| 77 T T Hugh de Lacy US products adapted for NZ market Under their Warren Auger Bins label, Scott and Bradley set up their own manufacturing/modification facility in Matamata, comprising two 1500sqm buildings on Waihou Street. Warren Auger Bins “We’re able to adapt our systems for New Zealand’s nineaxle truck-and-trailers – five axles on the trailer and four on the truck – from the 50-tonne gross weight right up to the 50max High Productivity Motor Vehicle.“ MANUFACTURING Adapting the American Warren system to New Zealand conditions for transporting stock feeds by truck was the rationale behind the establishment in Matamata in 2012 of the wholly locally owned Warren Auger Bins NZ Ltd. With demand growing from the dairying and poultry industries for more efficient bulk-handling systems for trucks and trailers, Scott Garland and Bradley Scott teamed up in 2012 to found Warren Auger Bins after visiting the original Warren Truck and Trailer factory in Birmingham, Alabama. The American company, part of the wider Warren industrial group, was established in 1993 to provide specialised aluminium equipment for trucking companies across the southwest. Some of their aluminium machinery had already entered the New Zealand market, and had impressed Scott and Bradley with its quality. They could see further potential for it if they could adapt it to New Zealand conditions. The difference between trucking in the US and in New Zealand is that the Americans mostly use a semi-trailer configuration, comprising a long trailer hauled by a tractor-truck. In New Zealand, the standard configuration is truck-and-trailer, requiring considerable modification of the Warren machinery to suit. Under their Warren Auger Bins label, Scott and Bradley set up their own manufacturing/ modification facility in Matamata, comprising two 1500sqm buildings on Waihou Street. Scott had previously owned a Matamata company called Garland Engineering, which Bradley joined fresh out of school, and where he went on to complete his heavy fabrication apprenticeship before heading off for a few years driving logging trucks for a Tokoroa firm. The business not only adapted Warren bulk loading and unloading systems for the New Zealand market, but went on to build complete trailers, including modifying Warren components such as the slew motors that rotate the auger boom between the truck and the dumpsite container. On the back of demand from the dairy industry in particular, which has been importing huge amounts of palm kernel to feed its cows, Warren Auger Bins proved a success, growing rapidly to the point where today it has a staff of 11 at its headquarters, supported by a nationwide network of agencies for the huge range of parts it imports. “We’re able to adapt our systems for New Zealand’s nine-axle truck-and-trailers – five axles on the trailer and four on the truck – from the 50-tonne gross weight right up to the 50max High Productivity Motor Vehicle (HPMV) that allows a 58-tonne gross weight under certain conditions and on certain routes,” Bradley says. “The fact that we work in aluminium, much lighter than steel, means that our clients can maximise their payload, and incidentally load and unload much faster – as much as 90 seconds per tonne for palm kernel.” As well as manufacturing trailers and truck bodies, Warren Auger Bins also carries out repairs and maintenance on alloy feed bins. “We offer after-sales support, routine maintenance and servicing and an after-hours breakdown service, but demand for our feed bins lately is such that we haven’t had much time for anything else,” Bradley says. FORALL YOUR TYRE NEEDS Truck Tyres | Passenger Tyres | Tractor / Agriculture Tyre Mower Tyre | Puncture Repairs | Wheel Alignments | Tyre Rotations 0274976356 mark@koputyreservice.co.nz CALLMARK 027 577 6565 matacp2019@gmail.com 13 Garland Street, Matamata 0800 000 144 • www.duroweld.co.nz Proudly supporting Warren Auger Bins • Welding Machines • Consumables • Gas Gear & Accessories NZ’s Cutting and Welding Specialists, we’ve got you covered.
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