Salads roll to market in IVECO Stralis fleet

Adding a new Stralis to its fleet of distributions trucks was an easy decision for Gold Coast market gardeners, Salad Makers.

The company has exclusively used IVECO Stralis trucks since the first vehicle was bought in 2012.

Salad Makers general manager, Belinda Adams, says the company has exclusively used IVECO trucks since this time and saw no need to consider other brands.

“We have three IVECO Stralis models. This latest truck replaces another older IVECO _ given the driver acceptance, the comfort of the trucks, and the fact that we’ve never had any issues with them, it was a logical choice to again select a Stralis,” Adams says.

Having worked for 11 years at the company that was started by her parents, Barry and Lyn Moss in 1983, Belinda oversees a staff of around 35 people while helping to manage several properties, a production facility and associated compliance tasks.

The new Stralis uses the Cursor 8 engine producing 360hp (268kW) and 1106ft-lb (1500Nm) from 1125rpm and is matched to a 12-speed Eurotronic automated manual transmission. All Salad Makers Stralis trucks are also equipped with rear electronically controlled air suspension for a smoother ride for the produce and the driver.

“The trucks don’t usually cover high kilometres, but there’s a lot of start and stop conditions, and for this it’s important to have a safe and comfortable vehicle,” Adams says.

“As well as being comfortable and easy to drive with the automated manual transmission, air suspension seat and climate control, the trucks have a good size sleeper (2020 x 620mm), meaning that if the drivers are out and there’s a delay in loading, they can rest for an hour or two.”

Adams says that each driver is assigned a truck and that they are responsible for cleaning and maintaining it.

“We’ve found that if each driver is allocated his own vehicle, the truck is better cared for and there’s familiarity with the vehicle,” she notes. “They keep tabs on when the truck needs to be serviced and if there’s any other preventative maintenance needed.”