Reefer body building is highly customised and Sub Zero understands their client’s requirements thoroughly and accordingly design boxes, indicates Mr. Deep Khira, CEO, Sub Zero Insulation Technologies Pvt. Ltd. He adds that the company works closely with cooling unit suppliers to ensure that the required temperature is maintained well and the product reaches from source to destination without any problems. His comments on the above subject follow:
Excerpts.
Mandatory and other safety requirements
As a reputed body builder it is our responsibility to manufacture reefer boxes as per our RTO norms. We are working closely with vehicle manufacturers to integrate our body properly with their chassis. We ensure that the body dimensions are adhering to basic safety standards – the width should be within the body so that it does not obstruct driver vision, the length has to be as per chassis length and the height must be determined considering proper centre of gravity and stability. If any of these parameters are not as per standard, we are discussing and educating our customers.
Safety apprehensions at higher road speeds
There should be a strict focus on driver training. The testing of truck drivers and issuing of licenses should be a stringent process. If we have good quality drivers handling the vehicles then the higher speed limits are beneficial towards business overall.
Safety aspects during equipment integration
We are regularly in contact with chassis manufacturers to discuss body integration and safety. If we have any issues with chassis and we need to make some changes (for example drill some holes, etc.), we take written permission from chassis manufacturers before proceeding. Body builders and chassis manufacturers should work closely together to ensure overall safety and good performance of the vehicle.
Light-weighting necessity and trend
Sub Zero, since inception, has focussed on light weight bodies without compromising on strength. We are always looking at engineering to optimise the weight of our truck bodies and maximise payload to customers. We were one of the first companies to provide the Indian market with good quality GRP reefer boxes. These changes in overload norms are very good for our business as we can now offer our customers a value proposition. In our industry light weighting results in increase in cost. Good quality composite materials are expensive. We try to optimise the cost factor as much as possible without compromising on quality.
Sub Zero has been using good quality composites and plastics since the beginning. It is very important to use the right grade raw material for it to be durable. We are using some very special composites which are thin but with high glass fibre content to sustain high impacts. This technology of course comes at a price, good quality composite material is not cheap. We are striking the right balance by using steel where it is required and the right plastics where they can be used.