Good Timing

Second generation family manufacturer and tipper specialist, Chris’s Body Builders (CBB), is the premier partner for a Central Highlands business in Victoria.

That business, Graeme McKay Earthworks reached the milestone of a quarter century of operations last year having been founded in 1999.

Armed initially with a bobcat and a six-metre single-axle Hino truck, Graeme is, all these years on, still astounded by how his business has expanded during which time he’s kept adding personnel, equipment and trucks.

Even now, it’s hard for Graeme to fathom.

“I hadn’t given it too much thought really, it just sort of happened,” he says. “I made it happen though with the help of a lot of good people.”

He currently employs 45 staff although at one stage there were over 90 people on the books.

Based in Ararat, Graeme McKay Earthworks provides excavation and transport services utilising a fleet primarily of truck and dogs for sand and gravel cartage with some Drake floats employed for moving the heavier equipment to site.

For a time, the company also worked on interstate infrastructure projects mainly in Newcastle and Sydney. Nowadays the tasks are more localised, and the business works regularly with the likes of Western Quarries and local councils venturing into Melbourne occasionally.

There is 13 units in the truck and dog fleet and nine twin-steer agitators servicing a concrete plant the business also runs.

The earthmoving assets include nine bulldozers, as well as graders and excavators. First principles come to the fore. Brand loyalty is one. For bulldozers that’s clearly Caterpillar.

“I’ve always stuck with Caterpillar,” notes Graeme. “They’re the best.”

On the truck front the brand of choice is Kenworth. And for tippers and trailers it’s Chris’s Body Builders, an association that runs the entire history of the business.

The tippers include three- and five-axle dog trailers and more standard quad dogs.

CBB maintains a strong affiliation with JOST whose significant range of products it uses across its tipper bodies. Customers like Graeme McKay Earthmovers can expect to receive another layer to the many tangible advantages of the partnership.

“There’s expertise and deep knowledge of the JOST product,” says Graeme. “Chris’s Body Builders have been brilliant for me. We’ve always used their gear. We’ve had an excellent relationship. They’re easy to talk to and always very helpful.”

Turnaround times on new tipper orders, to cite another benefit, are prompt when measured against industry norms. Having such a good fortune, especially during the frenzy of the infrastructure and housing boom, supply chain disruptions and COVID lockdowns, isn’t lost on Graeme.

“I always seem to jump the queue,” he says.

“I’m good mates with the team and that goes back to Chris Debono Senior and now his son who has been in charge for a while. They’ve never held me up. You know, when COVID was on everyone wanted something built yesterday. They certainly looked after me during that period as they do now.”

The fleet has always been spearheaded by Kenworth T909s. It also features some Kenworth T410s and T610s, one of which just arrived as part of a renewal program.

Powered by a 600hp Cummins X15, it also has another unique function as the first unit in the fleet installed with a Rockinger Drawbar Finder. Graeme McKay Earthworks is trialling the technology with a view to rolling it out long-term across other trucks in the fleet.

The camera system incorporates guides for expediting the coupling process safely by ensuring the position and orientation of the drawbar are always in view.

Given coupling happens at any time of day and often early in the morning when low light conditions are in effect the Rockinger Drawbar Finder helps avoid damage that can be incurred on the towing vehicle and trailer during this event, not to mention saves crucial time for drivers who are expected to perform this task operating longer combinations where visibility is often limited if not entirely obscured.

The product is compatible with common remote controls and JOST offers upgrade kits for Rockinger towing hitches.

“We’ve always had the Rockinger hitches and moving forward we will look to convert the rest of the fleet,” says Graeme.

“We’ve just initiated use of the camera setup on the recommendation of CBB as part of their close partnership with JOST.”

Tipper fleets won’t be the only beneficiaries of the newfound efficiencies enabled by use of the Rockinger Drawbar Finder.

According to Graeme the camera function is a significant safety feature that will ameliorate the challenges of reversing into dog trailers multiple times a day. “It’s still early days but it seems just about right in our application, and I foresee it being a handy inclusion across others like roadtrains,” he says.

“It’s just a matter of getting it out there and validating its usefulness. I think it’s going to save a lot of time especially for people running truck and dogs and A-doubles.”

Asked if he thinks it will save him time, Graeme is adamant.

“It will for sure,” he adds. “You can back up to it no problems, adjust to the height if need be and clearly see what’s going on and you can see if anyone is around you. If you’re doing a lot of unhooking and hooking up it’s a good idea. It’s like anything when you start, the first one – a job, starting a new service, using a new bit of kit – is always the hardest to master.”

By this token, the Rockinger Drawbar Finder deployed across multiple units is only going to increase productivity for fleets as they look to scale up its use.

“The JOST product is pretty much bulletproof and there’s been no trouble with warranty claims. If there’s ever been an issue they’ve fixed it straight away,” says Graeme. “Chris uses them. Whatever Chris uses I use.”

CBB has a long-standing supplier relationship with JOST going back 25 plus years, sourcing a range of ancillary components like tipping cylinders, double row ball races, tow eyes, tow couplings, alloy wheels, landing legs, fifth wheels, RAZOR tarp drives and oil tanks.

The fleet cycles through prime movers every four years, give or take a few months, and moves a new Kenworth into the breach when the time is up on an older unit. That works out somewhere between 500,000 and 600,000 kilometres.

Along with the impressive reserve of trucks, trailers and plant equipment, Graeme points to his employees as his most important asset.

“Without them none of this is possible,” he says. “I can have a great business but without my workers it’s going to be a useless proposition.”

Graeme said it was possible to single out half a dozen staff for their important contributions to the business. Operations Manager, Byron Day, who came across from the railways 13 years ago, is one.

“Byron has been a really good asset,” says Graeme.

“He does the bulk of the day-to-day stuff nowadays. I’m still with him but you’ve eventually got to let go a bit, don’t you?”

On that topic, Graeme believes any senior manager or owner is as good as the workers at their disposal.

“You’re only as good as your team and you’re only as good as your suppliers,” he says.

“That’s why I’ve stuck with Chris and their tippers. JOST is well known for their national aftersales support, and I can’t fault it, it’s second-to-none. Part of the aftersales is workshop or driver training to ensure our business gets longevity out of products and we specify products that best suit our applications.”