The Perfect Place to Talk Business

We’re back at the NEC for Fleet Live next week and if last year is anything to go by it could be an interesting couple of days.

Exhibiting at events like Fleet Live is very important when your product is of a technical nature.

Mass market products with several suppliers all selling identical items can easily be bought online.  Just find the company selling it cheapest and place an order.

But where the product is more technical then a face to face conversation is essential.

Frequently clients have a good idea of their needs and even strong opinions about the best solution. But there is more than one type of axle weighing system and not all are suitable for every application.

Axtec OnBoard Load Indicator - See it at Fleet Live

So Googling what you think you need then buying the cheapest one on line could turn out to be costly mistake.

For instance, operators with vans out on the road all day with ever changing loads, any sort of system in the yard probably wouldn’t be the best option.

Overloading a van can have serious consequences. It affects all the major components – brakes, suspension, tyres etc.

Vehicles that have been involved in accidents can be weighed to establish if overloading was a factor and it has been known for insurance to be invalid if they are found to be overweight.

But preventing van overloads need not be expensive or complicated.

Axtec OnBoard shows front, rear and gross weights permanently on a simple to read colour display.

Drivers do not have to remember their legal weights as the system does it for them.

Legal weights are shown in green, anything over 80% is shown in amber and overloads are automatically highlighted in flashing red.

There are no manual controls making the system simple to use and drivers cannot say they don’t know how to use it. They simply have to look at it.

And whilst you can pay for a full calibration if that’s what you need, every system can be reset by the customer saving vehicle downtime and money.

So if avoiding overloads is a priority for you this year come and have a chat with us on stand H8 at Fleet Live at the NEC next week.

Any vehicle can be weighed.

The perception may be that only heavy goods vehicles can be stopped at a weight checks. They are after all by definition heavy.

But in fact any vehicle can be overloaded and can be pulled in and weighed.

Figures show that in 2012, 24 cars were weighed for instance. And 19 of them were found to be overloaded.

Car, HGV or anything in between, overloading affects all the major components making vehicles potentially unsafe and in danger of being prohibited. The worst cases could end in a prosecution.

It is not unknown for the insurance on an overloaded vehicle that has been involved in an accident to be invalidated.

Any vehicle can benefit from being weighed.

As in all areas, technology is improving and that includes the detection of overweight vehicles.  The installation of sensors in the road coupled to ANPR cameras ahead of enforcement sites means that an overloaded vehicle is more likely to be detected.

Recent statistics show that the number of these sites are now into double figures and that number could well grow meaning that more overloaded vehicles could be detected.

This is good news for law abiding operators in that they ought not to be diverted from a busy day into a weight check but also because more of those illegal transport companies will be caught.

But many operators find there are positives to weighing their vehicles too, particularly those who err on the side of caution and underload them.

Running vehicles at full legal weight is a good thing. It means you are maximising the capacity and running at peak efficiency.

One of our clients found he could get a staggering 30% more material on each vehicle after he installed his own axle weighbridge.

Imagine reducing your running time by a third.

There are plenty of systems available to prevent overloading. Whether they are weighed back at the depot or out on the road where the load may change throughout the day, there is a suitable system in our range to help.

And reducing the underloading can only add to your profits.

See you at the NEC in October?

We’ll be making our debut at FleetManagement Live at the NEC in October.

The decision to exhibit is a logical step and recognises the increasing number of van operators in the UK. And we have systems that are extensively used by van operators.

Axtec’s OnBoard Load Indicator for instance is ideal for multi-drop or diminishing load operations. Overloading has a detrimental effect on many major components of a van – tyres, brakes, steering, clutch, suspension – and can lead to prohibitions, prosecutions and, if you run larger vehicles, may even affect an ‘O’ licence.

Axtec OnBoard - Preventing Overloading on Vans.

With more new vans registered each year joining already heavily-congested roads, driver and road-user safety has never been more important for fleet operators.

But, with DVSA figures showing 93% of 10,000 vans stopped in 2015 were overloaded, it seems the safety implications of carrying additional weight are not always fully realised.

The Axtec OnBoard Load Indicator can help solve that problem though.

With a simple colour display that shows all the axle and gross weight information all the time and no manual controls so no driver training is involved. Axle and gross weights are all displayed the second the ignition is switched on.

The colour display allows information to be displayed graphically. Legal weights are shown in green, loads over 80% in amber and overloads in flashing red. There’s even an audible alarm selectable by management if required.

And outputs for connection to a tracking device are included as standard. So incidences of overloading can be recorded and reported back to base.

And the customer calibration facility means that keeping the system accurate can be done quickly and simply by our own people.

No expensive service visit is requird.

So if you're operating vans that you need to keep legal, come and see us at the NEC. We’ll be on stand P62 on 3^rd and 4^th of October.