Neilsen Concrete choose IVECO ACCOs

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IVECO Trucks Australia  /  October 9, 2017

As South East Queensland’s largest independent supplier of premixed concrete and quarry products, the Neilsen Group works hard to meet the needs of its growing customer base, so when six new agitators were needed fast, it turned to IVECO to deliver with its proven ACCO 8x4.

Being locally manufactured in Melbourne, lead times on ACCO models are much shorter compared to its imported competitors, meaning trucks can be put to work faster even when larger numbers are required.

Despite the ACCO being a concrete industry icon with class-leading tare weight, Neilsen Group Transport Manager, Bevan Richardson, said the company had not operated ACCOs until now.

“This is the first time as a company that we’ve added ACCOs to the fleet, and although it’s early days they’ve been great and haven’t missed a beat,” Bevan said.

“We purchased five as a company and a sixth was bought by one of our subcontractors – we needed the trucks promptly to meet the requirements of a contract and IVECO was able to work with our tight schedule to get them on the road fast.”

All six trucks are fitted with ATT eight cubic metre bowls and feature familiar industry-standard American driveline components including Cummins engine and Allison 6-speed auto transmission. The trucks also ride on front and rear airbag suspension, and keeping the eight wheelers firmly planted to the road is standard electronic stability control, vital safety feature in higher centre of gravity applications.

The new ACCOs are part of a fleet of around 50 trucks, mainly comprising of agitators but also including several tippers and tankers.

Prior to starting work, each vehicle is put through the company’s own pre-delivery process to ensure 100 per cent reliability from day one, according to Bevan.

“The trucks need to perform from the outset, we can’t afford to let down customers through mechanical issues,” Bevan said.

“We have a technician that goes through each truck and checks everything, it gives us extra peace of mind.”

Similarly, when it’s time for servicing, the more streamlined the process and lower the downtime for each truck, the better for productivity according to Bevan, that’s why parts availability was another important consideration when choosing ACCO.

“I did the research and I know that ACCO parts are widely available all around Australia, and importantly for us, in Queensland,” he said.

“It’s no good to us having parts in New South Wales or Victoria, we need to have access to a good stock holding closer to home and I know that there are plenty of ACCO parts near us and available off the shelf.”

And it’s a good thing too, so long as the trucks are performing well, the Neilsen Group tends to keep its trucks on the road for the longer term.

“We have trucks on fleet that are 15 years old, we look after them well, we have a refurbishment process and they last,” Bevan said.

“It’s a philosophy that suits us well and will be a good fit for the ACCOs given they already have a great reputation for longevity and that they’re extremely serviceable.”

The new ACCOs are based at the company’s sites in Brendale and Carole Park and have made a good impressions since starting work with Neilsen Concrete several months ago.

“So far driver acceptance of the ACCOs has been good, they’ve been reliable and the payload is what we need – the trucks are ticking all the boxes for us,” Bevan said.

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