Capral Aluminium has joined an elite club of international aluminium producers, one of the first to do so in this country.

The company has been officially certified against the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI) Performance Standard V3 and Chain of Custody Standard (CoC)V2 and can now proudly display the ASI certified logo on its aluminium products, signalling they have been produced at the highest environmental, social and corporate governance standard. 

The certification applies to all of Capral’s 26 facilities which includes mills, distribution centres and trades centres across the country.

Pressure arguably continues to mount in almost every manufacturing sector to, not just be good at business, but be good citizens as well. For this reason, proper corporate governance and appropriate certifications has become a company must.

“Buyers are becoming increasingly conscious of the environmental impact of products,” says Capral CEO, Tony Dragicevich. “ASI certification is a significant achievement and reinforces our position as a responsible and sustainable business.” 

It was an exhaustive process, the company says, as it is considered the most comprehensive in the aluminium industry, defining various principles and criteria for suitability performance including, biodiversity, Indigenous engagement, circularity and greenhouse gas emissions.

Meanwhile, the CoC certification sets out requirements for materials produced and processed through the value chain into diverse downstream sectors. This means there are appropriate policies and due diligence processes to identify corruption, human rights abuses and materials originating from conflict-affected and high-risk areas in the supply chain. 

“It has been a hard slog,” says Group ESG and Risk Manager for Capral, Marc Banks.

“These standards set high benchmarks and are assessed rigorously by third-party auditors.”

The certification program, according to ASI CEO, Fiona Solomon, provides proof that a company supports responsible sourcing, transparency and accountability within its own operations and throughout its value chain.

“For companies like Capral that are in the downstream part of the aluminium value chain, traceability is critical for the identification of potential environmental and social risks,” she says.

ASI is a global non-profit organisation that sets standards for the responsible production and sourcing of aluminium and covers a wide range of environmental, social, and governance issues, including greenhouse gas emissions, water use, human rights, and labour standards. The ASI CoC ensures that aluminium that is certified to the performance standard can be tracked and traced throughout the supply chain. 

This isn’t the first time Capral has turned its attention to sustainability and the environmental impact of aluminium. In November last year, it launched LocAl, a lower-carbon primary aluminium option for manufacturers, found across all Capral’s locally manufactured extruded products.

The LocAl aluminium offering includes two lower carbon aluminium options. LocAl Green, which at eight kilograms of carbon emissions per kilogram of aluminium, is 50 per cent lower carbon emissions than the current global average for primary aluminium, and LocAl Super Green which, at four kilograms, is 75 per cent lower.

Fast fact

The Aluminium Stewardship Initiative was founded in 2011 by a group of aluminium producers, users, and NGO and today has more than 300 members from around the world. ASI-certified aluminium is used in a wide range of products, including cars, trucks, planes, buildings, and packaging.

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In the beginning, there were just two in Queensland – Eagle Canvas and Total Fleet Imaging. But, after both businesses were bought in 2015, they combined to become part of the international success known as Fleetmark Group today.

“Our main office is in Melbourne,” says Fleetmark Queensland Business Manager, Murray Scott. “We have locations in, Sydney, Brisbane, China and Thailand as well. We paint and sign trucks and trailers in-house at all of these faculties, and we supply for OEMs as well.”

In addition to its transport-related duties, Fleetmark has made its mark with some of Australia’s most popular digital branding solutions, such as Coles, Woolworths, KFC and Metro Trains. But after making a deal with E-Plas in 2019 to install its QuickSilver tipper lining system, the Fleetmark name has become much more fluent on the tongues within the transport industry.

“We caught up with the team and went out to have a look at what they do, what they have and what they were supplying,” Murray says. “They asked us if we wanted to be an agent for them and we said yes.

“Business was a little bit slow for a year or two, but it’s really picked up. I’ve probably fitted five of their floors this week now, and over the years we’ve used hundreds of metres of it.”

While there were a lot of fish in the sea at the time of the agreement, Murray says QuickSilver was – and still is – more universal for any application. This is why it was the perfect choice.

“It can be used on anything,” he says. “If you’re carting bitumen, for example, you can have QuickSilver. Whereas with other options in the market, you will need to go and buy extra products so that it can be compatible with different jobs. But QuickSilver is just the one material with a different bolt pattern for different applications, such as bitumen. In the end, it’s just cost-effective to not have as much stock and different sort of materials.”

Like Fleetmark, E-Plas is also a national company, with branches in Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia. With its presence growing at such a rapid rate, E-Plas has the ability to distribute nationwide with overseas supply possible too.

In addition, Murray has found that E-Plas always has a lot of products in stock, which he says is pretty uncommon after the market’s uncertainty during the last couple of years.

“I’ve been able to get stock in all of the time, and they seem to be able to get it in quickly and put it aside for us,” he says.

Backing that up, he says, is a very good aftersales service.

“They’re always checking up to make sure that we’re in contact with people they’ve put onto us and how they went, too,” Murray says. “It’s always pretty good, their communication is first class.”

