Published NZ Herald 10 January 2019
Story By: Andrea Fox - Business Reporter, NZ Herald
Heavy transport designer and engineering company TRT has been awarded the next phase of a new major contract with the Australian Defence Force as the Waikato family company continues its expansion across the Tasman.
More formally known as Tidd Ross Todd, TRT is building tipper units at its Te Rapa site for export to its Brisbane facility, where they are integrated with truck bodies imported from Europe by Australian Defence.
Tippers are dump trucks designed for handling and depositing large volumes of aggregate, soil and sand.
The $100 million revenue company, owned by co-founder Dave Carden and his sons Robert and Bruce, is also a contractor to the New Zealand Defence Force.
The Australian contract was hard fought and won, said manufacturing director Bruce Carden.
Negotiations started six years ago and the competition was "every other transport engineering business in Australia", he said.
The 100th tipper unit for the Australian military rolled out of the Te Rapa site late last year, about the same time TRT was awarded the next phase of the contract.
The company has also designed a world-first tyre maintenance facility for Australian Defence, which allows the force to change the tyres on every vehicle in the fleet, as well as balance them and enables changing of the "run flat" inside the tyre, said Carden.
He attributes the Australian contract win to TRT's design capability.
"Where we stood out we were the only company in that sector of the market that could provide the complete design solution and what they call 'integrated logistics solutions' which means you have to supply all the paperwork to show how you've designed the product, what your spare parts back-up is, what your warranty is – effectively a master plan on how you're going to support that product for the next 20 years...
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