The Route Star walk-in van, built by Morgan Olson, provides a work truck body solution like no other—it works every day, for hundreds of industries and thousands of drivers. Rarely can you drive any direction, on any given day, and not see a walk-in van … they’re everywhere.
How does one truck body so well fit the needs of so many businesses and for longer than any other style of work truck body?
This article will share with you the popularity, functionality, safety advantages, and ergonomic sense that has been built into this iconic American work truck.
Rarely can you drive any direction, on any given day, and not see a walk-in van…they’re everywhere.
20-YEAR-OLD, BEAUTIFUL BODY
Some may think that headline is a ploy to get you to keep reading (it was), but the all-aluminum walk-in van body has stood the test of time—many more than 20-plus years. It wasn’t until recently that the “Big Three” automobile makers began incorporating aluminum into their body construction. Morgan Olson has been building 100-percent, all-aluminum walk-in van bodies since its inception.
This legacy dates back to the 1940’s, when the first walk-in van work truck was invented by Jimmy Olson. The Kurbside was created to improve upon the heavy, steel delivery trucks that corroded quickly. The heavy bodies also took up much of the payload capacity. The Kurbside’s all-aluminum, lighter weight body provided greater payloads, improved fuel efficiencies, and a work truck body that would never rust. These benefits still provide a solid value proposition for many work truck fleets throughout the country.
From baking and snack food to newspaper, textile rental, vending, and package delivery, the walk-in van body serves a multitude of delivery professions.
Service industries, including municipalities, power companies, telecommunications, and independent contractors, also enjoy benefits of the walk-in van. Electricians, plumbers, and the ever-growing food truck industry have found the walk-in van to be their go-to work truck for its highly customizable cab and cargo areas. Additionally, the walk-in van provides companies additional brand recognition value—a veritable “billboard on wheels.”
TODAY’S WALK-IN VANS
Improving driver safety and reducing the total cost of ownership remains a key objective at Morgan Olson. “How can you put a price on a driver’s safety?” asks Kenn Klein, marketing manager, Morgan Olson. “When a new customer either calls our sales team or visits our booth at a tradeshow, you can almost see it in their eyes when they put it together that the walk-in van provides the best of both worlds.
“We make the only truck body from which the driver can access the cargo area directly from the driver’s seat and then exit the work truck on the curb side without ever stepping into busy traffic lanes. The design of our Route Star walk-in van simply makes better sense for about every business that has a delivery truck.”
This Textile rental cargo area features Infinitely Adjustable Stiffeners to provide maximum cargo area flexibility. The walk-in van has a 15- to 20-year lifecycle and Morgan Olson engineers designed “cargo area flexibility” into these patented cargo area sidewalls.
Rich Tremmel, VP, Sales and Marketing, Morgan Olson, adds “Our product development process begins with the voice of the customer that’s shared with the sales team. Our sales team, in turn, shares this customer input with our engineering department to develop improvements and solutions.”
Recently, Morgan Olson developed an “easy-eye” safe driver’s console using this process. This new console provides improved ergonomics, both in visual line of sight and touch screen capabilities, compared to the “old step van” dash that appeared much like a Sherman tank dash. Tremmel shares, “We’ve added USB powerpoints, large touch screen monitors, and rear backup camera technologies, just to name a few.
“We’re beginning to see a new generation of walk-in van drivers emerge. The stereotypical truck driver no longer exists. We’re seeing a new breed of independent package delivery drivers, from soccer moms to seniors, and we need our truck bodies to provide driver comforts, as well as functional technology benefits, to keep our walk-in vans relevant with these changing times.”
Most recently, the team at Morgan Olson developed a three-piece front bumper. Why redesign a bumper? Many drivers bend just one section of the bumper and rarely is an entire bumper ruined, yet when it came time to fix the bumper, the entire bumper would have to go. This new Spring Back three-piece bumper (patent pending) provides replacement parts for just the section needing replacement, which reduces the cost of replacement parts by more than 50 percent. But, the Morgan Olson engineers went beyond just a three-piece bumper; they designed this bumper to spring back, allowing for zero damage with low speed impact.
Even more good news for current walk-in van owners—this bumper is available in retrofit kits and available at Morgan Olson’s OEM parts website, www.morganolsonparts.com.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Find out more about Morgan Oslon walk-in vans and other Morgan Olson products and services, visit www.morganolson.com.
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MODERN WORKTRUCK SOLUTIONS: AUGUST 2016 ISSUE
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