SCP Pool Corporation of Covington, LA and Colonial Electric Supply of King of Prussia, PA required different types of trucks to meet their product handling needs and make customer deliveries. The issue they faced was that the more specialized trucks in their fleets were not used often enough to be profitable.
The majority of SCP Pool Corporation’s deliveries were made with van body straight-trucks to a loading dock, or at ground level with a lift gate and hand-truck. They also owned a flatbed rack truck with a fork lift that was rarely used to move and deliver pallets of chemicals.
Most of Colonial Electric Supply’s products shipped in cartons that could be easily delivered with van body straight-trucks, but occasionally their fleet utilized flatbeds to deliver conduit, poles, and other longer items.
Tight economic conditions motivated both companies to find an alternative to owning and maintaining unprofitable specialized trucks. At first they considered renting or short-term leasing, but both options turned out to be more expensive than ownership in the long run.
They found the solution with Demountable Concepts, Inc. of Glassboro New Jersey. Their interchangeable body system enabled both companies to switch between a van body and a flatbed body on the same straight-truck chassis. Now both SCP Pool Corporation and Colonial Electric have retired their flatbed trucks and are utilizing less expensive flatbed bodies that they “swap” with a van body when they have larger items to deliver.
The Demountable System consists of a lift and lock-down system that is installed onto the chassis of the company’s straight-trucks, and bodies that can stand freely on retractable legs to facilitate a quick-switch from one type of body to another. Demountable Concepts installs the components onto the truck’s chassis and supplies truck body builders with the components necessary to make bodies interchangeable.
Swapping bodies is cost-effective way to reduce fleet size, decreases costs and improve customer service.
The initial investment for two different demountable bodies and a single straight truck chassis is approximately 35% less expensive than purchasing two trucks that accomplish the same function (see chart at end of release). Implementing demountables decreases operating costs such as insurance, maintenance and registration as much as 50%. Swapping bodies also eliminates overtime, rush loading, and damage from double handling because freestanding bodies can be loaded during regular working hours independent of the truck.
Trucks are also on the road earlier and at their first delivery sooner because demountable bodies can be preloaded the day before and picked up first thing in the morning. This eliminates wait-times for drivers so they have more time focus on customer service.
SCP Pool Corporation and Colonial Electric Supply are just two success stories among hundreds of companies in a wide range of industries that have been utilizing Demountable bodies since 1989. The hydraulic Demountable System is available for flatbeds, curtain-sides, refrigerated bodies and van bodies and a manual crank-down system is available for smaller class 3-5 delivery trucks.
Rustin Cassway, President of Demountable Concepts, Inc. sums up the recent interest in Demountables by saying, “Even though the country is in a recession we’re getting calls from companies interested in using the Demountable System to trim operating costs without sacrificing service. The recent economic downturn caused a lot of pain and companies are looking to invest in scalable solutions like demountables for more fleet flexibility in the future.”
Demountable Concepts, Inc. is North America’s premier manufacturer and supplier of “Swap-Body” Straight-Truck Delivery Systems and the Warehouse on Wheels Portable Distribution Center. They have a network of installation and service centers throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Find out more about how Demountable bodies can reduce fleet size, decrease costs and improve customer service at www.demount.com, or contact Demountable Concepts, Inc. via phone at 1-800-254-3643 or by email at sales@demount.com.
Demountable Concepts offers a complementary savings analysis to interested companies.
