William Gilder is targeting reduced operating costs and increased uptime across its fleet of terminal tractors, following a move to fitting Michelin's X-Terminal T tyres – a dedicated industrial tyre designed for shunting applications.
The Cheltenham-based transport hire specialist, which operates a 76-strong truck and machinery hire fleet, including 51 Terberg and MOL tugs, began trialling the Michelin tyres in August 2010.
One year on, and Melvyn Evans, operations manager at William Gilder, is rolling-out Michelin tyres to all tugs where tyre replacement is the company's own responsibility and not the hire customer's – which accounts for 60% of the fleet.
"These are typically low mileage applications, with significant slow speed manoeuvring, so remould tyres have always been our preference," explains Evans.
"We hadn't imagined what a difference fitting a dedicated industrial tyre could make. The trial has vastly exceeded our expectations."
The trial saw Michelin tyres fitted to two Terberg YT182 terminal tractors, and compared against the company's previous non-Michelin remould tyres on a third identical tug.
They were exposed to the concrete terrain at one customer's site in Grays, Essex, and to an extremely abrasive hard surface at a second site in Enfield, Greater London.
