Supplied by dealer City West Commercials, the 6x4 Arocs 2636B is fitted with a 6m3 drum by McPhee Mixers, of Glasgow, and a French-built Theam telescopic conveyor.
The radio remote-controlled hydraulic conveyor can be deployed in any direction within a 180-degree radius of the rear of the truck, and used to carry wet concrete over a distance up to 12 metres. It also has a 360-degree rotating chute for precise product placement. When not in use, the conveyor is folded and the end stowed in a cradle alongside the mixer.
The 26-tonne Arocs has a ClassicSpace S-cab and straight-six engine, delivering 354bhp via a PowerShift automated gearbox. A replacement for the company’s previous mixer-conveyor, it has joined a mixed-marque fleet of 70 trucks of various sizes.
Ross Facey, Maen Karne’s operations director, says: “There are a lot of narrow lanes and tucked-away farms in this part of the world, and the conveyor system gives us the operational flexibility we need.”
He explains: “In the past, we’ve run conveyors through doorways and down the sides of houses – the only alternative in such cases would have been a team of men and wheelbarrows, but when you have 11 tonnes of curing concrete and the clock is ticking that’s not ideal.
“We use the conveyor system because it’s what customers need down here, and this smart new truck is certainly going to be kept very busy.”
The compact size of the Arocs was another factor in the vehicle’s selection, says Facey.
“The Arocs offers the proven reliability and durability we’ve come to expect from Mercedes-Benz, and is a touch narrower than some of its competitors, which is helpful given the nature of the work.
“Its highly competitive body and payload allowance was another factor... We were keen to offset the reduction in payload that the conveyor inevitably causes by mounting the body on the lightest possible chassis.”