64 | Maximum safety and fuel efficiency is here The Bigfoot system allows the operator to alter the tyre pressures of truck and trailer tyres while the truck is in motion. Bigfoot Equipment T T Hugh de Lacy TRANSPORT The Central Tyre Inflation (CTI) system that Rotorua’s Bigfoot Equipment pioneered in New Zealand 30 years ago has spread from its beginnings in the local forestry industry to other transport operations and is being exported world-wide. The Bigfoot system allows the operator to alter the tyre pressures of truck and trailer tyres while the truck is in motion, matching tyre pressures to the speed and weight of the vehicle and was first developed by company founder Neil Wylie back in the 1990s. The forestry early adopters of this new technology of an on-board system to adjust tyre pressures because of the variability of driving surfaces and loads it involves, with the trucks travelling laden and unladen under some challenging conditions. With Bigfoot’s being based in the heart of the Forest industry the CTI system was designed initially for demands of logging trucks, and that was Neil’s primary focus when he launched the company in 1994. In 2016 his brother Graham Wylie bought the business and continued refining and developing the system while growing the market both locally and overseas. “Our systems are great but we put a lot of work into our service, when you buy Bigfoot you’ve got us for life!” Graham say’s Bigfoot Equipment has a workshop capable of housing up to three trucks being fitted with the Bigfoot CTI at a time, and it’s supporting store, manufacturing and office space. Bigfoot CTI systems can be installed at the Rotorua workshop by the Bigfoot team, or at the client’s local workshop, or by the team at Transport Repairs in the South Island. “Transport Repairs are a fantastic company with nine workshops now they have been selling and installing our system for quite a few years” Overseas markets that Bigfoot Equipment has penetrated include Australia, the United States and Canada, Latvia, Sweden and the United Kingdom, and it’s a list that’s steadily growing with systems in the jungles of Laos to emergency services in Singapore. We really have a global spread of customers “More and more we’re seeing our systems taken up by transport operators in other industries because of its practical capabilities and quality, a batch of CFA trucks in Australia is a good example of this, on a bad day these guys are putting themselves out there in extreme life threatening conditions we cant be there with them but our systems are,” Graham sayd. “We see ourselves as a tech company so we are constantly looking for areas to improve and we have competition that keeps us on our toes and that’s good for everyone” “Depending on the truck’s compressors, the Bigfoot CTI systems allows a market-leading flow rateour CTI systems can give the driver greater confidence and comfort in vehicle handling, and we are seeingreduced tyre wear of +30%,” Graham says. But those are not the only benefits of the Bigfoot system: it allows for greater fuel efficiency which results in a reduced environmental footprint from the trucking operation. It can also keep the tyre pressure up when there are slow leaks that would normally see the truck stranded, now allowing the truck to make it back to the depot for repairs recucing tyre damage, callouts and downtime. The Bigfoot company is made up of eight employees working out of the Rotorua workshop, with a a single zone system being installed in a truck in six to eight hours. “You can bring in a truck in the morning and we’ll have it ready to pick up that afternoon,” Graham says. The most popular system is typically applied to the drive axles, however steer axles and trailer axles can be fitted for independent tyre pressure control. Other major industries adopting CTI systems include agriculture, livestock, roading, heavy haulage and construction. “We see ourselves as a tech company so we are constantly looking for areas to improve and we have competition that keeps us on our toes.” Ţ » 4;»78<»6659 , % ,! )> (>'3 000>!" ! .-2)% ,-" ,> (>'3 » » » » » Ţ Ţ » » »|»Ţ Ţ Ţ :9w Ţ w ?w Ţ?w w Ţ Ţ » »» » »» » »»7 » » »» Ţ » »» » Ţ Ţ » HYDRAULIC OIL TANKS SPECIALIST FUEL TANKS ALUMINIUM TOOLBOXES 53 Bridge Street, Bulls (06) 322 1575 info@roadrunnerltd.co.nz www.roadrunnerltd.co.nz KEEPING KIWIS TRUCKING SINCE AGES AGO... PROUD TO SUPPORT BIGFOOT EQUIPMENT Specialising in the manufacturing of quality... • Aluminium Fuel Tanks • Hydraulic Oil Tanks • Toolboxes • Combination Fuel Tanks • Air Tanks • Field Service Boxes
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=