Tristar Industries, for more than 50 years, has assisted a range of companies and sectors around the country with high-quality trailer builds and accompanying equipment.
Operating out of the Northern Territory, the OEM employs a group of around 70 experienced manufacturers and consultants who offer customers a one-stop shop experience with manufacturing, repairing and servicing consolidated under the one roof.
These capabilities are a major aspect of the business’ value offering. For Tristar Industries Sales Manager, Paul Almada, and the rest of the team, they are also a source of pride.
“Everything we offer is manufactured from scratch here in the Northern Territory,” he says. “That means designing, pressing and fabrication rolling. We also have an in-house machine shop which allows us to make our own hydraulics cylinders and complete sandblast painting from our one site.
“Our shop brings in outside work too. We’re able to complete repairs and part machining for locals as well as refurbishment work on branded trailers.”
Tristar’s one-stop shop value proposition also accommodates customer requests, a factor which Paul says attracts many fleets which are looking to constantly innovate.
“Customers like how we don’t just build one set product,” he says. “They can customise parts of the trailer to suit their requirements.
“We can engineer it in-house and we’re open to any suggestions. We’re always trying to stay modern and keep up with the times through our designs, so we welcome requests and the customers really appreciate it.”
Tristar’s myriad capabilities are underpinned by its main area of manufacturing – heavy vehicles for the mining sector. Much of the OEM’s customer base belongs to this industry and relies on its extensive range of trailers and their various applications.
“We’re very well-known for our side tippers,” Paul says. “We started with side tippers as well as water tankers.
“We’re now branching out a lot more with our other builds. So far, we are getting some very positive feedback and many orders coming through which is great.”
Other builds in Tristar’s repertoire include flat tops, drop decks, dollies and skel trailers – models that are in high demand from transport companies like Qcrush which utilise them for various mining and crushing applications.
Qcrush was established in 2008 and is Queensland-based business which operates out of several sites throughout Mount Isa, Winton, Gregory Downs and Burke Shire.
The business is running a fleet of over 250 pieces of equipment including a range of Tristar road train side tippers and water tankers which have served its freight tasks well.
“We use a bit of everything from Tristar’s product range,” says Qcrush owner and Managing Director, Anthony Kuhn. “We order a lot of their side tippers and water tankers, and we’re looking to invest in more drop deck trailers as well.”
Qcrush’s Tristar side tippers are operating under the National Heavy Vehicle Accreditation Scheme’s (NHVAS) Mass Management accreditation. This enables them to carry weights that exceed normal transport legislation in certain driving environments.
According to Anthony, this is essential for the units which carry large quantities of raw equipment to and from mining sites.
“We can run side tippers with Gross Combination Masses (GCM) of roughly 160 tonnes under Mass Management and certain biomass limits,” he says. “This generally gives each combination a 95 to 100-tonne payload.”
Aside from Tristar side tippers, Qcrush is also operating eight 32,000-litre water tankers which have proven to excel in harsh operating conditions due to their material compaction and dust suppression factors. Running off-highway, these units are not restricted to a specific weight capacity and are able to achieve a payload of 110 tonnes as a result.
“Safety is our main priority,” Anthony says. “We work on a lot of mine sites with particular hazards like contract crushing, so our team is particularly sensitive to risks. But we also value productivity and innovation, and all of these values come in the form of the equipment we buy.
“Tristar understands our needs well and that’s why we’ve been a repeat customer of theirs for so long. So much of the quality of their builds comes from their background in transport.
“They know how to build units which complement what many fleets are looking for.”
Qcrush also adds its own touch to these Tristar builds by specifying certain features which suit their mining applications. This is particularly apparent in some recent drop deck trailers which the fleet has just purchased.
“We’ve specified some features such as new lay-down ramps,” Anthony says. “We’ve also made some other tweaks too, like running a Honda motor for the unit’s hydraulics rather than a battery or electric pumps.”
One of these new drop deck units will also be unveiled by Tristar at the Brisbane Truck Show.
“We’ve changed our designs for these units quite significantly to stay a bit more competitive,” Paul says. “We’re updating aesthetics and functionality, and we’ll have a couple of these at the Brisbane Truck Show so that people can see the new features.
“It’s important that we make our builds as user-friendly as we can. We want people to know that when they call us with requests, we can accommodate them.”
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