Quarry master – Unique IVECO S-Way starts work at Transwest WA

In-depth

1 Oct

Ask most 15-year-olds what they’d like to do when they grow up and you’re likely to get a shrug of the shoulders accompanied by “dunno”. Not Transwest WA owner, Steve Andrijich, who always wanted to be a truck driver – today he has a quarry and a fleet of seven IVECO trucks, including a unique S-Way AS 8x4 tipper.

Given 15 was too young to get a truck licence, Steve opted for the next best thing, working on trucks, and so began a diesel mechanic apprenticeship at prominent WA IVECO dealership, Skipper Trucks (now AV Truck Services).

Over his 18 years with the dealership, Steve worked across three site locations in roles including technician, service advisor and manager, workshop manager and ultimately in sales. Then an opportunity arose to transition into the quarrying industry in his home town of Toodyay, saving him considerable commuting time each day to Perth.

Around six years ago when his boss retired, Steve bought the business and inherited the company’s fleet of IVECO tippers, and subsequently added to these with some of his own. The most recent is an S-Way AS 8x4 Tipper which features a 550hp / 2500Nm Euro6 (Step E) engine, matched to a 16-speed Hi-Tronix Automated Manual Transmission.

In purchasing the S-Way, Steve was particular in what he wanted, especially in terms of payload, so together with AV Trucks and IVECO Australia engineers, had the vehicle rerated from its original 70t GCM to 75.5t through a special application approval.

“Given my long history with IVECO I was very familiar with the brand from a mechanical standpoint but also as an owner and they perform well, so when the time came to add another to the fleet my heart was set on the S-Way,” Steve said.

“I’m also pleased at the support that AV Trucks and IVECO gave me in modifying the truck to reach the 75.5t GCM which allows me the 53t payload that I wanted for this application. So far, the S-Way is performing really well and I now have a second truck on order in this same specification.”

Fitted with a rounded or ‘U-shaped’ lightweight steel tipping body and six axle dog trailer from Westside Body Builders, the combination provides a generous payload for Transwest WA to transport a range of aggregates from its quarry to commercial and government clients for construction and civil works projects. With their rounded base, the tipping bodies are manufactured using thinner gauge steel and use fewer stiffeners leading to tare weight reductions, while the shape also works with gravity to improve load discharge.

Now on fleet for several months, Steve said that the new S-Way’s designated driver, Bruce Walling, is delighted with the upgrade.

**Transwest WA owner, Steve Andrijich (L), with driver, Bruce Walling.**

“Bruce has spent decades as a driver and over that time has had other European brands as well as North American products and more recently a Stralis; having now had time in the S-Way he would never go back to one of the others,” Steve said.

“The truck has all the bells and whistles. Bruce talks about how comfortable and quiet it is, how seamlessly the power comes on and he’s amazed by the retarder which does an amazing job of pulling the truck up when going down hills fully loaded.

“He’s also impressed with all of the truck’s safety equipment such as Advanced Emergency Braking and Adaptive Cruise Control and Lane Departure Warning – it’s a big advancement over his older Stralis.”

Although the new S-Way is still well and truly within the engine run in phase, Steve said fuel use was already lower than for the Stralis models, which were well regarded for their efficiency.

Transwest WA’s new S-Way is covered by a standard 3 year / 750,000-kilometre warranty with optional packaged of up to 5 years / 1,000,000-kilometre also available.

The S-Way range also comes with the complementary ‘EasyRoad’ maintenance program, covering scheduled user manual maintenance for 12 months or 150,000 kilometres or 3,000 engine hours, whichever comes first.

The company’s fleet is maintained by Steve’s son, Anthony, who is a qualified heavy diesel mechanic, having undertaken an apprentice with his father. Additional maintenance support is provided by AV Trucks as required.