Trailer Innovation Creates 31% Capacity Increase On Standard Trailer
– UK innovation could cut UK road fleet by 25%
– A UK manufacturing success story
SOMI trailers will launch their groundbreaking trailer at the Temperature Controlled Storage and Distribution Exhibition in Peterborough this September, after partnering with the Tinsley Bridge Group.
This patented innovation is set to revolutionise road transport as a whole and the transport of food in particular. By providing 31% additional capacity over standard articulated trailers, SOMI trailers could remove 25% of all trucks from UK roads.
Initially previewed back in 2010, SOMI have teamed up with the Tinsley Bridge Group – a Sheffield-based company with a formidable transport heritage and a reputation for developing innovative and advanced products for road and rail transport and defence.
The unique trailer design involves patented technologies, using advanced engineering to create dramatically increased load capacity without adding to the overall trailer dimensions. Crucially, this added capacity has been designed to be compatible with existing logistical and UK infrastructures.
This will deliver dramatic savings to operators and could significantly reduce the impact of food transport on the UK road infrastructure and the environment. The design is already a UK Low Carbon Vehicle Technology Challenge Award Winner.
Tinsley Bridge have been at the forefront of stabiliser bar and leaf spring technology for over 75 years and were the first to develop the parabolic leaf spring technology which is now fitted to over 80% of truck suspensions in Europe. They are the largest UK manufacturer of truck stabiliser bars and torsion bars to the OE commercial vehicle sector and one of the top manufacturers of vehicle suspension components in the world.
Clients include automotive vehicle manufacturers such as the global truck builders Volvo, Renault and Iveco.
Tinsley Bridge is also a founder member of CVDC, the UK government’s ‘think tank’ based at Cambridge University, set up to research improvements in heavy-duty truck dynamics. The ‘Cambridge Vehicle Dynamics Consortium’ aims to develop improved systems that maximise truck safety, minimise road damage and improve ride, productivity and fuel consumption.
This development partnership is a classic example of two specialist UK companies showing exactly what the UK manufacturing sector must do to compete with the low cost economies – using exceptional design talent and advanced engineering to commercialise intellectual property and bring new technologies to market.
