Domett‘s new truck and trailer units, the Generation Series, have been crafted based on customer feedback and experience to offer a premium range of features, with reliable delivery times and at a highly competitive price.

Photo: The Mainfreight ‘Black Dog‘ K200 was the first Generation Series curtainsider B-train to hit the road.

In business, there‘s always room for improvement, and over the past few years especially, the team at Domett Truck and Trailer has put production challenges and the sources of any delays under the microscope, alongside what exactly the industry wants from the trailers it sells. Analysing these ‘pain points‘ has enabled Domett to create a more streamlined process to benefit its production team and customers alike. The outcome of this is a new generation of trailers with light tare and premiumspecification components offered at competitive pricing, delivered on time, due to standardisation and repeatability in the production process. “We have the benefit of a highly experienced engineering and design team, who understand how trailers need to be put together, and being technologically astute, they‘ve worked together to create a smart solution,” explains sales representative Malcolm Bangs. This fresh look at the manufacturing process has also meant production becomes both more predictable and flexible to customers‘ needs – saving both time and money. The results are exciting: not only has a new generation of trailers been developed, but so too have new ways of building and selling them. Domett has kicked off the Generation Series of trailers with a 6-axle B-train curtainsider and a low-deck 5-axle dedicated livestock trailer. The company is planning the next batch of trailers to be released under this newly established family, but for now, these are the two foundation units.

Photo: The first batch of low-deck livestock trailers are already in the marketplace and proving a worthwhile investment for the operators.

“The standardisation of these builds gives us a more predictable production schedule and will, in the long term, allow more flexibility and enable us to respond to our customers‘ requests in an even more timely fashion,” adds Malcolm. The Generation Series chassis are a mixture of mild and high-tensile steel to achieve the strongest and most durable trailer Domett can produce, while also keeping an eye on the everimportant tare. curtainside unit comes with premium-spec running gear, disc brakes with integrated air suspension, Wabco ABS/ EBS braking systems, and 19.5” Alcoa Dura-Bright rims. It is also mezzanine floor ready, has ferry tie-downs, Hella LED lighting, toolboxes, mudguards, rope rails, and chain slots among numerous other standard features. “By standardising the specification of these units, we can cover the majority of customers‘ needs and provide really competitive pricing as well as a higher degree of certainty around delivery dates. Ultimately these builds become less complicated and any extras the buyer wants – lights, toolboxes, and so on – are easy add-ons which we can pull off the shelf and put straight into the factory.” The streamlined production approach now frees up the Domett engineering and design teams to look at improvements they can make to the other trailers in their range.

Photo: Building trailers is about to become a lot simpler, quicker, and cheaper.

With production split across two sites in Tauranga, Domett is investing in a few improvements such as lengthening its smaller heated paint booth to accommodate 5-axle units and to match the length of the original heated paint booth. This expansion enables the paint team to increase the number of trailers going through blast and paint, and to match the output of the assembly factory. The paint (supplied by Resene) is applied electrostatically. “Our paint used to be done by a third party but with varying results, so we decided to do it ourselves,” says Malcolm. Indeed, the acid test to these developments will be the customer response, but Domett has a reputation for innovation and the first Generation Series units have already hit the road. As Malcolm says, “it‘s an exciting time for both the industry and our company”. “Our team has gained a lot of industry experience over the past 30+ years from manufacturing a wide range of trailers for our customer base. Our customers are savvy people; they‘ll tell us things that make a huge difference to them and we listen. We‘ve used all that collated information to build the ultimate, best-priced trailer that will fit the biggest portion of the transport market.” The new Generation Series livestock unit is a revolutionary design, as Malcolm explains. “Back rub has long been an issue that doesn‘t seem to be going away anytime soon. Cattle also cannot successfully stand on a floor that has a slope built into it, so we needed to give crate manufacturers more of the allowable 4.3m for internal crate height to accommodate cattle.

Photo: Domett has invested heavily in its paint facilities to increase quality control.

” With the 4.3m height restriction, the only way to get extra height into the crates is to build a lower trailer. However, the industry also wanted 19.5” wheels and a flat deck straight through from bumper to bumper. That‘s the challenge given to the Domett design team, who came up with a recipe that allows a finished deck height at a very low 990mm. The 6-axle B-train curtainside unit comes with premium-spec running gear, disc brakes with integrated air suspension, Wabco ABS/ EBS braking systems, and 19.5” Alcoa Dura-Bright rims. It is also mezzanine floor ready, has ferry tie-downs, Hella LED lighting, toolboxes, mudguards, rope rails, and chain slots among numerous other standard features. “By standardising the specification of these units, we can cover the majority of customers‘ needs and provide really competitive pricing as well as a higher degree of certainty around delivery dates. Ultimately these builds become less complicated and any extras the buyer wants – lights, toolboxes, and so on – are easy add-ons which we can pull off the shelf and put straight into the factory.” The streamlined production approach now frees up the Domett engineering and design teams to look at improvements they can make to the other trailers in their range.

Photo: Soon to be a common sight on New Zealand roads.

With production split across two sites in Tauranga, Domett is investing in a few improvements such as lengthening its smaller heated paint booth to accommodate 5-axle units and to match the length of the original heated paint booth. This expansion enables the paint team to increase the number of trailers going through blast and paint, and to match the output of the assembly factory. The paint (supplied by Resene) is applied electrostatically. “Our paint used to be done by a third party but with varying results, so we decided to do it ourselves,” says Malcolm. Indeed, the acid test to these developments will be the customer response, but Domett has a reputation for innovation and the first Generation Series units have already hit the road. As Malcolm says, “it‘s an exciting time for both the industry and our company”.