Glastonbury-based CRS Building Supplies purchased four DAF CF 370 trucks back in March and recently decided to cash in the Driver Training Vouchers that came with the trucks to help two drivers get to know their vehicles better and improve overall productivity. The course took place at the building supply specialist’s Keynsham location with all parties involved wearing masks and practicing social distancing.
DAF launched this program in February 2019, providing training vouchers for each new CF or XF model purchased. The two-and-a-half-hour course typically involves an on-road component in addition to the internal and external familiarisation walkarounds, but COVID-19 has made that difficult.
“The Driver Training Vouchers scheme is an excellent initiative. Anything to extract maximum efficiency from our vehicles – and our drivers – can only be a good thing,” says Paul Gibbard, transport manager for CRS Building Supplies. “We’ve been very pleased with the support from DAF Trucks and our supplying dealer, Kingdon Wessex DAF. There’s a real partnership between us and, with the team effort, I know that my transport operation is running at peak efficiency.”
New DAF CF Rigids
CRS already has a number of 18-tonne CFs in its fleet, but this time the company opted for 26-t CF FAN tri-axle trucks, each with a steer, drive, and lifting rear-steer tag-axle. The 26-tonners have the same 6,100-millimetre chassis length, but can carry nine packs of blocks compared to the five-pack maximum for the 18-t vehicles thanks to increased payload capacity.
Gibbard and CRS are so happy with these newest additions that they’ve taken steps to simplify additional orders down the road. “We’ve set up a build spec with DAF, Kingdon Wessex, and TH White / Palfinger that enables us to replicate future new orders quickly and easily,” Gibbard says. “The arrangement is working very well indeed.”
The 6x2 FAN configuration is only one option for the CF, as DAF offers axle configurations ranging from 4x2 (FA) all the way up to 8x4 (FAD or FAW). There are also CF tractor units available in addition to rigids. Other features include PACCAR PX-7, MX-11, and MX-13 engines that top out at 390 kilowatts (530 horsepower) and 2,600 newton-metres of torque and options for 12- or 16-speed TraXon automated gearboxes.
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