John West Logistics recently took delivery of the first of five long-wheelbase UD Quons fitted with a 6x4 bogie drive, the first of their kind in Australia.
“We’ve worked closely with the UD Trucks team and CMV Truck & Bus Dandenong to build a model that meets our needs perfectly,” said Managing Director John West, “these Quons are designed specifically to meet our need for a 9-metre body and crane.”
As one of Australia’s leading logistics providers, John West Logistics specialise in delivering steel building products to commercial and domestic sites in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and both the islands of New Zealand.
“70% of our contracts involve truck mounted crane units,” says John, “whether we’re delivering rebar, roofing, guttering or flashing, no two loads are the same size or shape and we have to deliver right into some tricky sites. This 6x4 Quon is ideal for our task.”
The John West Logistics Quons are a customer design that represents a departure from the standard Quon range, and it’s taken time to get the specifications right.
“UD Trucks Australia were great,” says John, “we went to them with our requirements and they took them to head office in Japan and advocated for us. It took a while, but we got the result, and now UD Trucks here in Australia have a model that will appeal to a whole new sector of the market.”
John West Logistics have been using UDs since the company started in 2000.
“We began in 2000 with an empty warehouse,” says John, “and we built up a business in dangerous goods and contract logistics. In 2018 we sold the DGL business to concentrate on the contract logistics side. UD Trucks have been with us all the way.”
The John West fleet of around 300 vehicles includes approximately 80 UDs, with the balance of the fleet mostly Volvos and Macks.
“We use the UDs for the work in metro and state rural areas,” says John, “and we’re really happy with them. The safety features and protocols are first-class, the fuel economy and emissions are good, as is the driver comfort. The drivers speak highly of them, and when there’s a driver shortage like the one we have now, that’s almost as important as safety, which is something we take very seriously.”
UD Trucks also handle all the servicing under long-term maintenance agreements.
“We’ve never had a workshop,” says John, “in fact, I often say we have never owned a spanner. I rely on UD (and our other suppliers) to keep us on the road and UD after-sales service is very good indeed.”
Some of Australia’s best-known manufacturers base the John West trucks at their production sites, so they can deliver direct to their customers from the start of each day.
“We’re putting the first three of these Quons into the Stramit site, and we’re wrapping them in the Stramit livery,” says John. “As far as their customers are concerned, Stramit are delivering the goods,”
John says the new 6x4 Quons fit perfectly into a gap that providers like John West Logistics have been trying to fill for some time.
“We would have had 30 or 40 of these Quons on the road if we could have, there’s that much demand” says John, “and we’re definitely going to be ordering more of them. We’ve been loyal to UD for a long time now, and they’re loyal to us.”
Vice President, Lauren Pulitano, agreed with John’s assessment of the value of the long-term relationship with UD Trucks.
“Nothing demonstrates the strength of this partnership better than UD Trucks designing a model specifically to meet our needs. We’re really happy with the result.”
