FWR commenced business in 2013 as a one-man operation when Director, Arron MacCue, saw the opportunity to make some extra money around his employment as a boilermaker welder in Brisbane, Queensland.
Working into the late hours of the night in a workshop not much larger than his garage, Arron made an impression on a small customer base with his attention to detail, competitive pricing and commitment to delivering a quality product on time.
Today, Arron continues to run FWR with the same values set 10 years ago, only now it operates on a much larger scale. Its most recent expansion, for example, saw the business triple its size in capacity with a new 12,000-square-metre facility in Larapinta.
Incorporating seven dual lift overhead cranes, three spray booths with baking function, a large sandblasting booth, CNC brake press, a machine shop and 80 staff, the Larapinta facility opens yet a further opportunity for FWR to grow its trailer range.
It has also allowed the company to significantly increase production, as demonstrated in its total number of trailer outputs over the past year which have risen from 30 units a month to 45. FWR now manufactures more than 500 heavy haulage trailers annually.
In 2022, FWR decided to change its trailer components supplier to Fuwa K Hitch. Arron already had a well-established rapport with Fuwa K Hitch Assistant Manager, Dean Love, who he met six years prior when he started building trailers in 2016. This ultimately helped close the deal.
“Dean has always been contactable, has great product knowledge and he communicates well,” Arron says.
Halfway through 2022, Arron asked Dean to start supplying FWR with Fuwa K Hitch products.
“We went through the process of working out exactly what Arron’s requirements were, which were fairly detailed,” Dean says. “We worked together for four to five months to get him to change over to the Fuwa K Hitch product.
“He works really well with us like that. He gives a lot of forward notice of what’s going on. He’s a good person to deal with, and all the staff at FWR are. It makes our lives so much easier when you get clients like him.”
FWR now fits over 35 Fuwa K Hitch products as standard on its trailers. These include axles, spring suspension systems in both overslung and underslung configurations, Weweler airbag suspension systems and 15”, 19.5” and 20” drum brake axles.
“The Fuwa K Hitch product performs well on our trailer range,” Arron says. “We have been using the Fuwa K Hitch product for a little over 12 months now and we haven’t experienced a single issue with it so far. We have built nearly 400 trailers this past year, so we’ve used in the vicinity of 1,200 axles and suspensions from Fuwa K Hitch. This will increase significantly over the coming months and into the foreseeable future.”
Image: Fuwa K Hitch.Dean’s availability and commitment to delivering exceptional customer service played a major role in establishing the business partnership. Arron says it all came down to Fuwa K Hitch’s position in the market and its ability to keep up with supply demand – which was evident in his early dealings with Dean.
“FWR has become a highly sought after product and a blue-chip brand, and we want to deal with other blue-chip brands,” he says. “With Fuwa being one of the largest axle manufacturers in the world, we feel that it was a good fit for our brand and product.”
For Arron, the transition to Fuwa K Hitch was a very smooth process. He had the backing of Dean and Fuwa K Hitch who would follow up on orders and stock forecasts on a regular basis.
“Fuwa K Hitch were forecasting that we needed 100 axles a month, so we started the process early and they were able to cover the shortfall from other branches,” he says. “Nothing really seemed to be a problem. We gave them about three months’ notice that we were going to change which allowed them to order components and increase their volumes. They kept us well informed through the onboarding process.”
Reflecting on FWR’s performance over the past year, Arron says joining forces with Fuwa K Hitch has boosted its success.
“The reliability of their product, the servicing on it, and the fact that the product is available from any spare part agent around the country benefits us,” he says. “You can go to the middle of the country and the mechanic there is familiar with Fuwa K Hitch and knows how to work on it. It’s a brand that is well known and that people like.”
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