Profile

This is just one of the interesting company profiles appearing in the current issue of BODY Magazine. If you would like to read the other articles, please contact us for a complimentary copy available to anyone who takes out a 12 month subscription. Email: body@vbra.co.uk

Personal, Prompt and Professional Service

Dave Bland has been designing and building recovery vehicles and transporters since the mid-80s. SOme of his designs have been pioneering and he welcomes the ECWVTA regulations as a way of ensuring that everyone is building to safe standards.

The company has, over many years in business, grown to become one of the UK’s top recovery vehicle manufacturers and the largest in the North of England. David bases his business on the principles of quality engineering, innovative design and, above all, excellent customer service. As a ‘hands on boss’ he liaises closely with his customers and team of engineers throughout the build process.

The company manufactures around 60 vehicles a year, 95% of them on new chassis. They build a wide range of these specialist vehicles, to suit the niche needs of customers:

• salvage operators want larger 8 car transporters
• bodyshops like twin deck transporters
• dealerships usually require twin deck and covered transporters
• smaller garages/bodyshops might need a 3.5 tonne car transporter
• recovery operators require anything from a slide body to a spec lift to an RTA unit - a wagon with onboard crane and/or forklift. Curtain sliders are also quite popular. Dave explains that the design for these evolved for the transport of high quality vehicles and police forensic concealment.

Trends in such vehicles are currently moving towards the 3.5 tonne vehicle, a market the company entered cautiously. ‘There have been many cases of overladen vehicles – this is a prime instance when you need to talk through with the vehicle specifier exactly what they will be doing with the vehicle. We have a design with which we are very pleased, and on top of that we can offer solid practical advice to users to help ensure they stay within the law’.

‘The slide body market is also changing, alongside that of the vehicle parc, with moves from 7.5 to 10 and even 12 tonne vehicle chassis being used for this style of recovery vehicle. There are attractive reasons for this, as the road tax and driver requirements are the same for all. So why not utilise a 12 tonne chassis that will accommodate larger vans? It makes commercial sense’.

Building such a wide model base, in terms of size and specification, the company has to maintain a substantial investment in stock. This includes chassis; a situation that has evolved somewhat in recent times. ‘Dealers are no longer getting such a big stockholding from the chassis manufacturers, so to be sure we can build to order we have had to buy in chassis on spec. Customer preference is also changing a little in that we see businesses currently more willing to buy ‘off the shelf’ rather than specifying their vehicle down to the last little detail’.

It is the detail that defines Dave Bland Engineering and sets his vehicles apart. ‘We have always gone for build quality. Recovery vehicles don’t have an easy life. They are out in all weathers, they have to do a tough often dirty job and they’ve got to be reliable – ready for the off at a moment’s notice. It doesn’t pay to use components that are lower cost –
quality is very important’.

That goes for staff too, and they all work to the quality system that’s being honed to meet ‘Conformity of Production’ requirements in readiness for Whole Vehicle Type Approval. The company was an early adopter of the VBRA Toolkit, which helps guide bodybuilders through the steps they need to take to become compliant.

A quality process has always been in place at the company but Dave explains that they’ve made it more formal, introducing ‘flag tags’ that indicate at what stage of the build process a vehicle is. Their ‘A Team’ quality control checks have also been formalised with a recorded checklist. ‘The WVTA process has made us look at our overall processes and review the way we organise and execute work. So it’s been great from that point of view. From a practical shop floor perspective we’ve tightened up our processes. Recording all that is a bit of a nuisance but there’s no way round that’. There are some frustrations with ECWVTA, mainly when ‘the legislators are not as advanced in setting the parameters, leaving us with unanswered questions’.

The main secret to the company’s success, believes Dave, is their attention to detail and their customer service. ‘I know most of our customers and the vehicles we’ve sold them. If I can’t remember we’ve the easiest paper trail to follow to track down the original build process details, very quickly. Our service is personal, professional and prompt’.