2021 HVIA National Award winners

HVIA’s 2020 National Awards were presented at the Emporium South Brisbane this morning and broadcast live around the country.

Each of the winners profiles are featured below:


Community Leadership Award

sponsored by Moreton Hire

WINNER: Sustainable products and operations

Scania Australia

Scania believes a sustainable business depends on adopting a more circular economic model, maximising the use of existing resources and minimising waste throughout the value chain.

Scania’s company-owned sales and service branch at Prestons NSW, began their sustainability project in 2019 to enhance environmental standards, demonstrate innovation and further refine daily operations.

Key focus areas include reducing landfill, saving water, and reducing electricity and gas usage. The results have been commendable:

“To date, we have upgraded to LED lighting, installed sensor lights and window tinting, reviewed our consumables, increased recycling/recovery options, implemented waste separation stations, identified behavioural improvements, and cleaned and redirected our underground stormwater tank to supply our wash-bays.”

Scania Anna Maree Taylor with Community Leadership Award sponsor Dan Morahan of Moreton Hire

Product Innovation Award

Sponsored by NTI Australia

WINNER: The first Australian produced all-electric truck

by SEA Electric

Janelle Greene representing HVIA Product Innovation Award sponsor NTI with winner SEA Electric MD Bill Gillespie

In 2021, SEA Electric launched Australia’s first volume produced range of all-electric trucks, including the SEA 300 and the SEA 500 models, suiting applications from 4.5 tonne car licence vehicles through to 22.5 tonne 3 axle trucks.

The SEA-Drive® Power system is currently available in four specifications, ranging from 180HP/700Nm, through to 470HP/3,500Nm, with various battery capacities from 88kWh through to 220kWh.

The trucks are produced from a Semi Knocked Down (SKD) kit, with the donor truck cab mated to chassis rails, suspension, wheels and all drive-train components at the SEA Electric factory.

The process has resulted in many specialist jobs being created, both in the company’s engineering ranks and within the factory.

HIGHLY COMMENDED: When in doubt, lock it out 

by Parish Engineering

Lock Out Tag Out couplings for the isolation and prevention of trailer operation.

This design enables One handed operation on any Male standard and self-sealing air fitting.

The design was produced to address gaps with current products available -other designs are two to five times the price and are not one-handed or one-piece operation when in use.


Safety Innovation Award

sponsored by SafeTstop

DriveCam SF300 – MV + AI Risk Detection Innovation

by DriveRisk Australasia

The DriveCam SF300 features machine vision (MV) and artificial intelligence (AI) which uses the internal lens as a sensor to directly detect risky ‘patterns’ of driver behaviour in real time.

Consider Machine Vision as the eyes of the device and Artificial Intelligence as the brains.

The DriveCam SF300 MV+AI technology is trained to recognise high-risk patterns of driving behaviours using over 220 billion kms of human curated, verified, and labelled examples of high-risk driving behaviours resulting in high accuracy detection with a low false positive rate.

DriveRisk uses this technology to uncover, identify, categorise and ultimately change the risk in client fleets.

Once the risks in your on-road operations are uncovered using MV+AI, our solution helps you to manage them effectively in a SMS process aligned to Chain of Responsibility (CoR).

This DriveCam platform helps mitigate incidents, reduce collisions, and motivate your drivers to be safer.

The Driverisk team celebrate their success as winners of the HVIA Safety Innovation Award

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Roadpod 

by Mass Products 

Roadpod is an innovative truck loading system that replaces or integrates with truck bodies and trailers to allow transport workers to pre-load pods prior to delivery which can then be loaded (and unloaded) onto trucks in minutes.

It is the safest alternative to loading trucks at heights with absolutely no height safety equipment required.

While traditional fall prevention systems may reduce the risk of falls, Roadpod is the only truck fall protection solution that is so advanced it eliminates the risk of falls from heights by allowing crews to load, unload, secure and service trucks and trailers at ground level.


National Apprentice of the Year Award 

sponsored by Warby Tools

WINNER: Daniel Steuten, 

Royans Melbourne

Daniel has had an interest in the automotive field from a young age and spends every spare minute modifying his cars.

