Latest ‘Smoothie’ greeted with New Production Line

With an ever expanding range of Smoothdsiders and the popularity of this product continuing to grow, Fruehauf’s existing planker production facilities at Grantham were coming under increased pressure. Unless something was done fast, lead times would become untenable.

Starting with the 50mm stepframe ‘heavy duty’ planker, the Smoothsider range quickly became a credible alternative to the traditional bathtub tipper, especially for those who value its clean lines and stylish looks. When the standard 30mm straightframe planker was added to the range in late 2005, sales really started to grow, and soon reached over 10% of total sales. Demand grew for other versions, and 2006 saw the addition of an aggregate planker, followed in 2007 by a Sloper and a standard 30mm version of the stepframe. Today, Smoothsider sales vary between 20% and 40% of total sales.

Production began at Grantham in 2005 on a ‘stall build’ basis in a separate workshop shared with the body sheeting installation facility. Soon the rising sales began exceeding the capacity of its limited jigs and space and the company was forced to introduce double shifting to cope. It was therefore decided that a new production line should be built in another part of the main factory, taking capacity up to 10 per week on a single shift basis.

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