According to Mack: “You’re not in business to own trucks. You’re in business to profit from them. If you have too much truck for the job, it’s hard to make money. If you have too little truck, it’s even harder to make money. At Mack, we manufacture as much truck as it takes to get the job done right. Which tells you we’re not so much in the business of making trucks as we’re in the business of helping you succeed. Or to put it another way, the business of customer satisfaction.”
Here are two customer success stories that highlight Mack’s mission.
A & A READY MIXED CONCRETE
When contractors want innovation, they call on A & A Ready Mixed Concrete. When A & A wants innovation, the company calls on Mack Trucks.
“A & A tries to be a visionary in the placement of concrete and the concrete industry,” says Mike Cook, fleet/purchasing manager for the Newport Beach, California, firm.
That’s an understatement.
A & A and its related companies have embraced innovation from day one. When Andre P. Caillier founded the company in 1949, he started with 40 trucks and two batch plants. Today his sons, Kurt and Randy Caillier, own the largest family-owned supplier of ready-mix concrete in California. A & A operates 28 plants, employs 500 people, and is responsible for 1,000 vehicles. It works on some of the biggest projects in the state, including the $2.4 billion Alameda Corridor rail line, the largest high-rise in Los Angeles, and airport expansions in San Francisco and Oakland.
“We have a hard-working group of people and a lot of support from the owners,” Cook says, citing hundreds of consecutive successful inspections by the California Highway Patrol as evidence of that support. “We have inspection teams that go to all locations, conduct inspections, and help our on-site mechanics fix trucks. Our plant and maintenance managers all work together as a team to help achieve a common goal of having well-trained drivers and safe, reliable equipment.”
That led A & A to purchase trucks from TEC of California at La Mirada—originally the big, beefy R and RD models, and now Mack® Granite® models that hold up to years of punishment on and off road. Recently the company bought a fleet of 22 Mack Pinnacle™ models with EPA-2010-certified MP™ engines for the company’s sand and gravel operation. “Mack is the only truck that can last that long,” Cook says. But when California tightened its weight and emissions laws, the company needed another shot of innovation.
Enter the Mack Granite Medium Heavy Duty model. Built on the rugged Cornerstone™ chassis with lighter frame rail, engine and transmission options, the MHD weighs in at hundreds of pounds less than its bigger sibling. That appealed to A & A, which ran a MHD demo for several months with good results.
Cook is pleased with the performance. “It gets good fuel mileage. It’s a good fit for our company.” Drivers like it, too. “The MHD is quiet and smooth-riding, loaded and unloaded,” says Dennis Pyle, who started driving in 1984. “The cab is comfortable, visibility’s nice, steering’s good. I think it turns tighter than the competition. It looks good. The truck gets the job done.”
So does A & A.
LOCKE CRANE SERVICES
When a competitor couldn’t handle an oversized air dryer for the paper industry, the owner of Locke Crane Services got the call. And he called on the heavy-haul specialists—Mack Trucks, Inc.
At 17.5 feet high, 17 feet in diameter, and 150,000 pounds, the dryer proved too much for the competitor’s 50-ton-capacity trailer. But not for Ken Locke’s crew. His driver pulled up with a 10-axle, 100-ton trailer specially designed for hauling 220,000-pound transformers.
Eight hours later the driver delivered the load—thanks to Locke’s newest vehicle, a Titan by Mack with a Pedigree™ powertrain he bought from Bob Dow at McDevitt Trucks Inc. in Tewksbury, Massachusetts.
For competitors of the Raymond, New Hampshire, company, the event meant lost income. For Locke, it was just another day on the road. “With the Mack and the lowbed, it’s not much of a challenge.”
That’s because his Titan features a 605 hp Mack® MP10 engine, Mack T318LR21 transmission,20,000-pound-capacity front axle, and 46,000-pound-capacity tandem rear axles with a 20,000-pound-capacity steerable pusher axle. “It uses Mack 200-series carriers and the transmission has a lower low in forward and reverse gear, which allows us to gear the truck to run a little faster,” Dow says. “Even though it hauls super-heavy, Locke uses it every day. He might only be 90,000, 100,000 pounds, and he can do 65 mph and run at a comfortable rpm.”
The all-Mack powertrain means the Titan has earned a gold Bulldog® on its hood, as well as a reputation for taking on the heaviest loads. In addition to hauling dryers and transformers, Locke uses the rig to transport huge cranes and their massive counterweights. Each crane requires four counterweights at 100,000 pounds apiece. That not only requires a tough truck but a dedicated dealer.
“I’ve been using Mack for 40 years,” Locke says. “They’re good trucks. And they treat me good at McDevitt Mack. The other night one of my older trucks broke down and I needed it for the next day. McDevitt fixed it overnight. Their service is second to none. That’s why things are going good.”
And why Locke is sold on Titan. “It’s heavy-duty. It’s got tremendous horsepower. It pulls. Ain’t nothin’ like that thing.” ■
For More Information:
For more information about Mack trucks, visit www.macktrucks.com.
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Modern Contractor Solutions, August 2013
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