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by Peter Brett - September 2005
For more information call Christine
01444 440188
01444 440188
Why Not Hire One Today?
What is very clear from the moment you step into the reception area at Thwaites is the feeling of a company at ease with itself and yet also very purposeful. A very brief trawl through the history of the models since 1945 also makes it clear that innovation and good ideas have been Thwaites’ bread and butter. They have pioneered many of the things like four wheel drive and high lift dumpers that we now take for granted.
Ian Brown, Sales Director of Thwaites, gave me a tour of the production facility, focusing on the manufacture of the relatively new 1 Tonne range of Power-Swivel and Hi-Tip dumpers.
The market rationale of the machines is the need for a dumper that can be used on construction sites where access could be fairly limited and where loads might need to be dumped into skips or over walls rather than simply any old where. It also needed to have an articulated chassis to allow for full manouevrability in smallish spaces as well as allowing a narrow width and stability. Thwaites have been building bigger versions of this type for some years, but to put all the above into a smaller 1Tonne dumper has been quite a challenge. On the purpose built rough terrain test area on the factory site the dumper has been thoroughly tested to ensure that the chassis are strong enough, the lifting and tipping mechanisms up to the job and the day to day serviceability is as easy as it can be.
Thwaites do not make hundreds of units a day, but the production line was very busy and well organized.
Computerized systems ensure that components are delivered in the right quantity at the right time. A large proportion of the components are manufactured on site using laser cutting technology. These are then welded together using the latest welding techniques as well as good old hand welding. It was very clear to me that Thwaites&Mac226; designers don’t believe too much in “fancy bits”. The body panels are mostly flat and very strong and made as part of a design that will allow the hydraulic and electrical workings to be protected as much as possible. But the chunky look does belie the fact that the dumpers are user-friendly . The overall safety and protection of the operator and vehicle are prime concerns, as they have to be these days. This is not to say that the angular designs are old fashioned, clunky-looking or unergonomic. The designers have done a great deal of groundwork to try to create a machine that is very simple to operate so that training would-be operators need not be a very long process.
The Thwaites ‘Kinglink’ system of centre point articulation and oscillation provides stability, tight-turning and superior traction for this little beauty and the well-regarded Japanese Yanmar indirectly-injected diesel engine provides the power and torque needed in a dumper.
Now, supposing you were a hire company, wouldn’t the addition of a couple of Thwaites’ compact dumpers be a good addition to your fleet?
Consider the benefits. There are many construction sites, particularly in the South East, where brown field sites are being developed and where infilling is being used to meet a growing housing demand.
Sometimes, a dozen or more houses may be being built where one old industrial unit used to stand. Space and access is, by definition, limited. The foundations are most certainly being dug by mini-diggers of various sizes. These arrive on a trailer from the hire centre, can pass through narrow passages between buildings and are usually of the zero-tailswing variety that can work close up to walls and other obstacles. Where you can use compact diggers, there is a role for compact dumpers to carry away the spoil that is created.
The Thwaites 1 Tonne dumpers can also be transported on a trailer. They too are narrow enough to be able to operate in confined spaces and they have been designed to be simple to operate. Because the Thwaites dumper can lift a load of spoil to dump it in a skip, or could swivel the load to deliver it sideways over a wall into a truck it has the versatility to solve many site manager’s problems.
A worker who can work a digger can also receive a minimum amount of training and then be able to operate the Thwaites dumper safely.
No Thwaites dumper is going to be a cheap investment. Plant is by its nature expensive. A good quality mini-digger is going to cost thousands. But when you consider the lengths to which Thwaites designers and engineers have gone to, to make a reliable, supremely functional and easy to maintain vehicle, it stands to reason that those features make it a good bet for a hire company. Hire companies should be able to recognize that marketing dumper and mini-digger combos may also make good sense for building contractors who know that time is money.
I had a thoroughly good time looking at Thwaites dumpers. That may make me a bit of an anorak, but the only thing that I regret is that I didn’t have the time to have a really good go on one of the dumpers. Another time Ian?
Independent Review by Peter Brett
Airstream Communications