Four years into the deal, Murray says working with E-Plas by being a QuickSilver agent and installer has paid off.

“They supply it and we do the fitting for them,” he says.

The benefits E-Plas has to offer, he says, are also passed onto the customers at the end of the production line.

“I’ve got a few local customers that I’ve done a few for now and they think it’s fantastic,” Murray says. “They don’t have to tip as high, so it’s a lot safer. If you get out on uneven roads, trailers tend to get right up high and they fall over, and things like that.

“There’s that, as well as it saving the floor in the trailer. Even with some of the second-hand ones we’ve been doing, the floors start wearing out after a while. People then put QuickSilver in and it will last twice as long as what an aluminium floor does. And it’s a cheaper option than actually replacing floors all of the time.”

First-hand experience with QuickSilver on a daily basis means Murray sees everything there is to the product. But with there being nothing to complain about, and customers who are equally as happy with their E-Plas-fitted tippers, Fleetmark has a special spot for QuickSilver in its heart.

“I have had a couple of the other suppliers trying to get me to start selling theirs”, Murray says, “but no, you don’t fix anything that’s not broken.”

The post Fleetmark Group reaps benefits of E-Plas partnership appeared first on Trailer Magazine.

Transporting fuel can throw an abundance of potential complications at its drivers.

It’s Haar Australia’s job to make those hurdles less cumbersome, ensuring the safety and productivity of those making their important deliveries.

Whether it is farm or commercial deliveries, Stuart Evans needs to ensure his deliveries are seamless. The owner of Evans Petroleum, located in the Gippsland region of Victoria, has just taken delivery of a new vehicle to help with his busy schedule. The DAF Euro 6, 450-horsepower, twin steer rigid truck was recently delivered and has been fitted with an Alfons-Haar metering system.

Stuart says the move to Alfons-Haar is a relatively new one for his business, but he is looking forward to reaping the benefits, adding that the technical support and service has already been impressive.

“They came down here and installed it and went through everything with the driver,” he says. “They are fantastic to deal with and really helpful, going through the whole process.”

Evans Fuels has played a key part in keeping the local community running for half a century. Stuart, and his wife Jenene, took over from his father, founder Reg Evans, in 1989. Today, operating under the BP label, the business is now a major fuel distributor using a high-tech Holmwood Highgate fleet and covering an area stretching from Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, all the way to the New South Wales border in the east.

Stuart’s newest vehicle, also from Holmwood Highgate, features the PreciPURE C1200 metering system, the newest version from the company, which makes major leaps forward in accurate and efficient fuel deliveries.

The product, explains Haar Australia founder and Managing Director, Ivan Lawrie, is smaller, lighter and easier to use, providing faster delivery performance than its 2013 predecessor. It was extensively tested for more than a year in outback New South Wales with exceptional results and positive user feedback.

The new features of the C1200 Precipure include:

Smaller dimension to suit chassis with limited space (300mm shorter in length and 150mm shorter in height from the ground);
Quick product changeover when switching from diesel to petrol delivery, and vice versa (less than one minute);
Service changes such as improved pump strainer access;
Simplified delivery valve arrangement; and
Driver selectable digital flow control.

Ivan has been at the forefront of fuel metering and pumping technology, taking cues from developments in the European market and tailoring them for Australian applications. But for him, just as important as the product is the support that comes with it.

“We provide backup support to vehicle system builders and maintenance providers, but also to drivers directly,” he says. “It helps drivers who are new to the vehicle or relief drivers who might need a little guidance to use the system for the first time.”

That is music to Stuart’s ears who is looking forward to a prosperous relationship with Haar Australia and the benefits that come with it.

Fast fact

Based in the Melbourne suburb of Sunshine West, Haar Australia not only supplies meters and fuelling components, but supplies special pumps and mobile compressors for powder and chemical transfer. In addition to its involvement in the commercial transport sector, Haar Australia has a strong presence in the defence industry and is also the Australian distributor of Swedish coupling manufacturer and supplier Mann Tek.

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BPW Transpec is on the road to reducing its carbon footprint, after successfully connecting the first phase of its solar system solution at its head office in Melbourne earlier this year.

Since the first 100kW connection, BPW Transpec has recently installed close to another 1,000 panels to add an additional 350kW to its system, reducing its energy use and contributing further to a reduction in carbon emissions.

Likewise, its branch in Queensland has recently completed the installation of a 100kW solar panel system as well.

Additionally BPW have recently partnered with one of Australia’s largest waste and recycling services business, Cleanaway, to implement a Waste Management System that will achieve its mission of making a sustainable future possible.

“Both our prescribed and solid waste is disposed of in specially developed bins stored around the site and collected periodically to be delivered to various recycling services in the local area,” BPW Transpec HR & Compliance Manager, John Antoniades, told Trailer.

“All of our waste has become a beneficial resource that uses Cleanaway facilities and processes to transform it into valuable commodities for every sector, industry and community.”

In other news, the closure of 3G networks will affect equipment and services for the road transport industry.

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