Fonterra's high tech tankers now high-vis too
Monday 13 December 2010, 8:24AM
By Fonterra
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They’re high tech. Now they’re high-vis too. By April 2011, Fonterra’s entire fleet of 480 milk tankers will be decked out in the truck equivalent of ‘high-vis’ vests, making New Zealand roads safer.
Fonterra’s Managing Director of Trade and Operations, Gary Romano says the first units featuring the high visibility makeover will hit the road next week on 1 December.
“Our tankers are the embodiment of Kiwi ingenuity with state of the art kit to schedule and monitor tanker runs and test milk quality. Now this ingenuity is matched by the design of the tankers which has pushed the boundaries of design technology to create a tanker that will both reflect in the dark and stand out during the day,” Mr Romano says.
Each tanker and trailer is covered with moon and star graphics, including the Southern Cross, visible to other road users at night for up to 300 metres. By day, the moon changes to a sun, the stars go out and the scene changes to blue skies and green pastures.
The design conveys in images that Fonterra is a truly day/night 24-hour operation, bringing dairy’s benefits to the world with a fleet that travels a total of 81 million kilometres every year.
“Our tankers are the part of our operations that the public see most often, so we saw a real opportunity to connect with our New Zealander communities through graphics which not only meet our drivers’ priority for a strong safety message, but also inspire pride in the natural origins of Fonterra’s milk.”
“It’s been a real team effort. Our drivers were consulted from the start because they’re the ones out there, 24 hours a day in all weathers, driving these advanced machines. Feedback from drivers has been very positive. Some were sceptical at first, but when they saw the trial tanker at night for the first time, they were convinced it was another step towards being more visible and safer on the roads. It’s the equivalent of driving a high-vis vest,” says Mr Romano.
“We’ve been concerned about the number of accidents where other road users are colliding with our tankers. Stainless steel isn’t reflective. It absorbs light from the headlights of oncoming cars, making the trailers more difficult to see, so again, the drivers wanted much more visibility along the full length of the vehicle. We’ve delivered end-to-end graphics and they’re very proud of the result.”
Fonterra has been active in promoting safety on the roads with ongoing defensive driving training for its drivers and its donation of over 5,000 high vis safety vests and 2,200 bicycle helmets to children in schools near its manufacturing sites across New Zealand. Another 5,000 vests will be donated in early 2011.
The day/night concept was created by Auckland based Brand Strategy & Communications agency, Origami, and its application to Fonterra’s tankers was a technical first for Hamilton-based visual imaging company Admark and was the largest order so far in the Southern Hemisphere for this kind of 3M film.
Extensive design testing included night and day visibility tests and consultations on safety with the NZ Police Commercial Vehicle Inspection Unit (CVIU) and New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA), who have approved the night visibility qualities of the new design.