There are very few secrets to success for commercial truck fleets—with power, durability, and accessibility absolutely imperative when delivering on the job and ultimately delivering results to a company’s bottom line. However, one truck bed innovation provides a fresh edge.
“Every day I move about 1,500 pounds of frozen shrimp from docks along the Gulf Coast to many of the region’s top restaurants,” says TramBed repeat customer Clint Jones. “Until I installed the TramBed, I had to crawl up into my truck time and time again to load and unload heavy boxes of my product.”
THE SOLUTION
TramBed enables truck owners and operators to slide their payloads out of the truck bed onto an extended inner frame supported by strong, adjustable legs. From there, a forklift has easy access to the truck delivery. TramBed’s legs keep the extension stable while supporting loads of up to 2,000 lbs.
“TramBed provides a practical solution that truck owners have long needed, but that has not traditionally been available,” says Bruce Hagenau, co-owner and president of metro Atlanta-based Metcam, Inc, which manufactures the product out of its Business Solutions Division. “TramBed, the industry’s first commercial-grade truck bed extension with legs, provides safety, functionality, and greater efficiency—things that truck owners demand.”
A Kansas City-based manufacturer of mobile weighing products recently outfitted more than 20 trucks with the commercial-grade truck bed extension. According to Hagenau, the company’s fleet manager liked how TramBed improved the ease and safety of loading and unloading the company’s tooling and other equipment. The leg support on the bed slide is quite important for a manufacturer of scales that can weigh objects up to 150,000 lbs.
With heavy-duty construction and all stainless-steel deck and factory-welded, powder-painted extension rails and legs, TramBed’s range is 20 percent farther than any other truck bed extender. The specialized design on the easy-slide extension reduces the potential of finger-pinching and ensures the tram extension remains in a controlled position. It can also be used as an in-field work surface.
ALL IN THE DETAILS
Business process improvement and technology strategy and implementation are two of the top eight logistics challenges, according to a 2017 Capgemini study. These two areas of advancement are challenging because budgetary and onboarding hurdles are often too big to overcome.
Of course, technological innovation is there to help improve business processes. According to the 2018 3PL study, 22 percent of shippers are investing to meet customer service needs, 21 percent are looking to decrease operating costs, 18 percent are working to increase efficiency and improve the time to deliver, and 16 percent are investing because of competitiveness in the industry. Tough truck tools like TramBed enhance commercial fleets by meeting multiple needs.
The study also documented the common steps in most risk management processes: 1) process planning; 2) risk identification; 3) analysis and evaluation; 4) mitigation or elimination; and 5) evaluate and improve. “Overall priorities focus on the needs to move from being reactive to proactive and then to innovative,” the report adds.
All of these logistical priorities align with a truck bed innovation that makes commercial fleets safer and more efficient. TramBed’s patented design not only extends the truck bed, but also includes easily extendable and adjustable legs that stabilize the extended bed to support working loads.
Along with the safety gained from a supported and stable environment, TramBed’s technology extends the life and lowers the costs of your business’ critical vehicle investments. An Ernst & Young total cost of ownership study found that fleet repairs on average increase nearly five times from the first year in service through the third year. TramBed’s construction not only provides safety and ease of access to materials, it protects your vehicles against the mount point and suspension damage created by the leverage of weight inherent in a cantilevered design.
WORK TOUGH
While cantilevered truck-bed solutions might be fine for casual, do-it-yourself needs, they do not have the ability to survive the rugged demands of constant, hard-working commercial business operations. The problem with the cantilever design is that when the bed extends with a heavy load, there is only support at one end, creating a levering force. The farther the bed extends, the greater the force, which increases slide resistance and over-stressing of the unit. This can cause damage to your truck and the sliding bed unit itself. With a TramBed, this issue is eliminated.
“Anyone who regularly manages cargo or equipment into and out of their work truck will see instant value with TramBed,” says Jones.
The leaders of successful companies know that there is no business without business improvement. It’s a constant challenge to be better for the customer and for the bottom line. That’s why companies search for ways to make processes and operations more effective. And, that’s why they gravitate to an innovation that saves time, money, and effort.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Find out more about TramBed, visit www.trambed.com.
MODERN WORKTRUCK SOLUTIONS: OCTOBER 2018 ISSUE
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