HVIA National Awards – Eastern Region finalists

Following the announcement of HVIA’s National Awards finalists from the association’s Southern region a couple of weeks ago, we now take pleasure in revealing the remaining finalists head of HVIA’s Gala Awards Dinner on Friday 25 November 2022.

Our thanks to NTI and Truck Assist, major sponsors of HVIA’s National Awards.

Each of the finalists’ profiles are featured below:

National Finalists – Eastern Region

Safety Innovation

• SGESCO-MAX –MAX-SAFE Anti Rollaway Brake System
• Stemco – Wheely-Safe

Product Innovation

• Powerdown – Enveero
• Airtec Corporation – SmartOBM
• Stemco – SVT Gate Reader

Community Leadership

• Penske Australia – Outback Futures

Apprentice of the Year

• Hunter Tapping – Brown and Hurley
• Simon Flynn – Brown and Hurley Kyogle
• Lachlan Waser
• Simon Axisa – Cummins Wetherill Park
• Kai Underhill
• James Cohen-Campbell

Peter Langworthy Award

• Dion Simms – Smedleys

The Southern Region National Finalists are listed and profiled here.

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Safety Innovation

SGESCO-MAX – MAX-SAFE Anti Rollaway Brake System™

The MAX-SAFE Anti-Rollaway Brake System™ provides an active safety solution in the event of a driver neglecting to fully apply the park brake before leaving their vehicle.

The MAX-SAFE Anti-Rollaway Brake System™ provides early pre-warnings of any potential danger, to the driver or any people in the vicinity of the vehicle. Then, if the driver leaves the cabin without fully applying the parking brake, the MAX-SAFE Anti-Rollaway Brake System activates immediately to prevent the vehicle from rolling away – creating a safe environment.

The system has been in market since 2000 and gone through several interations to now be microprocessor and software based. The system is used heavily used in the Waste Industry and now being marketed to other industry verticals such as construction, utilities, transporation, and mining.

The system is installed on over 10,000 trucks acorss Australia and more recently, New Zealand.

Stemco – Wheely-Safe

WHEEL LOSS SENSOR: Robust sensors straddle two wheel nuts using a specially designed bracket – with a pair fitted to each wheel. If a nut starts to loosen, a signal is instantly transmitted to the solar-powered or hard wired receiver in the cab, alerting the driver to pull over. Brackets are now available to fit more than 95% of the commercial vehicle wheel sizes seen on our roads.

Due to its location next to the wheel rim and braking mechanism, the system’s onboard heat sensor can also detect brake issues involving low or high temperatures, including when they exceed 100°C (Rim Temp) – a reading that could indicate maintenance issues such as sticking brakes or hub failure, and a possible fire risk.

TPMS: Robust external TPMS sensors replace the traditional valve caps and auto-pair with the display unit to warn of underinflated tyres. The system can be fitted to any brand of tyre and can be supplied with a handy pressure checker, enabling drivers to get precise pressure readings whilst completing their daily checks – without needing to connect a traditional pressure gauge to the valve.
The TPMS sensors also provide alerts should the air temperature inside a tyre reach 100°C.

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Product Innovation

Powerdown – Enveero

Enveero is a biodegradable, plant-based shock absorber fluid designed and developed by Powerdown to withstand Australia’s toughest operating conditions.

The ultra-high-performance shock fluid, made from renewable resources offers equal or increased performance when compared to current mineral oils and synthetic fluids, which are neither biodegradable nor renewable.

With a high viscosity index, of 210, Enveero has excellent heat conductivity, delivering optimal damper performance in hot and cold conditions.

A high flash point, exceeding 210°C (higher than that of traditional shock oils), with anti-foaming properties, reduces fade or loss of damping, thus maintaining vehicle control even on the warmest summer days on Australia’s harshest roads, increasing safety and minimising damper related tyre wear.

Airtec Corporation – SmartOBM

With two embedded digital pressure transducers, integrated into a custom control and large LED display unit, our product has been designed to be easily installed on individual truck & trailer assets for operators to set and display axle group weights.

Typically in a heavy vehicle application, a prime mover connects to one or many trailer combinations. The AXM series has been designed for prime mover being a master unit, and the AXL series has been designed for trailer or dolly being a secondary unit.

Once installed the AXM/AXL units can be easily paired together by vehicle operators through a “Scan” and connect function. This function allows transport operators with multiple assets the flexibility to change or add trailers to their vehicle combination.

Additionally, our team has developed a custom mobile application TruckAXM that provides operators with the ability to connect to the prime mover master AXM unit via Bluetooth. This wireless connection enables the vehicle operator to view, save and record all axle group weights connected to the SmartOBM system.

STEMCO – SVT Gate Reader

The SVT (STEMCO Vehicle Technology) Gate Reader is a device that automatically reads the STEMCO Radio Frequency Hubodometer®. As vehicles drive past the Gate Reader the Hubodometer® that is fitted to the wheel end of the truck or trailer sends the kilometre reading to the Gate Reader.

This data is then pushed to a cloud-based server. The fleet is supplied with a log-in and password and this information can be downloaded into the fleet management system.

The system is a “stand-alone” system and works without telematics integration. The installation process is simple and existing mechanical or electronic Hubodometers can be retrofitted with a Radio Frequency Hubodometer®.

The Gate Reader is a simple plug-in unit and will automatically pair and pick up any RF Hubodometer® that is linked to the fleets asset list.

