As one of the world’s largest paper recycling and packaging companies, Melbourne’s Visy is commanding a vast logistics department operating by air, rail and road. In order to keep abreast of the industry, it is now using Krueger’s tried and tested trailer portfolio.
Established in 1948, Visy has become a byword for creativity and on-going improvement, pledging to make transport more efficient by looking at things in a different way. Based on that culture of innovation, it has become an industry powerhouse operating more than 100 packaging and recycling sites around Australia.
But while the Victorian company is proud of how far they've come, they know the journey is far from over, as Darren Bright, Visy’s National Asset Fleet Manager, can attest. “At Visy, it's in our nature to challenge things. We're not happy to settle for the same old solutions time and time again – after all, the world around us is always evolving, so we believe we should do the same,” he says.
“So instead of sticking to what's 'good enough', we're on a mission to do something truly great. We're always pushing the envelope to find new and better ways of doing things – whether it's creating an eye-catching piece of packaging or streamlining our production processes.”
That’s why Darren was happy to give Krueger a try when Visy recently acquired a company in regional Victoria. “The majority of their fleet were Krueger trailers, which gave us the opportunity to trial their product and get some first hand feedback,” he says.
According to Darren, Visy sets a very high standard in the way they implement equipment and operate the company fleet, but the Krueger equipment had no trouble in passing the test. “At the time, we were in the midst of a major fleet upgrade so the trial came just in time to help us reinforce the Victorian metro division.”
Visy currently operates with a fleet of more than 250 prime movers and 400 trailers, 95 per cent of which are curtain-siders in different configurations. Since the successful trial, Visy added a squadron of Krueger’s drop deck curtain-siders into operation – but according to Darren, that’s just the start.
“We’ve already gotten seven drop deck curtain-siders running, and now we’re about to take delivery of two tri-axle B-double curtain-siders that can accommodate up to 36 pallets. We will also take on eight more B-trailer units too in the coming weeks,” he explains. “The two B-doubles in particular are built to achieve multiple objectives including to carrying paper reels, pallets and waste load products.”
On key feature on the curtain-siders is a double roller track system used to anchor the load restraint curtains that work in tandem with heavy-duty load restraint sliding posts. Although manually operated, Darren says sliding the curtains effortlessly will make a huge difference to Visy’s drivers.
“From an OH&S and performance point of view, the fluidity of manoeuvring the curtains makes it easier for our operators when opening and closing,” Darren says. “They will likely use these curtains three to four times a day, so the fact that the curtains can roll back and forth prevents the operator from sustaining any long term injuries particularly to their hands and shoulders.”
Meanwhile, all trailers are fitted with tyre inflation kits, EBS units and LoadSmart weigh gauges, which is prevalent on the majority of Visy’s line haul and metro fleet. “EBS is the best way to ensure safe handling when the vehicle is on the road, while the tyre inflation system helps us decrease wear and tear on the tyres and improve on fuel economy,” Darren says.
“The LoadSmart device is linked up to an MTData driver management module and helps us control the axle weight when we run on Concessional Mass Limits (CML). All of these modifications are a direct result of our culture of innovation and will go a long way to improving the safety and performance for our operation.”
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