Company Profile Steelbro

The original Steel Bros. premises in Christchurch.

RICH HISTORY STILL IN THE MAKING

This year will be Christchurch-headquartered trailer manufacturer Steelbro’s 143rd anniversary. We popped in to check out the latest premises in Wigram, reminisce over past achievements and learn about the company’s focus in 2021.

” The company owners and staff take great pride in the history and achievements of Steelbro over the last 143 years,” says marketing projects manager Joy Taylor. “Many people (past and present) have contributed to the Steelbro success, and it is a privilege to be part of that family.

“Our history gives Steelbro an excellent foundation in design and innovation, and these elements are at the core of all Steelbro products. It has been vital in Steelbro building a credible, world-leading sidelifter brand. There have been many challenges over the last 140-plus years, but we have responded, adapted and thrived.”

Brothers Joseph and David Steel started Steel Bros. Coach Factory in Christchurch, putting up £5 each. They were not the only builders in the city fabricating horse-drawn wagons, coaches, gigs and drays but a great reputation for quality and reliable carriage builds saw them flourish, growing to 22 staff less than two decades later.

In 1890 Steel Bros. (as it was then known), took its first tentative step into producing motor carriages. By 1930, the company was in full swing, designing and building motor bodies. During the war years, it produced grenade castings, concrete mixers, landing craft and dummy aircraft. The company became New Zealand’s leading motor-body building and engineering company in the 1950s and 1960s, later introducing the Hiab truck-mounted crane into New Zealand. As well as building truck bodies, by the 1970s, Steel Bros. was also assembling Toyotas and even building Lotus sports cars.

The 1980s saw the winddown of Steelbro’s vehicle assembly and motor body building business. Steelbro (as the company was now known), decided to concentrate on developing the concept of container transportation, and the revolutionary Sidelifter was born.

There have been numerous major milestones for the company since its inception. But standout moments in the past 50 years include global expansion, with initial exports to the Pacific Islands, Australia and United States in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Development and specialisation of sidelifters in the 1990s saw the list of export countries grow to more than 110 worldwide. Steelbro now has overseas offices in Perth (owners), Queensland (service), Malaysia and China and a network of distributors across the globe. It has about 215 employees (15 in New Zealand), a number that is expected to grow steadily in years to come.

Steelbro was purchased by Howard Porter PTY in 2015 and this marked another important moment in its history, providing significant investment and what Taylor terms “excellent synergy”,

due to the companies’ similar backgrounds. “It allowed for a renewed focus and investment in research and development. It also brought new partnerships and manufacturing options online, all of which created continued growth,” she explains.

The origins of Western Australian-based Howard Porter were like Steelbro’s, a family-based pioneering coachbuilder in Australia, with origins dating back to 1936. Today it is a manufacturer of road transport equipment with a strong focus on innovation and quality products. Since acquiring the Steelbro business, Howard Porter has provided substantial investment in quality manufacturing, innovation and market development.

Things have come a long way since the early days of horse-drawn wagons, coaches, gigs and drays. “The business today continues to focus on innovation to produce Sidelifters that fit our customers’ needs and aid them to increase productivity,” says Taylor.

Christchurch is not only the headquarters of Steelbro but is also the design and engineering hub; guiding the company’s global workshops and facilities with proven designs that are developed and tested here in New Zealand. To this end, Steelbro offers full lifecycle support with technical support, spare parts, and servicing available throughout the product’s lifecycle.

“Steelbro has firm roots in Christchurch but is internationally focused and always looking for opportunities for growth. It’s important to be innovative and search for new avenues for growth – we have products being sold and used all over the globe,” says Taylor.

As technology has improved, Steelbro has worked to stay a step ahead and help operators remain competitive. The design team (based in Christchurch) is always ramping things up on the research and development side – the Rail Underbelly Leg and SBS303 Sidelifter are prime examples of its focus on innovation.

The Steelbro Rail Underbelly Leg is an optional stabiliser for the SB450 45-tonne lifting capacity Sidelifter. It is designed to lift heavy

An early semi-trailer.

containers to and from rail wagons, where lifting access may be restricted. The Rail Underbelly Leg provides increased stabiliser outreach under the rail wagon. This increases the stability of the Sidelifter when lifting heavier containers to and from the wagon.

The SB303 30-tonne liftingcapacity Sidelifter is the latest release from the New Zealand-based engineering and design team at Steelbro; a fast, light Sidelifter for use within an urban environment to deliver and pick up both 20- and 40-foot containers. Research and development manager Richard Brown says this inline crane design is light, with tare weights starting from just seven tonnes. It provides the user with fast movement of containers from trailer to ground and ground to trailer thanks to its ability to quickly deploy and stow stabilisers.

The key to increased speed is the new Steelbro HYDRAlift hydraulic system. This technology (which is the result of a fundamental rethink of Sidelifter control), combined with the latest in hydraulic piston pump technology, provides the Sidelifter with multi-function operation via proportional joystick control – enabling precision control throughout the lift. This functionality ensures containers can be delivered safely at speed.

In the past three years, Steelbro has invested in retooling and improvements to its China manufacturing facility along with workshop facilities in Christchurch, Queensland and Malaysia.

The company has had several different New Zealand workshops over the years in different areas of Christchurch, including Lincoln Road, Treffers Road, Wrights Road

Lowbed trailers ready for delivery.

and Dakota Crescent. Its latest move to Dakota Crescent in April this year effectively doubled its workshop floor space, with the capacity to build and repair truck trailers alongside research and development projects.

Of its 12- to 45-tonne capacity Sidelifters, the most popular model globally is the SB450 with its large lifting capacity and heavyduty chassis. It is popular in many overseas markets. “The most popular model in New Zealand is 36-tonne SB363 which offers flexibility and functionality whilst optimising payload for customers,” Taylor says.

With a team of five talented engineers on-site in Christchurch, design and development have always been the key to Steelbro’s success. “Investment in research and design means that our products evolve and continually improve to meet and exceed customer expectations,” Taylor says.

“Our head engineering team in Christchurch collaborates and guides the Steelbro/ Howard Porter engineering teams in Perth and China, and also works closely with our product development teams to ensure successful technology transfer,” she says.

The many challenges transport operators face in 2021 are considerable and multi-faceted, but Steelbro is as committed as ever to helping provide practical, efficient and cost-effective solutions.

“Efficiency and increased competition in the transport market mean customers want to maximise payload and hence returns, and this is what drives demand for a durable and weight-optimised unit,” Taylor says.

“A sidelifter decreases operating costs by its ability to deliver a container without extra equipment or infrastructure by the driver of the truck, and only the container is left behind, not the trailer, so equipment can be fully utilised.

“Safe operation is top of mind for most customers, and the Steelbro SMARTlift load-monitoring system delivers a safer, smarter sidelifter. Steelbro Smartlift was first introduced more than 15 years ago and with continual development and improvement, it is still the easiest and best control system for our Australasian markets.

“With software and sensors, SMARTlift monitors and controls sidelifter lifting operations every 50 milliseconds; it predicts and prevents unstable situations and has onboard diagnostics for easier fault-finding.”

SMARTlift can also provide container weighing as part of a normal lift cycle.

Steelbro’s increased support and servicing assure customers that they have the backup they require, and Taylor says that minimising disruption to its operations is top of mind.

A lot has happened in 143 years of operation, but the driving principles of quality, innovation and customeroriented service remain.

Clockwise from top: Business development manager Greg Bailey and marketing projects manager Joy Taylor; Product support fabricator Dan Bourgeois on the tools; Product support specialist Johnny A’Court on top of a new build; The new premises in Wigram.