Innovative trucks for home delivery operation

Lloyd Fraser will take delivery of a new fleet of vehicles for its Wickes home delivery operation in June.  These vehicles have taken 12 months to get from the drawing board into service and the company says the result is a best of breed vehicle for heavyweight home delivery which combines the competing considerations of payload, working time directive, order mix, speed of loading and unloading, and access restrictions.
 The outgoing fleet, a mix of 7.5 ton and 18 ton vehicles, was not ideal for the requirements of the Wickes home delivery operation. The 7.5 ton truck, being the standard home delivery vehicle, created issues in the Wickes environment which sees 80% of its throughput as kitchens weighing an average 750kg per order. With a payload of between 2.5 and 3 ton, the old vehicles quickly “weighed out” before cube or time, whilst the 18 ton vehicles, although not encountering the obstacles of payload, cube, or time, were unable to access residential areas without considerable difficulty. The solution lay in a mid range vehicle which could carry sufficient payload yet have the accessibility advantages of a 7.5 ton wheelbase.
Working  with DAF, Don-Bur, and the transport department of the client, Lloyd Fraser has come up with as close a match to its operational needs as is physically possible – a payload of five tonnes to ensure maximum efficiency, and a wheel base of 17.7 feet to ensure minimum access issues. The 55 series DAF operating in the 13-15 tonne bracket, showed only small but tolerable dimension differences compared to the 45 series. As the 15 tonne version of the DAF 55 operated on the same chassis as the 13 tonne, the new fleet has been plated at 15 tonnes, offering a payload of around 6.5 tonnes while at the same time achieving a 7.5 tonne equivalent wheelbase.