longer. Finish is important to the
customer for marketing, while
we’ve found mechanics take
more care of a unit if it looks better,” Tremblay said.
This toughness results in a
longer product life plus less
maintenance: Whereas before
the body would last eight years
and the chassis 12, now LEG expects them to be equal. “
Competitors have heavier trucks,
which use more fuel,” he said.
“Ours have the same weight and
so the same consumption making
the fuel-ton ratio much better.”
“If an operator’s fuel efficient
and hauling legally, our customers will see a 10% fuel reduction, plus the payback time is
shorter,” Bourgeois said. “So while
the price has a premium, it’s not
10% more than our other models.
And there’ll be a spillover into our
other products; 30% of LEG side-loaders now use Hardox.”
The development led to a significant recognition: the Swedish
Steel Prize. Stockholm’s China
Theatre was the setting for a
seminar with “Passion” as its
theme for the speakers and the
stage to reveal this year’s SSP
winner. More than 500 delegates
from 27 countries gathered to see
which of the four chosen nominees from Italy, Spain and Sweden, in addition to Labrie, had
lived up to the jury’s criteria best
in finding innovative uses for
this specialty ferrous metal
group. The winner: Labrie.
Founded in 1999 and sponsored by SSAB (but open to all
producers), the Swedish Steel
Prize aims to promote high
strength steel usage that succeeds in helping customers with
lighter, stronger and more environmental products. LEG’s entered the Wittke Starlight, which
the jury (made up of nine academics and experts) cited “had
put to most evident use the
breadth and opportunities offered by high strength steels, due
to the precise optimization of all
parts of the vehicle that are
mainly made from HSS sheet.”
“As energy savings grow in
global importance, Labrie has
demonstrated that these can be
achieved,” commented Martin
Linqvist, SSAB’S executive vice
president and chairman of the
SSP jury. “Benefit to the user
was clearly the guiding light for
the winner, who applied a holistic design approach.”
Launched in 2007, Starlight
sales have tripled since as it has
proved a big hit in both Canada
and especially the United States,
where 70% of output goes. The
company has tripled sales and
more than doubled in size since
2004, hiring another 175 workers. It has invested heavily in the
American market, establishing
distributorships and a customer
support and parts center in
Oshkosh, Wis.
“We’re gaining market share,
becoming a major player and
technology leader as well as
changing from a Canadian to a
North American company,” Bourgeois said. “It’s such a huge market, and we confidently expect to
grow 100% again in the next
three years. Winning the
Swedish Steel Prize can only help
us to exploit our full potential.”
Later at the evening gala dinner at the ostentatious Berns Sa-longer, Bourgeois and Tremblay,
trophy in hand, invited one of the
day’s presenters, Nepalese social
entrepreneur Björn Söderlind, to
join them on stage and gave him
the winning check for $15,000
U.S. to assist in helping poor locals get an education and employment. So there were two winners
in two countries in the end. ■
panded its medium duty truck
line with the Model 337 designed for pickup and delivery,
beverage and food service vocations. An overall increase of 17%
side window visibility and improved forward visibility provides advantages for drivers operating in congested urban
environments. The all aluminum
See New, Page 40
Send comments about this story to edi-torial@wastenews.com.
*****
Peterbilt Motors Co.’s Model 337
medium duty truck features an all
aluminum cab that is lightweight
and corrosion resistant, according
to the company.
PETERBILT MOTORS CO. has ex-
