In the glowing eyes of a girl who go abroad for the first time in her life, Germany is more than a leading country in the mechanical industry in a European country. Last week, in Logistic and Supply chain session, I knew more about a truck and the distinction between the full load truck and less load truck, it prompts me about a type of vehicle transportation which was very excited for the first days in Bavarian. Therefore, in this blog, I want to appreciate how smart of engineering who created the truck.
From my point of view, heavy goods vehicle with steel cover looks like giants on the avenue. Enormous and powerful are adjective I use in order to describe this transportation. Sometimes, a truck pass, I curious about products inside its container. How much it cost? A few cents per unit or it can be reached to a thousand per unit? How far and how long to deliver it from the factory? How have they organized the items, is it messy with plenty of space inside or is it so logical? Or even anybody has to sleep inside to take care of because it seems to be fit with 5 comfortable single beds. No one can know exactly answers my questions, honestly. I said no one, it means no-bo-dy, for instance, the cost only knows by a person who estimates the value of each product. Otherwise, the distance only determines by the driver due to we all know that from A to B we always have more than one way so he might be saving a little money for fuel because of a shortcut. Assuming that the products are arranged perfectly to ultimate space, which might depend on an IT guy who writes a program for a robot just do everything so automatically. In conclusion, the Giants keep many “secret” inside and nobody for all the real answers.
Mercedes is one of the most reputable car brands and the safety is the highest priory in all over the world. The product line which attractive me named “Mercedes Benz Actros” – the new benchmark for long-distance transport. The dimension of the truck length (Wheelbase part) x width x height is about 6 x 2.5 x 3.5m and the length truck-trailer can be from 13,6 – 21,42m (Data based on Article Workshop on LHVs, Stefan Larsson Director, Regulatory Projects, June 24, 2009, Brussels). So that easy to visualize, a common 5 seat car has length approximate 4-5m, so when we put the Mercedes Benz Actros with trailers can equal the length of 3-5 cars. The capacity weight can be from 45 – 60 tons (depends on the type of the truck)
Understanding the oversize of the truck, the German engineers divide into 2 parts such as tractor and trailer, it’s an effective way to save space. The truck move without the trailer it looks like a joke for me, really entertaining. Because when I look straight to the head, its 2.5times higher than a normal car, however, the length is similar with a small “tail” 😀 I think about what can be rescued from that kind of pretty smart truck, and there are my finds:
- The worn out of wheels, when the truck move only with a tractor, it needs 4 instead of weight and the pressure is lighter
- Operating cost and transporting cost for logistic
- Ultimate space, more personal or public transport on the road
Overview, this is a very clever innovation for a truck. And the last thing interested me, they actually have a truck race in EU in order to prove the strength, the speed and the safe for each type of trucks.
The blog of Logistics at MGEPS at UPV 