A new FORCE in compaction trucks
A new FORCE in compaction trucks - Paula Wallace, Inside Waste Magazine
Showing off the fruits of its labours in recent years, MacDonald Johnston launched its new range of compaction trucks in Melbourne on October 5. Signifying a change of direction for the manufacturer, the new range is a byproduct of its $15 million investment in new facilities and R&D over the past five years.
Addressing a group that included big hitters in the waste contracting and resource recovery industries, MacDonald Johnston’s managing director David Waldron, provided some background to the products on show.
“Tonight really signifies the start of a new era for us. A few years ago we set about redeveloping our entire product range and for anybody that’s been involved in manufacturing they’ll realise what difficult a challenge that can be.
“And at the same time changing all our manufacturing from a process perspective…and redeveloping our facilities and people”.
Waldron said the multi-million investment in the company was designed to set up an organisation that can not only develop and manufacture products but also support those products.
“We’ve redeveloped all of our facilities over that time. We now run six facilities in Australia and a branch network second to none in the country.
“It’s fair to say we’ve got a long way to go…but I think we’ve come a long way and are starting to build a good team.
“The project UrBin for us has been the first ever ground up redevelopment of a rear loader range…and project FORCE is the first significant development of a product since 2003 in the front loader range”.
The company unveiled three new refuse trucks; two versions of the new UrBin rear loader (6m3 and 20m3) and one FORCE front loader.
There are three ‘pre-production’ models of the UrBin that have been deployed in the operations of WSN Environmental Solutions in NSW for the past six months. They are the 24m3 models, being used for a combination of general waste and hard garbage collections. A number of further units are also currently in production for another MacDonald Johnson customer.
“The feedback has been extremely positive,” said the company’s director, product development and technical services, Darrin Pritchard. “In terms of reliability, the machines have been excellent and the payload performance of the machines has certainly reached our targets”.
While the design and engineering of the UrBin features a range of improvements, MacDonald Johnston has focused primarily on increased payload and reliability. This wasn’t just guesswork but based on the results of interviews with about 48 of the company’s customers.
“There was a lot of research into what the optimum size of the bodies should be and we spent time looking at different cab chassis on the market, and in doing that maximised the payload in each of the sizes,” said Pritchard.
The UrBin comes in three main body sizes: small (6m3 and 8m3); medium (11m3 and 14m3); and large (20m3 and 24m3).
MacDonald Johnston has put innovation into the hydraulics that allows it to increase the packing density by up to 25%, thereby increasing the payload, while ensuring the machine’s efficiency and reliability are maintained.
“It’s quite interesting that when we went through the surveys conducted for the front loader product, that prior to any ‘whizz bang’ functionality, what customers were really after was reliability,” said Pritchard.
“Over and above reliability and efficiency, is the operation of the unit and improving the working environment for operators.
“This has been achieved through clever placement of the control panels, improvements in the bin lifter geometry to assist bin engagement and important OH&S considerations”.
The company intends to build six units of the FORCE front loader this year, with the first prototype already in the field and the second prototype now ready for operation.
“The first two are destined for SITA and Veolia…and after that we will be rolling out to targeted customers,” said Pritchard.
The design and engineering focus for the FORCE was similar to the rear loader - improved payload and reliability.
“The speed of the unit has been improved,” said Pritchard, “there’s a much lower cab chassis operating speed, it can operate at low idle speeds while providing you increased speed efficiency”.
“From a payload perspective, we have improved payload capacity by up to 10%, based on compaction density, but also the tare weight of the unit in the 8x4 application”.
“Tonight really signifies the start of a new era for us. A few years ago we set about redeveloping our entire product range and for anybody that’s been involved in manufacturing they’ll realise what difficult a challenge that can be.
“And at the same time changing all our manufacturing from a process perspective…and redeveloping our facilities and people”.
Waldron said the multi-million investment in the company was designed to set up an organisation that can not only develop and manufacture products but also support those products.
“We’ve redeveloped all of our facilities over that time. We now run six facilities in Australia and a branch network second to none in the country.
“It’s fair to say we’ve got a long way to go…but I think we’ve come a long way and are starting to build a good team.
“The project UrBin for us has been the first ever ground up redevelopment of a rear loader range…and project FORCE is the first significant development of a product since 2003 in the front loader range”.
The company unveiled three new refuse trucks; two versions of the new UrBin rear loader (6m3 and 20m3) and one FORCE front loader.
There are three ‘pre-production’ models of the UrBin that have been deployed in the operations of WSN Environmental Solutions in NSW for the past six months. They are the 24m3 models, being used for a combination of general waste and hard garbage collections. A number of further units are also currently in production for another MacDonald Johnson customer.
“The feedback has been extremely positive,” said the company’s director, product development and technical services, Darrin Pritchard. “In terms of reliability, the machines have been excellent and the payload performance of the machines has certainly reached our targets”.
While the design and engineering of the UrBin features a range of improvements, MacDonald Johnston has focused primarily on increased payload and reliability. This wasn’t just guesswork but based on the results of interviews with about 48 of the company’s customers.
“There was a lot of research into what the optimum size of the bodies should be and we spent time looking at different cab chassis on the market, and in doing that maximised the payload in each of the sizes,” said Pritchard.
The UrBin comes in three main body sizes: small (6m3 and 8m3); medium (11m3 and 14m3); and large (20m3 and 24m3).
MacDonald Johnston has put innovation into the hydraulics that allows it to increase the packing density by up to 25%, thereby increasing the payload, while ensuring the machine’s efficiency and reliability are maintained.
“It’s quite interesting that when we went through the surveys conducted for the front loader product, that prior to any ‘whizz bang’ functionality, what customers were really after was reliability,” said Pritchard.
“Over and above reliability and efficiency, is the operation of the unit and improving the working environment for operators.
“This has been achieved through clever placement of the control panels, improvements in the bin lifter geometry to assist bin engagement and important OH&S considerations”.
The company intends to build six units of the FORCE front loader this year, with the first prototype already in the field and the second prototype now ready for operation.
“The first two are destined for SITA and Veolia…and after that we will be rolling out to targeted customers,” said Pritchard.
The design and engineering focus for the FORCE was similar to the rear loader - improved payload and reliability.
“The speed of the unit has been improved,” said Pritchard, “there’s a much lower cab chassis operating speed, it can operate at low idle speeds while providing you increased speed efficiency”.
“From a payload perspective, we have improved payload capacity by up to 10%, based on compaction density, but also the tare weight of the unit in the 8x4 application”.
If you would like further information on the launch of FORCE Front Loader or UrBin Rear Loader, please contact your local dealer by clicking the link below.
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