Taking live theatre to the people
ACT Trailer manufacturer Serco responded to a plan by the Joburg Theatre to get more exposure for its shows by taking them to the people. Serco built a 15.5m trailer designed with a hydraulically actuated 10m section of sidewall, which folds out to create a 50m2 stage. The roof can be raised hydraulically by an additional 1.4m to a height of 5.8m to create an amphitheatre effect and to cater for the extensive lighting suspended from aluminium girders.
The super structure is built to accommodate a 38KVA generator. The trailer also incorporates a fully equipped backstage change room, while curtaining extends throughout the sides and rear of the stage area hiding the mechanical sections of the trailer to give the appearance of a permanent structure.
DAF XF wins fleet award
TOP TRUCK The DAF XF has been voted Fleet Truck of the Year 2016 at the prestigious Motor Transport Awards in London, giving DAF its sixth win in the past nine years. The company was handed the award at an official ceremony, which was attended by 1,600 leading representatives from the UK transport industry.
The awards recognise excellence in a number of categories, with Fleet Truck of the Year seen as the highest accolade for commercial vehicle manufacturers.
Collaboration for industry first
SAFETY Wabco Holdings has demonstrated the prototype of a breakthrough collision avoidance technology for commercial vehicles. Jointly developed by Wabco and ZF, the Evasive Manoeuvre Assist (EMA) system combines Wabco’s braking, stability and vehicle dynamics control systems on trucks and trailers with ZF’s active steering technology — an industry first.
Watching the driver
ON THE JOB New smartwatch apps that focus on the wellbeing of professional drivers have been launched by Scania. The Apple Watch Scania Edition introduces apps for health and fitness tracking for the individual driver, providing features specifically designed for jobs where long periods of sitting are combined with short bursts of heavy physical labour, like loading/unloading a truck.
The new driver performance functions complement truck and fleet management features, such as fuel consumption monitoring.
Mining solutions at expo
TREAD Tyre manufacturer Continental has announced it will be at Electra Mining Africa 2016, to be held this year from September 12 to 16 at Expo Centre Nasrec in Johannesburg. As well as other products, for the first time the company will present a range of specialty tyres for heavy mining and earthmoving vehicles.
Continental says it is intensifying its activities outside the automotive sector and expanding its industrial business, working toward its aim of achieving a more balanced customer portfolio.
Goodyear goes big
PARTNERS Goodyear has developed a new Off-The-Road (OTR) tyre TL-4A in size 33.25R29 specifically for the new Volvo A60H articulated dump truck. The two companies have worked together to develop and produce OTR tyres specifically for the new 60-ton class articulated dumper.