, QuickSilver Heavy Duty was specifically designed for high-demanding tipping operations to offer operators a more durable and longer-lasting truck liner.

“We identified a very specific wear and flow issue that we wanted to address,” says E-Plas National Operations Manager, Rupin Joshi. “The standard QuickSilver truck lining was already a premium product, however we wanted to better address the specific needs of a niche group within that market.

“We wanted to come up with something that would give customers experiencing extreme wear issues better extended life.”

The end result is QuickSilver Heavy Duty, a product that was specifically designed for purpose in applications which require a lot of abrasive product to be transported over a number of trips.

The main benefit of QuickSilver Heavy Duty is that it can handle extreme abrasion under high intensity tipping, with wear capacity and flow improvements also being key advantages of its use. The new liner to the QuickSilver range, as a result, is the perfect solution for applications where wear is the issue due to the number of trips completed or the abrasiveness of the material used.

QuickSilver Heavy Duty is ideally suited to the intense demands of Australia’s heavy vehicle users and has already proven itself in such applications overseas. For example, E-Plas and MCAM compared QuickSilver with a wear resistant steel liner with a customer which was looking to save weight while getting a similar product lifespan. According to MCAM, QuickSilver Heavy Duty achieved both of these factors – the product has already lasted double the time which the wear resistant steel liner material did and is still in its application.

E-Plas and MCAM recently conducted another case study which compared the classic QuickSilver with QuickSilver Heavy Duty liners through the applications a customer which was transporting a very abrasive material. The results found that Heavy Duty lasts approximately 30-per cent longer than the classic QuickSilver.

The product was also trialled in another case study in Switzerland where the customer was very impressed with its performance.

“The customer told me, ‘I have tried every liner that is available, but nothing performs like QuickSilver Heavy Duty from a wear point of view’,” says MCAM Linings Sales and Marketing Manager, Orson Yong. “The drivers also confirmed that it unloaded better than anything else.”

According to E-Plas, operators can gain a significant increase in payload each trip when using QuickSilver Heavy Duty over standard steel as well. And when looking at the material able to be transported in each load, it has found that Heavy Duty can increase carrying capacities while also decreasing workloads due to less cleaning necessary. The latter is ultimately a result of its flow improvements.

That being said, QuickSilver Heavy Duty has made quite the impression since its launch in Australia with there now being several applications of it within the country.

According to Rupin, one local customer found that their standard aluminium liners weren’t lasting long and the more abrasive-resistant Heavy Duty material seemed to solve their problem.

“We’ve been monitoring the use on that particular vehicle and everything has been going well,” he says. “The install was finished early this year, so although it’s only been in operation for a short time, the early signs are looking positive.

“We have another customer in Victoria who has used it in a pretty high-demanding application as well and they are very happy with the product’s performance, reporting no issues.”

QuickSilver Heavy Duty was first developed by MCAM in the United States. The international company was founded in the 1960s and with its expertise in the field, it saw the need to add to the QuickSilver range with an option dedicated to abrasive bulk materials.

According to Orson, the original objective was for it to take over the very demanding jobs which the standard QuickSilver product wasn’t coping in. It’s had a snowball effect since then in the global market and now Australia, and the snowball isn’t slowing down.

“It has been holding up really well, and the customers using QuickSilver Heavy Duty are constantly giving us feedback that they are very satisfied with its performance,” he says. “The performance metrics are very justifiable for them. While Heavy Duty is at a higher price, its performance outweighs the price difference.”

The QuickSilver Heavy Duty liner is especially well-suited for the construction, quarries, mining and glass recycling industries due to its ability to handle high intensity tipping of highly abrasive and high impact materials. Available in 12mm-thick coils, it is most efficient for sand, gravel, rock, recycled glass and construction rubble applications which require eight or more trips per day. For applications that require less loads, QuickSilver classic, also supplied in 12mm-thick coils, remains a perfect choice. On top of that, the Heavy Duty variant is available in custom lengths and sizes upon requests.

The relationship between MCAM and E-Plas dates back to when the plastic specialist first arrived in the Australian market. MCAM has remained by its side ever since and continues to play a key role in E-Plas’ operations down under.

“We are so pleased that we have the privilege to work with E-Plas in the Australian market,” Orson says. “As a global company, we have lots of experience and case studies – whether it be success stories or failure stories – that we bring to the table, and that will go a long way in working to the benefit of the customers in Australia.

“So, we are not here just to supply a product to our distributor and push it out to the customer. We are here to provide a solution that is consistent. We’re always spending time to look at the problem and coming up with an engineered solution.”