Smedley’s Engineers is now offering Front Underrun Protection (FUP) and Rear Underrun Protection (RUP) validation services for manufacturers.

As an approved testing facility, Smedley’s Engineers provides complete support commencing from the design of the products through to the issuance of a Component Type Approval, based on the manufacturer’s requirements.

The new addition to its capabilities, Smedley’s Engineers said, is a curation of the combined efforts within the Design, Testing and Simulation department.

“This is a lot more complex than a typical FE stress analysis,” said Design, Testing and Simulation Engineering Manager, Dion Simms.

“When validating underrun devices by simulation, we track the slippage and breakage of bolted and pinned joints, the permanent and temporary deformation of components and the contact interaction between parts as damage is incurred.

“We can also build out from here to simulate complex failure behaviour in broader aspects of engineering design, backed up by the physical testing we use to close the loop.”

According to Smedley’s Engineers, simulating these tests saves logistical challenges and costs of physically testing a prototype while allowing for fast design iterations to be evolved in an agile design development environment.

Eliminating the dependency of fabricators and test engineers with a single simulation engineer, it said, enables design teams to move rapidly without compromising on OH&S or outcomes.

“Testing by simulation allows us to provide manufacturers of modular bull bar designs with validations across a range of vehicles, just by changing the brackets, loadings and positioning in a model,” said Project Engineer, Simon Burston.

“This is an exercise that happens within a matter of hours, whereas to physically test the same thing would require producing and then destroying a bull bar for every truck model which requires validating.”

In other news, Membrey’s Transport & Crane Hire Managing Director, Craig Membrey, is celebrating his 34th anniversary of operating the company.

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Milk supply company and dairy product provider, Lactalis Australia, has contravened the Dairy Code of Conduct.

Lactalis Australia failed to meet some of its obligations in relation to the 2021-21 milk season and was ordered by the Federal Court on 25 July 2023 to pay $950,000 in penalties.

Following proceedings brought by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC), the Court found in September 2022 that Lactalis had breached the Dairy Code by publishing and entering into agreements that allowed Lactalis to unilaterally terminate an agreement in circumstances that didn’t involve a material breach by farmers.

In particular, under the agreement, Lactalis was permitted to unilaterally terminate the agreement when, in Lactalis’ opinion, the farmer had engaged in ‘public denigration’ of processors, key customers or other stakeholders.

Lactalis had also breached the Code by failing to publish its milk supply agreements on its website, and instead required farmers to sign up to receive their milk supply agreements by email.

“The Code was introduced to help dairy farmers make informed choices about where they sell their milk by ensuring there is transparency in pricing agreements and by allowing them to compare agreements from different processors in a timely fashion,” said ACCC Deputy Chair, Mick Keogh.

“These were the first contested proceedings under the Dairy Code and the outcome is an ongoing reminder that processors who fail to comply with the Code may face significant penalties.

“Ensuring that small businesses receive the protections they are entitled to under industry codes continues to be one of the ACCC’s enduring compliance and enforcement priorities.”

Lactalis is one of Australia’s largest dairy processors and purchases milk from more than 400 dairy farmers across all Australian states. The company produces a wide range of dairy products across a number of brands including Pauls, Oak, Vaalia and Ice Break.

The Dairy Code (the Competition and Consumer (Industry Codes—Dairy) Regulations 2019) is a mandatory industry code regulating the conduct of dairy farmers and milk processors in their dealings with one another that came into effect on 1 January 2020.

Under the Dairy Code, a processor must, by 2pm on 1 June each year, publish its standard form milk supply agreements on its website.

For every exclusive milk supply agreement, a processor publishes, a processor must also offer a non-exclusive supply option to farmers.

The Dairy Code requires processors to only purchase milk under a milk supply agreement. All agreements must comply with the code by meeting a number of key requirements, including:

specifying a minimum price paid for the milk,
consisting of a single document,
specifying quality and quantity requirements, including testing procedures, and
specifying the circumstances in which parties may unilaterally terminate the milk supply agreement – for processors to unilaterally terminate, the circumstances outlined must involve a ‘material breach’ by the farmer.

The publication obligations of the Dairy Code apply to all processors with an annual aggregated turnover of $10 million or more in the previous financial year.

Lactalis Group, based in France, claims to be the world’s leading dairy group.

Last year it acquired Jalna in Australia, positioning the business as number two in the Australia’s yogurt market.

The dairy products market is expected to continue to grow due to an increase in global population by an estimated 11 per cent by 2033. This would be approx. 873 million additional people, 35 per cent of which will be in Asia.

