It is usually during a Church Service that I ponder what on earth I do for a living.
Clearly, we sell excellent products at a good price TICK.
We have a fantastic digital offer TICK.
So what next?- clearly our role is to be PARTNERS to our customers in life. So not just to supply a trailer but to stay working alongside our customers for the life of their trailer - and because we like them and want our customers to do well. Next level up from just being salesmen.TICK
And beyond these important items, we endeavour to be PARTNERS in life to the planet - making sure that the products we select are the best for the planet too. Now that is what we do for our customers at Newton and I am proud of that - WORK IN PROGRESS.
Posted by Andrew on 21/10/2021
As the saying goes......organise a piss up in a brewery. STAS set its dealer day in the beautiful St Bernardus brewery, Watou. STAS spend a fortune educating their dealers and hosted 200 of Europe's finest in Ypres in October. Even though we do not sell the STAS walking floor it was amazing to us to see the development of the moving floor side of STAS's business. Is there a factory to match it? STAS showed dealers and suppliers around the new factory extension in Tournai. Robot welding and robot sanding and painting - the new sander and paint process alone cost £2 million and the extension a further £6 million. If you love quality products you have got to love what STAS do for a living. As a near T totaller I could not make much of a dent in the brewery offering. We have been informed by others many times that we do not have a salesman at Newton - but with such fabulous engineering, and detailed thinking the STAS sells itself and Newton has to merely offer it to the UK market.
Posted by Andrew on 21/10/2021
Magnesium is not aluminum, is it?
It was either my Chemistry teacher or my wife who said 'You are arrogant Smith'. Not relevant but these are my ramblings and I will say what I like. Also, it is only suppliers and trailer manufacturers who read this blog searching for slights and hurts. I digress..... anyway as my Chemistry teacher (recently deceased) would clearly have informed me is that I am referring to Aluminium alloy and not the pure element aluminum when discussing the aluminum so vital to our industry. Magnesium is an important minor component of the mixture that is 80% sourced from .......... China. I bet you have spotted which way this is running. So China is less and less worried about what it is going to get for Christmas from the rest of the world and declared that it would not supply any increased amounts of Magnesium from midnight. So this could mean that European aluminum alloy suppliers have not got the ingredients to even supply the aluminum even currently sold to the trailer manufacturers of Europe. Shit hits fan around Christmas time by current reckoning. So it is now a case of which trailer manufacturers recognize this and which ones will work it out whilst repairing the fan as the turkey is roasting in the kitchen. So another alloy price spike wends its' weary way towards us.
Posted by Andrew on 21/10/2021
Fruehauf went into a nasty and contested Administration in August and September. Insiders were aware of the difficulties that the company has been in for some years. The brand has been stretched to breaking point - and clearly beyond - for the third time in 16 years. MV Commercials are the new owners and have the ambition and heart to try and restart the site again. It is of course a difficult time to restart a company with aluminium and parts either hard to source or absent in the market. With the range of products in MV's stable, grabs, cranes etc there is a strong chance of success. We wish them well and we shall wait and see what happens next.
Posted by Andrew on 20/09/2021
Sugar beet is about to kick off - the season of mists and beet lying on the side of the roundabout in Bury St Edmunds is upon us again.
Hopefully with British Sugar's improvements to the trailer fleet; automatic doors, automatic sheet systems and no catwalks we will see less thrills, spills and automobiles. If we could only get all the sugar beet trailers securing the load below the height of the top rails and covered with a sheet system then 2 plus 2 will start to equal 4 in Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Essex and Lincolnshire. With the prospect of trailer weights increasing by 2 tonnes over the next few years this will be a challenge to keep the beet in the box.
Posted by Andrew on 09/09/2021
