When three global OEM truck manufacturers are willing to display their company logos prominently outside your building to endorse your services and facilities, you know you’re off to a great start. And that’s exactly what is happening at Renew-it Truck Centre, a world class truck repair centre recently opened in Kempton Park alongside the R21. Patrick O’Leary visited this facility and came away highly impressed.
Let’s face it, the economy is not in good shape and at a time when there is more bad than good news on the global and local fronts – Trump’s tariffs being just one example – it is just so refreshing to walk into a new venture which reeks of optimism and confidence all aimed at providing local truckers with world-class panel-beating and full truck repair services.
With two years in the planning and R150-million invested into land, buildings and equipment, Renew-it Truck Centre has been open for just over a month and already major OEMs including Volvo, Daimler Truck and MAN have inspected the facility and given it their individual OEM-approved endorsements as meeting their high standards of repair for their brands. More OEMs are set to follow. A number of insurance companies are also already on board giving it the green light for approved repair solutions.
Renew-it Truck Centre is a wholly owned subsidiary of Blue Spec Holdings and a Level 1 B-BBEE business and has been designed to serve South Africa’s transport, insurance and logistics sectors with specialised and world-class truck repair services. As two of its posters blare out: “Deliver more than is expected and bring the shine back.”
Yeah. “Bring the shine back”. There is nothing worse for a transport operator than seeing the crumpled wreck of one of his trucks after a crash. And we all know how truck crashes have escalated over the past two years. Not a day goes by that FleetWach doesn’t receive notifications of serious truck crashes. It’s become like a warzone out there and unfortunately, many of these involve not only crushed trucks but also crushed bodies.
While the pain of losing a loved one in a crash will remain in the heart forever, there is hope that life can be brought back to the truck itself – and Renew-it Truck Centre has made it its mission to do just that.
That is why spending a few hours with Operations Director Wayne Willers – a man with some 28 years of experience in the vehicle repair industry – was an uplifting interaction. It wiped out the horror of truck crash scenes and ignited a spark of hope that at least the shine can be brought back in one positive way.
I know I’m sounding a bit dramatic here – and maybe a bit emotional – but I really did feel that way. I have been on many truck crash scenes over the years and there is nothing – absolutely nothing – on any of these scenes that makes you smile. It’s all horrible. But walking round this facility, I was smiling all the way. It was a sort of renewal of hope that good can emerge from bad. Why do I say this?
On another level
Well, this place is on another level. It’s not only the passion and skill of the people but also the commitment to excellence with no short cuts having been taken and no penny spared in ensuring quality work is guaranteed. A considerable investment has been made on sourcing top equipment and tools from around the world to ‘bring the shine back’ to any battered and bruised truck that enters this portal.
Take the chassis straightening section as an example. It’s a marvel with all equipment imported from the USA. The brand is Bee-Line which is a world-renowned brand with an array of special tools that boggles the mind. Also used in this area of the operation are special tools imported from Josam in Sweden such as G-Clamps as well as state-of-the-art wheel alignment equipment.
For the cab straightening functions, Josam again comes into the picture with the necessary tools imported from Sweden. The anchor frame built into the floor has been extended beyond its normal requirements to accommodate not only repairs but also light chassis straightening on the smaller trucks.
Barend Oosthuizen, a man with over 20 years experience in the vehicle repair industry, was busy on the damaged cab of a truck tractor while I was there and gave a short demonstration of how some of the Josam equipment works. Click on the link here to check it out. https://youtu.be/eKEznLXXbBY
The four paint spray booth combination ovens -overseen by an experienced paint shop manager – are super impressive and have been installed by Aero-O-Cure, a well-established local South African company renowned for its quality products in this arena. A dust free environment has been assured via the installation of huge extractor chutes.
In the wash-bay area housed in a different building, Aero-O-Cure has also installed a back-up water installation system in the event of normal water supplies being cut – certainly not an unlikely situation given the infrastructure problems being experienced around Gauteng.
Operating all this equipment requires high skill sets and apart from having experienced people on board, on-going training is conducted by the suppliers. Josam, for example, has – and will continue to do so – sent experts out from Sweden to train the personnel.
The attention to detail all revolves around providing a repair infrastructure which supports professional end-to-end truck restoration with quality being the over-riding aim. Confidence of being able to achieve top quality and meet the promises being made is given credence via a 1-year guarantee on all workmanship, a lifetime guarantee on paintwork and an OEM parts warranty of 12 months or manufacturer backed.
In sync with truckers
Apart from the facilities, what’s struck me is that Willers and his team are in sync with the trucking sector. The trucking world is not an easy arena in which to operate and they understand the needs of truckers who will be using their services. They understand the concept of Total Cost of Ownership; they understand that downtime is a taboo profit killer in this era of tight margins; they understand the harsh and stressful world in which transporters operate. They understand the transporter. As such, they have structured their operations around fast turn-around times but with no sacrifice to quality workmanship.
This is vitally important because, let’s face it, it’s going to be a long time before Transnet gets it rail services back on track – if you’ll excuse the pun – and the trucking sector will continue to play a vital role in keeping the wheels of the economy turning. The unfortunate reality, however, is that while doing so, there will continue to be crashes and when these happen, it will be comforting for the transporter to know that his crumpled truck is in the hands of capable people who will go all out to get his truck back on the road in the shortest possible time in tip-top condition. On this point, let Willer have the last words:
“We’ve brought into the industry a facility that not only elevates the country onto an international standards platform in terms of truck repairs but is staffed by people who show empathy and care for the trucking world.”
That about sums it up.
Below are a selection of photographs showing the various features of the Renew-it Truck Centre facility. Roam through them to get a handle on this world-class centre. Click on each photograph to enlarge.
