At its most basic level, a work truck is a piece of equipment that helps your employees do their jobs .Since well-designed equipment enhances productivity, your objective when designing a work truck is to optimize the vehicle to achieve the best overall return for dollar spent. But three common mistakes can jeopardize your results and lead to a work truck that just doesn’t work. Here’s some advice from Robert Johnson, NTEA director of fleet relations, on how to defeat these spec’ killers and write a killer spec’, instead.
Spec’ Mistake #1
Working Out of Order
Many people start the specification-writing process with the truck chassis, when it is actually most logical to address the body and equipment first. Think about it. An effective, productive work truck is designed to perform a specific job or series of jobs. Therefore, it makes sense to start the process by defining the job or jobs the truck will perform. From there, you can address the equipment and associated truck body needed to perform those tasks. Finalizing the body and equipment will define the vehicle’s required payload, necessary clear cab to axle chassis length and the loaded body’s center of gravity. This information enables you to select an appropriately sized chassis and perform an accurate weight distribution and payload analysis to determine the appropriate chassis. Finish by choosing the powertrain that meets your performance criteria.
Spec’ Mistake #2
Doing What You’ve Always Done
It’s an easy trap to fall into. You’re replacing an existing vehicle, so you figure all you have to do is duplicate the old unit. Not so fast. For starters, the current vehicle may not have been optimized for the job it is doing. In such a case, the end users probably figured out how to make it work as well as they could, but that does not mean you shouldn’t improve the new unit. Even if the vehicle was properly spec’d at the time it was initially acquired, requirements change and new/ improved products are constantly being introduced. It is possible that there is a new body, chassis or piece of equipment that would offer significant improvements over what was previously available.
Chassis selection in particular should be carefully thought through every time. Chassis specifications change from year to year, so a current Class 3 chassis, for example, may not have the same net payload as an older Classis 3 chassis from the same OEM.
One of the challenges facing work truck designers is keeping up with these changes. To some degree, you can accomplish this by reviewing new product literature and reading industry trade journals. However, nothing really beats seeing the equipment firsthand and talking directly to representatives of the companies developing this new equipment. Annual events like The Work Truck Show® are unbeatable resources for meeting with hundreds of vendors and checking out their latest products in just a couple of days.
