Seventy-one-year-old transport specialist, JR Stephens Transport, rolled onto the freight scene back in 1954 when founder, John Stephens, began his single-truck operation for a coal contract in Queensland.
Three quarters of a century down the track, it has mutated into an operation with more than 170 trailers, 70 prime movers, 20 pieces of plant equipment and 130 staff members spread out across two sites in Blackstone and Carole Park.
“We slowly branched out from coal and expanded into the waste and grains sectors,” explains JR Stephens Transport Fleet and Maintenance Manager, Reece Tippett. “It’s a pretty diverse market that we’re serving now.”
JR Stephens Transport made another move around 20 years ago which ended up having a significant impact. The fleet decided to start investing in KEITH Walking Floor systems – all of which have lasted and are still in operation today.
“The KEITH Walking Floor has proven to be an extremely durable item that stands up to our demands,” Reece says. “It’s an amazing product. You just turn the floor on and the load gets walked in or out. Everything works as it should from there.”
JR Stephens Transport has 20 Lusty EMS KEITH Walking Floor applications which carry products ranging from construction and demolition waste to wet garbage waste, lightweight recycled products, timber and mulch. The units are effortlessly servicing customers throughout South East Queensland and Northern Rivers, New South Wales, due to their heavy-duty natures.
“The Walking Floor is a pretty full-proof system,” Reece says. “We’ve been able to keep ours on the road for so long with the help of our in-house workshop. We have trailer mechanics and diesel mechanics onsite which can complete basic mid-life services when required. The Walking Floor trailers then go off again without any problems.”
The KEITH Walking Floor applications are deployed in what Reece refers to as the fleet’s ‘nursery’ division. The trailers, being unbelievably user-friendly, are allocated to newer drivers to learn the ropes with.
“The KEITH Walking Floor system is a very simple hydraulic setup to use and teach,” Reece says. “We use it as a platform to train our drivers though the business.”
According to Reece, the units have become very good pieces of equipment for its training, compliance and safety space. But they are also very diverse in terms of the sites they can access.
Low maintenance is another key benefit. JR Stephens Transport has capitalised on this and has significantly increased revenue as a result.
“The KEITH applications don’t need a lot of maintenance,” Reece says. “They’re very reliable.”
While JR Stephens Transport has the utmost confidence in the KEITH Walking Floor system, the OEM’s aftersales support is always readily available if it’s needed.
“We have a really good relationship with KEITH,” Reece says. “Their Customer Support Manager, Tim Mellor, is great to deal with.
“KEITH’s service is second to none. They’re always all over anything we need.”
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