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Growing our Fleet to meet customer demand

By 3rd June 2024High Peak Steels News
High Peak Steels' new delivery fleet

High Peak Steels invest in new Scania fleet as part of growth strategy

We have invested £1 million in a new fleet of specialist delivery wagons as part of our growth strategy.

Seven Scania P280 Rigid Drop Side wagons have been commissioned and delivered, with new livery bringing the total fleet to 11.

High Peak Steels, as an independent specialist steel stockholder and supplier, serve a range of specialist engineering steel businesses in a number of manufacturing sectors, including Automotive, Aerospace and Renewables.

Managing Director Mark Thornley says: “We’re delighted to take delivery of our new vehicles, which will help us to continue to meet our service level of 98% of orders delivered on time and in full. This is an excellent standard which our competitors are unable to reach. Growing our own fleet means that we can respond flexibly and fully to our customers’ needs.”

Why Scania Wagons?

Choosing Scania was not the cheapest option, however when looking at reliability, longevity and employee conditions the Scania’s were simply the most logical choice. We’ve run our own fleet of wagons for around 20 years. With our dedication to on time and in full service, we know only too well the disruption a break down can cause to customers and our logistics team, not forgetting the wagon driver as well. So this was central to our decision as we looked at long term reliability. Of course for the drivers a premium cab is a major bonus; after al we all want the best tools for the job!

Scania logo

The investment in new vehicles are part of an ongoing programme of capital, estate and material investment at High Peak Steels. The firm has recently invested in an additional 20,000 square feet of warehousing, enabling them to offer more storage and availability of engineering steels.

Mark Thornley comments: “We’re facing increasing demands for tonnage. Many of our customers work on a ‘just in time’ basis for their supply chain, so we need to carry sufficient specialist steel stock to meet a range of demand from our broad client base. Our increased warehouse capacity means that we can carry an increased depth of stock, and draw this down for specialist cutting and dispatch. We can also respond quickly to our customers’ demands for a reliable flow of high quality engineering specialist steels.”

The firm has also invested in their warehouse management systems. Mark says: “We reviewed our existing warehousing and have systematically re-arranged our racking systems, as well as our cutting facilities to fully optimise our storage volumes and despatch times.

“We have successful improved our capacity and handling capabilities, and now, with our new fleet, we can continue to grow the rate at which we can deliver specialist steels to our broad range of customers.

“High Peak Steels enjoys long term relationships with our clients. Our new fleet and warehousing strategy are further examples of our continued investment in diverse specialist steel stockholding and strong service performance.

The Scania P280 - More details on the spec. for those who are interested

This engine set up is ideal for High Peak steels, with our heavy payload of engineering steels; the wagons are capable of carrying c10 Tonnes. Impressive economy is also a great improvement, vital in these days when fuel and the environment are major considerations.
For those interested in the wagon technical stuff, here a little more.
Scania P28 is a ‘9 litre’ vertical five cylinder in-line turbocharged intercooled direct injection diesel. High rpm are not required because the displacement provides generous torque—775 lb-ft (1050 Newton) at 1000 to 1 500 rpm.
With Scania XPI. ‘280’ Type: DC9-38 Swept Volume: 9.3 litres Bore: 130 mm Stroke: 140 mm Compression Ratio: 17:1 *Max. Power: 206kW (280 h.p.) at 1900 rev/min *Max. Torque: 1400 Nm (1033 Ibf.ft) between 1000 and 1350 rev/min Engine Management System:

EMS incorporating Cruise Control and speed limiter Emission Control: Scania EGR Cooling: Water cooled with rubber mounted 2 row radiator and electronically regulated fan

Ventilated disc brakes on all axles. Dual circuit, full air, EC brake system incorporating Category 1 ABS and Traction Control.
Lineup of 6 new Scania P280 wagons