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Kenworth’s instant classic
P
ERHAPS NO OTHER NEW TRUCK has been more talked about over the last twelve months than the Kenworth T610. Launched in December 2016 at the Kenworth manufacturing plant in Bayswater, Victoria, the truck has met with widespread acclaim and driver satisfaction. It was always Kenworth’s intention the T610 would be here for the long-haul, both in terms of road kilometres and years spent in service. You’d want it to be, too, at $20 million it’s the biggest single investment in product development ever made by the company in Australia. The end result is a product that looks set to stand the test of time. As Kenworth Australia engineering project manager Ross Cureton puts it, “The leap this truck has taken over anything we’ve ever done is pretty remarkable. What I look forward to is seeing them on the road twenty years from now.” What is less known is the quite remarkable process of design, development and testing Kenworth Australia went through to get the truck to market.
The conception phase The T610’s story begins back in 2009 when PACCAR Inc., Kenworth’s American parent company, made its biggest ever research and development investment. Split between Kenworth and Peterbilt, US$400 million was spent on developing a new model, which led ultimately to the Kenworth T680 and the Peterbilt 579 in the United States. None of this went unnoticed by Kenworth Australia, who decided to put two engineers on the ground in Seattle to work in parallel with the US program to develop an Australian variant that could be designed alongside the American model. Development and testing was done in collaboration with the Australian engineering team, leveraging PACCAR’s global product development strength. Everything from powertrain and chassis, cab exterior and interior, aerodynamics, air systems and electrical systems were refined for Australian conditions. The high ambient temperatures and rough, dusty roads meant one thing was certain: this truck would need to be durable.
Development begins Certain technical challenges had to be overcome from the outset. The cab was brought forward 300mm to allow for its desired larger size and for it to meet Australia’s BBC length laws, which differ significantly from the US. This brought significant design challenges
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to be overcome in relation to engine packaging and heat management. Brad May, PACCAR Australia Director Sales and Marketing, says, “We had to make that cab right for the Australian market with respect to overall length laws, power and performance to deal with higher combination weights, and really give our customers the right truck for their work.”
Testing the mettle To understand exactly what the new truck would need to withstand on the road Kenworth rigged up a T650 belonging to Frasers Livestock Transport in Queensland with sensors and instruments to measure the impact outback roads had on the truck. The information gathered from this test regime went on to become the guide for the durability standard of the new truck. A prototype T610 was then built and subjected to repeated rounds on the “cab shaker”, a simulator designed to give an accurate representation of the stresses a truck would be subjected to after hundreds of
“The leap this truck has taken over anything we’ve ever done is pretty remarkable” thousands of road kilometres. Despite being subjected to the worst Australian conditions would have to offer, during three 60-day simulated cycles, the T610 passed with flying colours. Kenworth now knew for a fact they had the most durable cab they had ever built in Australia. During the product development phase Kenworth invited long-time customers to come in and act as advisors. It’s something the company has a proud history of doing, according to May. “We’ve got very loyal customers and we continually call upon those people to be advisors for our product development program. It’s something we’ve done for a long time.” Kenworth also made use of advances in computer technology and took their testing into the virtual world. Computer modelling was used to hone
aerodynamic performance, simulating airflow over the front of the truck. It was a way to validate everything that had been designed before the actual truck was built. Then came real world road driving, done by Kenworth customers in ten specially built prototype trucks. Next came a rigorous testing regime of all areas of the truck; from brake to noise to cab safety to cooling. Again, the focus was on Australian conditions. A cooling package with enough reserve to cope with Australia’s oppressive outback heat was needed. Special attention was paid to dust and noise penetration, with triple sealed doors and door apertures used. Three years were spent refining the dashboard and instrument panel. All up 10 million kilometres of testing and validation was done, to go with the 100,000 design hours, all to ensure the 600Hp truck was fit for purpose in every conceivable way. It was in the cab though where special attention was given.
End result – the ultimate workplace “The one common element is the driver,” says Cureton. “They’re central to the whole thing and want to optimise their experience.” Kenworth settled on a cab not only larger than anything else that came before it, but more sympathetic to the needs of the driver. The 2.1 metre wide aluminium cab is available as a day cab or with an 860mm sleeper cab. It features a larger gap between the front seats that gives easier access to the sleeper. Incredibly, the sleeper can accommodate a 6’4” tall driver standing up. Back in the driver’s seat the footwell is 30 per cent larger and the controls are grouped logically and within easy reach. Essential information such as fuel consumption and braking performance is displayed in the centre of the dash. “The new driver’s environment will be the benchmark for Kenworth products,” says May. Looking at it another way, the T610 didn’t actually start in 2009, it started in 1975, when the first Australian designed and manufactured Kenworth, the W900SAR, rolled out of Bayswater. It was the beginning of a commitment to manufacturing Australian trucks for Australian conditions, right here in Australia. 40 years later it’s led to the remarkable T610. To understand where you’re going you need to know where you came from. It’s something Kenworth Australia understands only too well.
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