Industry's leading lights lauded

Two of the industry's behind-the-scenes stalwarts were celebrated at the recent Castrol Vecton Industry Achievement and Craig Roseneder Awards

The annual Castrol Vecton Industry Achievement Award and the Craig Roseneder Award were announced at the ATA's Technical and Maintenance Conference (TMC) 2016, held in Melbourne recently.

Announced as a part of the Castrol Vecton Awards Dinner, the Industry Achievement Award was handed down to David Coonan, who served as the ATA's policy manager for eight years before his retirement in 2014.

Noelene Watson, ATA Chair, said Mr Coonan's efforts have made a significant impact on the wider industry.

"Mr Coonan is a passionate advocate who has given years of dedicated service to the trucking industry across Australia," she said.

"His major achievements at the ATA included his role in working through more than a thousand issues with the original draft of the Heavy Vehicle National Law.

"Mr Coonan campaigned for the increased use of high productivity vehicles. His truck impact chart, developed with Bob Woodward of Barkwood Consulting, is now in its second edition and is a standard reference used in our industry today."

Unable to attend the night himself, Mr Coonan's award was received by Justin Fleming, the ATA's TruckSafe General Manager.

Cade Robinson of Borg Manufacturing was announced as the winner of the 2016 Craig Roseneder Award.

Jason Blundell, Workshop Manager, Somersby, Borg Manufacturing, said Mr Robinson was an eminently worthy winner of the accolade.

"Mr Robinson is very hands-on when it comes to apprentice and new technician training," he said.

"He has also set up national discount structures with set pricing for breakdown responses, including tyres, batteries, windscreen and service work carried out outside of the internal workshops. Mr Robinson was involved in the fit-out of telematics in each truck, with geo-fenced speed limits with dash cams that constantly record."

Over the last two years, Mr Robinson has implemented Mainpac, a fleet asset management software system, to achieve standards usually only kept by dealerships.

Mrs Watson said these awards are a valuable opportunity to acknowledge those who work behind the scenes to keep Australia's trucks in top condition.

"As an industry, we are very fortunate to have such dedicated, skilled professionals going the extra mile to put safety and preventative maintenance first in their businesses," she said.

Mr Robinson will be flown to the American Trucking Association's Technical and Maintenance Council meeting in February 2017 including full registration, flights, accommodation, partner's program and spending money.

Industry's leading lights lauded

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