TECH KNOW
KEEPING FREIGHT
COOL IN BRISBANE
Tech Know visits the Carrier facility to see how the job of keeping freight cool in Brisbane is handled on a day-to-day basis.
H
ere in Australia, though we may not realise it, refrigerated units have to work in the harshest conditions they experience anywhere in the world. This means keeping the wheels of refrigerated distribution turning is one of those tasks that has to be done, and done well. Carrier Transicold is a part of the global Carrier organisation, which supplies HVAC, refrigeration, fire, security and building automation technologies all over the world. The company’s integrated network of support begins at the factory and ends with the end customer. Altogether, Carrier employs around 50 people around Australia, with many fulfilling maintenance roles in the company’s facilities. Tech Know visited the Carrier facility in Brisbane to see how the system works. Carrier’s customers in different states look for different kinds of services. Most Queensland customers prefer all
62
DIESEL September-October 2020
maintenance work to be done on their own site, while Victorian customers prefer to drop a trailer of rigid into the Carrier workshop for repair. The Sydney operation has an even spread of customers across both preferences. The Melbourne operation is one of the largest, as this is also where brand new units destined for the Victoria-based trailer manufacturers are stored. The Sydney operation is the main location for parts warehousing, with the city only an overnight delivery away from most of the Carrier locations around the country. Carrier’s technicians need to know how to handle all of the latest technology, while also at times working on units as old as 20 years or more. As we know, all levels of technology have moved forward dramatically over this period, but the technicians need to be ready for any kind of problem. The skilled Carrier technicians have access to the global Carrier network with
the latest diagnostic tools, software updates and factory service bulletins, with the Field Service system giving them instant access to unit history and fleet data as well as manuals and any technical resources required. Using iPhones as their interface, they can also supply the data specific to the fridge on which they are working, including service history and any faults which have been detected. The system also handles job allocation and keeps the managers and customers up to date on job progress. Some refrigeration units may only get any attention when there is a problem, while, at the other end of the scale, some may well get serviced more than necessary to enable the maintenance intervals to tie into the maintenance needs of the trailer to which they are fitted. From Carrier’s point of view, normal maintenance is needed every 3000 hours or 24 months, whichever comes around first. Preventative maintenance is the name of the game with these refrigerated units. In