He has shown exceptional understanding during the four years of his Mechanical Apprenticeship coupled with a “can-do” attitude.

“His attitude and commitment have been flawless,” his supervisors told us. “He is a joy to have around the workshop.”

“We have been extremely happy watching Daniel progress into a skilled tradesperson. He has shown skills across all areas of the smash repair process and continues to surprise us with his capabilities and knowledge.”

Having recently completed his mechanical apprenticeship, Daniel now intends to take on an auto electrical apprenticeship.

“Royans has been highly supportive of my will to continue my training and gain more qualifications. I would like to continue my work here at Royans and move through the ranks as time goes by.”


HIGH ACHIEVEMENT: Jayden Breuker, 

Daimler Trucks Mt Gambier 

Jayden was a qualified diesel technician when he joined Daimler Trucks, already with a real desire to learn more. He jumped at the opportunity to dual trade and undertook his Cert III in Automotive electrical technology.

While successfully complete his second trade, Jayden has also been completing Fuso, Mercedes Benz, Freightliner, Allison and Detroit training and has been promoted to Workshop Supervisor, all by the age of 25.

“In an ever evolving industry, he epitomises the kind of people we need to be attracting and retaining to the heavy vehicle industry,” his supervisor said.

Jayden already sees a pathway to one day become Branch Manager.

“Initially my goal is to keep improving and learning more so I can be the best I can be,” he said. “I also will be working on empowering my crew to be the best they can be, so we can offer our customers the best service experience possible.”


CERTIFICATE OF MERIT: Wayne Taradel,

Apprenticeships Qld (Drake Trailers) 

Wayne has been an outstanding apprentice throughout his entire apprenticeship.

Wayne has consistently exceeded expectations during his daily duties and has always completed his training to an exceptionally high standard.

Wayne’s unwavering commitment in all aspects of his working life, his friendliness and helpfulness with both his workmates and management has made him a popular and valued member of Drakes workforce.

Combine his exceptional performance with the value and popularity he has earned within the Drake team and he is a more than worthy nominee for Apprentice of the Year.


Peter Langworthy Future Leader Award

Winner: Matthew Longridge

MaxiTRANS – Carole Park

Prior to joining MaxiTRANS, Matt worked as a plumber for 7 years and was considering starting his own business. However, before he did that, he decided he needed a change for a year.

Matt went to MaxiTRANS’ manufacturing facility in Ballarat Victoria, initially as a labourer and continued for 6 to 8 months before he was offered a lead role building Maxi-CUBE refrigerated trailers.

He then went into a supervisors role in the same line and also spent 6 months in our warehouse ensuring the seamless supply of parts to the factory floor.

More recently, Matt was offered the opportunity as Production Manager at our newly opened manufacturing facility in Carole Park, Queensland where he has excelled as a leader within our business.

Matt has been pivotal in bringing together a growing and passionate team to produce Australian made bulk tipper brands including Lusty EMS, Hamelex White and AZMEB.

Matt sees himself progressing through the industry into higher roles.

“I have been lucky to have some great mentors at MaxiTRANS such as Trevor Lyons, Brad Givvens, Geoff Dewar and Jason Shankland, and would like to be able to have the same versatility as them,” Matt said.

Winner of the 2021 Peter Langworthy Future Leader Award Matthew Longridge with HVIA President John Drake

Industry Recognition Award

Recipient: Mr Bob Martin

Scott Buchholz MP, former HVIA President Bob Martin and HVIA President John Drake

The HVIA Board bestows the Industry Recognition Award occassionally to honour lifetime achievements on behalf of the heavy vehicle industry.

The 2021 recipient was Bob Martin.

Currently celebrating 20 years at Jost Australia, Mr Martin was the CVIAQ President when the organisation transitioned to become a national member advocacy body as HVIA.

He also oversaw the relocation of the Brisbane Truck Show to its current home at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, and the construction of HVIA’s headquarters in Brisbane.


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