The wheel sensor (Hubodometer®) is a universal fit and can be easily fitted to trucks and trailers including North American, European & Japanese axles. The Hubodometer® can also be programmed to suit any tyre size.

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Community Leadership

Penske Australia – Outback Futures

Outback Futures is a not-for-profit organisation whose mission it is to nurture and empower the outback by renewing hope, building resilience and strengthening community.

Their vision is to see rural and remote communities equipped with the confidence and tools to identify and address their own mental health and well-being challenges.

The prevalence of mental health and well-being issues is similar across Australian communities, but the impact runs far deeper in rural and remote communities. Social, economic and geographic barriers to help, prevent many from accessing support, leading to poor mental health and well-being outcomes.

Outback Futures routinely deploy teams of qualified practitioners into these rural and remote communities providing much-needed mental health and allied services to people living in remote western Queensland that would otherwise be inaccessible to these communities.

Penske Australia, through its rugged truck brand, Western Star, contributes much-needed funding to Outback Futures supporting these important activities.

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Apprentice of the Year

sponsored by Wurth Australia

Hunter Tapping – Brown and Hurley

From day one, Hunter has always shown a passion for the industry.

“As Hunter said, he loves helping people when they need it the most; with this attitude and commitment, I believe Hunter is the perfect nominee for the apprentice of the year.

“Hunter has told me from a very young age that he has always liked working with his hands. So when the opportunity came up to work with Brown and Hurley in the trucking industry, he knew this was his calling.

“Hunter has been dedicated to being the best apprentice he can be for the whole duration of his apprenticeship.”

Simon Flynn – Brown and Hurley Kyogle

Brown and Hurley Kyogle say Simon Flynn consistently displays “the right stuff.”

“We firmly believe he will become a leading technician in the heavy vehicle industry.

“Simon goes above and beyond to acquire and implement the skills required to not only complete his trade but also additional supporting skills.

“Simon has completed his trade course at TAFE with high grades and is also interested in learning further skills which will support his mechanic trade in the future as technology progresses.”

Lachlan Waser – Cummins South Pacific

Lachlan has been a great performer throughout the term of his apprenticeship. In the 4th year of his apprenticeship however, He has excelled in every facet of his role and as such has gained early completion.

Simon Axisa – Cummins Wetherill Park

Simon Axisa commenced his apprenticeship with Cummins in January 2019 at the age of 16. He completed his apprenticeship and was employed as a technician in July 2022.

“Throughout his apprenticeship, Simon has been a dedicated, conscientious and work-focused team member and displayed a level of technical ability far exceeding expectations of his age and working experience.

“Simon has a passion for his work and the industry and displays Cummins’ values of integrity, excellence, caring, teamwork and diversity and inclusion.

“Simon has a great team attitude and delivers excellent results with a safety focus.”

Kai Underhill – Haulmark Trailers

Kai commenced employment with Haulmark Trailers in 2020 to complete an apprenticeship in Automotive Manufacturing Bus, Truck and Trailer, having been highly recommended by one of Haulmark’s most loyal customers.

“Since commencing his apprenticeship Kai has shown an exceptional level of commitment to learning and an outstanding effort in achieving set tasks.

“Kai has shown a phenomenal amount of enthusiasm through the three years of his trade and has shown that with very little input from other tradesmen he can achieve the end result required to the highest level of quality expected from a tradesman.

“He has shown this since the very start of his career at Haulmark Trailers.”

Haulmark Trailers has also nominated Kai to undertake the HVIA Industry Ambassador Program towards the end of this year to further his leadership abilities.

James Cohen-Campbell – MaxiTRANS

MaxiTRANS have nominated James to recognise his outstanding attitude, work ethic and high level of skill. James completed his Certificate III in Engineering – Fabrication Trade (Boilermaking/Welding) last month.

James is helping manufacture AZMEB heavy-duty side tipper trailers, one of MaxiTRANS’ more complicated models in terms of build and skilled welding processes.

“James is easily able to keep up with workers who have been in the trade for 10 years, exceeding expectations in terms of his efficiency and quality of work,” his nomination states.

“James is already a highly valued member of our team, and once he has finished his apprenticeship, he is someone we will encourage to progress in a leadership pathway.

“We feel he possesses the right qualities to bring even more to our business and succeed in a leadership role and he will also be an invaluable asset in mentoring future apprentices.”

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Peter Langworthy Award

Dion Simms – Smedleys

Dion joined Smedley’s Engineers in February 2021. He has been an emerging leader & managed major projects, while also being instrumental in the development of the growth in testing and validation capabilities within the team, supporting and shaping industry standards and guidelines.

Career Highlights:

• Developed road design advice for a coal haulage project, including developing custom software for mass-inertia velocity modelling of various truck combination masses and powertrains over a 600km route.
• Developed novel methodology to measure and digitise heavy vehicle swept turning paths whilst performing physical validation.
• Developed novel methodology to optically measure PBS parameters such as high-speed transient off-tracking, rearward amplification and yaw damping coefficients during physical validation.
• Lead an extensive dynamic suspension performance testing program of an alternative heavy vehicle air suspension control system.
• Developed a test rig to destructively test omnibus rollover protection hoops.
• Lead the data acquisition and analysis phase of a project to compare rigid drawbar heavy vehicle converter dollies to hinged drawbar converter dollies.
• Lead design of load sensing components to gather road loads from physical testing of a road train combination to revise the Australian Standard for heavy vehicle tow couplings.
• Developed and manufactured 8-channel 100Hz CANBUS-connected analog sensor logging equipment.