Supertrucks continues to improve

Supertrucks Ltd continues to develop and expand its range of glass carrying vehicles and equipment. The company is committed to improving operational efficiency, increasing crew safety and further raising quality standards. As such, its latest developments meet all these key parameters and puts Supertrucks further ahead of its competition, both in the UK and Europe.

Peter Wright, Supertrucks’ chairman, comments, “In tough economic conditions, Supertrucks as manufacturers – and its customers in the glass trade, can only survive by working more efficiently and safely. This is the driving force behind our programme of continuous product development to enable us to efficiently produce glass-carrying vehicles which provide our customers with significant operational and safety benefits.”

NEW Supertrucks Technitip Active Suspension
For safer and more efficient glass transport and loading/unloading, Supertrucks is developing a unique active suspension package which can be fitted to virtually any popular light commercial vehicle.

Good practice requires that sheets of glass carried on outside vehicle racks are loaded/unloaded at between 4-5 degrees off-vertical (ie with a 4-5 degree lean inwards towards the vehicle). This ensures that when the sheet glass is released from the rack, wind or camber do not cause it to topple over, risking injury to the crew or damage to the glass or vehicle.

Often, the effects of camber or where the vehicle has to park with two wheels on the kerb at the unloading point make the 4-5 degree lean angle difficult to maintain. Supertrucks, unlike most other UK/European van manufacturers, has long fitted an inclinometer to its racks to allow the crew to check whether it is safe to unload or not.

Now, Supertrucks is set to introduce its new Technitip active suspension package which enables the driver to actually adjust the angle or lean to a safe level before releasing the sheet glass load from the exterior rack.

The Supertrucks Technitip active suspension package consists of struts on each side of the rear axle, which are activated by a compact electro-hydraulic power pack. These struts allow the vehicle to be raised or lowered on either side as required to achieve the safe, 5 degree unloading angle.

The driver adjusts the angle of lean using a remote wander lead, allowing the externally-mounted inclinometer to be read on either side to check that the vehicle has been satisfactorily adjusted to achieve the optimum safe unloading angle.

Peter Wright explains, “There is considerable customer demand for this new product, as responsible glazing companies look to improve their safety and efficiency. Many of our customers are delivering in busy urban environments where it is virtually impossible to park on level ground. The bigger the glass sheet carried, the more essential it is that unloading/unloading procedures are properly carried out. The Technitip active suspension enables the crew to ensure that vehicle and load are in the optimum safety position before releasing the sheet.”

As well as allowing the height of either side of the vehicle to be adjusted independently, the Technitip active suspension package will allow the rear deck height of the vehicle to be lowered by up to 100mm to ease the loading of heavy or bulky objects into the rear of the van.

The Technitip active suspension package, which was previewed at the recent Glasstec show in Germany, will be available early in 2009, priced from £2,300 + VAT (including installation) and can be fitted at Supertrucks’ St Helens works.

NEW GLASS STOP! – the Supertrucks load restraint system
To further enhance the security of glass, window frames, garage doors and the like carried on external racks, Supertrucks has introduced GLASS STOP! – a new, low-cost, simple load restraint system. GLASS STOP! can be specified as a £250 + VAT option on any new or existing exterior Supertrucks glass-carrying rack.

The GLASS STOP! package includes a special full-length track for the rack. This has specially designed slots cut in it to allow the GLASS STOP! load retention buffer unit to be fitted anywhere along its length. Once the load of sheet glass/window frames or garage doors is loaded on the rack, the GLASS STOP! buffer unit is slotted into the restraint track at the front edge of the load. This prevents the load moving forward in an emergency stop. The GLASS STOP! buffer unit is doubly secured both in the track and by a quick-action butterfly bolt which provides an additional mechanical location.

Peter Wright explains, “We already offer three types of proven load restraint system for our external racks. However, given the larger size items now carried by our customers, higher vehicle speeds and today’s heavily congested roads, we have introduced GLASS STOP! to further improve load retention and thus safety – even in wet weather. GLASS STOP! is the ideal load security device for today’s harsh economic conditions in that it is quick and simple to use and is inexpensive. Yet, it only has to restrain a load once in an emergency to pay for itself many times over.”

The GLASS STOP! package can be specified on any new Supertrucks glass-carrying rack and can be retrofitted to virtually any existing Supertrucks rack. From early next year, fitting can be carried out at Supertrucks’ St Helens works or any of its UK partners.