Each year, Lactalis collects more than 22 billion litres of milk from some 460,000 partnering farmers in 49 countries.

Generally, in Australia, Lactalis uses third-party transportation companies.

The group is mindful about optimising truck loading, reducing distances travelled and encouraging the use of alternative fuels.

In 2022, Lactalis as a group generated €28.3 billion (approx. $46.3 billion AUD) in revenue, an increase of 28.4 per cent compared to 2021. By geographical area, 50 per cent of that consolidated revenue is from Europe, 33 per cent via the Americas and 17 per cent across Africa and Asia and Pacific.

Learn more about the Dairy Code here.

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Road Tank Repairs & Services WA Managing Director, Brad Onley, has sold his shares to Liquip Victoria Managing Director, Jeff Borg.

Started in 2014 by the Tieman family and Onley, Road Tank Repairs has evolved to become a major tanker repair service and spare parts provider in Perth.

Borg told Trailer his acquisition of shares will allow Liquip Victoria to broaden its national footprint.

“We are excited with this new opportunity as it fits perfectly with our business model,” he said.

“We already have a lot of customers in WA having worked closely with Tieman over many years.

“We plan to solidify our footprint in servicing and supporting national fleets and many other customers through our new investment in Road Tank Repairs.”

As the Tieman family remains actively engaged as shareholders, Tieman Tankers Director, Colin Tieman, expressed his thanks to Brad and Heidi Onley for their unwavering commitment to shaping Road Tank Repairs.

“Jeff Borg brings an impressive 30 years of invaluable experience to the table, strengthening Road Tank Repairs with his expertise in fuel pump systems, truck fit-outs, and scheduled service maintenance,” he told Trailer.

“This strategic acquisition marks the beginning of a promising new era for the company with planned growth and increased service offerings in the future.

“The company looks forward to attracting additional highly skilled technicians to underpin best practice service support for major accident damage, regular maintenance or drive in repairs for all brands and types of liquid or dry bulk tankers.”

Together, Liquip Victoria and Tieman Tankers will collaboratively support the company to further enhance its services to all tanker fleet operators in Western Australia.

In other news, the 2024 Women in Industry Awards is now ready to be launched.

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The 2024 Women in Industry Awards is now ready to be launched.

The Women in Industry Awards recognise outstanding women from across a range of industrials sectors including transport, logistics, mining, manufacturing, engineering, bulk handling, waste management, rail, construction and infrastructure – all sectors that are traditionally male-dominated.

Following the record-breaking 2023 Women in Industry Awards, the 2024 edition will take place on Thursday 20 June 2024 in Sydney.

Four sponsors have already signed up for the event – Atlas Copco, SEW–DRIVE, Fulton Hogan and Paccar.

The 2023 Women in Industry Awards saw a record 160 nominations across 10 categories, with 95 per cent growth in 2022.

The gala dinner sold out for the first time in its history, recording a 55 per cent attendance increase in 2022.

In addition, 32 individual media mastheads carried marketing about the Women in Industry Awards.

Eleven categories in the 2024 Women in Industry Awards are still available for sponsorship.

To find out more, click here.

In other news, work has begun on the Hexham Straight Widening Project, which, upon completion, is expected to make a major difference to New South Wales’ transport and road networks.

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Work has begun on the Hexham Straight Widening Project, which, upon completion, is expected to make a major difference to New South Wales’ transport and road networks.

The 15-kilometre M1 Pacific Motorway extension to Raymond Terrace, New South Wales, is progressing ahead of major construction later this year with geotechnical drilling now taking place.

Upon completion, the upgrade is expected to improve transport efficiencies by ending long-time traffic bottlenecks and reportedly removing up to 25,000 vehicles from local roads each day.

According to NSW Roads Minister, John Graham, the Hexham Straight Widening Project will transform travel around the Hunter region by improving the connection between Newcastle and the New England Highway, M1 Motorway and the Pacific Highway.

“The project, which will transform a six-kilometre section from two lanes to three in each direction, will improve traffic flow for the 50,000 motorists and freight vehicles who use this route each day while also providing an economic boost in key employment areas around Greater Newcastle and the Port of Newcastle,” he said.

The Hexham Straight is expected to open to traffic in 2026, while the M1 Pacific Motorway extension to Raymond Terrace is on track to open in 2028.

In other news, sending engineers to Sweden to find material was one of Bulk Transport Equipment’s most critical moves.

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