Moore Trailers is a trailer builder based in Pittsworth, Queensland.
With a very extensive portfolio of combinations ranging from tippers, flat tops, drop decks, tilt trays and extendables to livestock trailers, fibreglass and steel tankers, conveyor floor units, convertible trailers and dollies, it has many requirements to fulfil for customers across several industries.
The business was established in 1988 by Lionel Moore and his son, Shayne. Lionel had already worked in the industry for over 25 years at the time, and when the opportunity came to start out on his own, he set Moore Trailers up with his son.
In the early days, the business was mostly repairing the odd bin or crate for old trailers – until it was tasked with its first new trailer build in 1992. From there, Lionel and his sons built and moved into the business’ first workshop two years later on the outskirts of Pittsworth and enjoyed the growth that would follow.
While Lionel retired last year after a total of almost 60 years in the industry, Shayne took the reins as Managing Director to guide the business forward. His brother, Grahame, who has also worked with the company since the early ‘90s, joined his side in a senior position of Chief of Operations.
While maintaining a consistent product output as well as the core values which Lionel established, the business has its eye on even more growth.
It’s currently building another factory adjacent to the company’s current 13,500-square-metre facility which opened just five years ago, which will add an extra 6,000 square metres to the location while consolidating Moore Trailers’ entire blast, prep, paint and finish operations into the one area.
“Once our new workshops are built, we will have one of the largest trailer manufacturing sites in Queensland,” Shayne says. “We are hoping to achieve levels of approximately 600 trailers and 200 dollies per year when fully operational.”
The new facility will feature two blasting areas, two preparation areas and three full spray/bake booths, creating a throughput operation that will create great efficiencies in the business’ overall manufacturing process.
“The current production process is very inefficient because we’re moving product between our production, blast, paint and finish divisions,” Shayne says. “These divisions are currently scattered between our old and new sites, so the time savings alone and the add-on of a larger paint and finish division will increase our output capacity by up to 25 per cent.”
As things start to change at Moore Trailers, with the company preparing for the facility’s launch mid next year and the way its operations will differ, one thing will remain the same. Its builds will continue to heavily feature JOST components, Shayne says, because it’s the only choice for Moore Trailers.
“Fitting JOST on all of our units is a no-brainer,” he says. “Their products adapt into all of our trailer models seamlessly. JOST has great products with impressive longevity, and the support is there when needed.”
For over a quarter of a century, Moore Trailers has chosen JOST as its preferred supplier when it comes to fifth wheels, landing legs and hoists.
JOST’s landing legs are fitted to every single semi-trailer that Moore Trailers builds, with its turntables being standard fitment on all A trailers and dollies and its hoists making regular appearances too.
“We fit up to 40 sets of JOST landing legs and over a dozen turntables a month,” Shayne says. “All of their products are robust and are designed to cope with harsh Australian conditions. We find that there is very little feedback from all of our clients, meaning the products leave here with the peace of mind that they are going to do the job our customers require from them.”
Some recent examples which have just rolled out of Moore Trailers’ factory include a road train set of side tippers fitted with JOST’s foundational trailer landing gear series, the A400 Series landing legs, coupled together with a JSK 37CZW turntable.
“These units will operate in some of the harshest conditions in Australia, but with the JOST products, we and the customer know they will stand up to the test of time,” he says.
“The two-speed legs are a sturdy product with a quick gear change to lift heavily laden trailers with ease, while the turntables have an easy-to-access handle which is less strenuous to uncouple. The lock tab visibility on the turntables also gives the end user a quick guide that the coupling is correctly coupled.”
With JOST equipment heavily featured throughout Moore Trailers’ production process, Shayne says the business experiences increased turnaround times and enhanced productivity levels.
“We can almost guarantee next-day delivery for most items if we run out of stock, so that really compliments our needs,” he says. “This obviously gives us the ability to minimise our stock levels and keep our cash flow buoyant.
“We keep a fairly large stock level of the items we use, so having regular orders being met in a timely manner is a bonus. We also deal directly with JOST in Brisbane, so we are assured that we get the best price and service.”
Shayne is certain that he will be recommending and fitting JOST products into the future, as he anticipates what the business relationship between JOST and Moore Trailers will look like in the years to follow.
“Our relationship with JOST spans over more than 25 years,” he says. “We have created not just a business relationship with the people at JOST but friendships that will last forever.”
