Man Enough for the Job: Concrete Work

The first of their 20 concrete trucks leaves the depot at 4 am and the temperature is already climbing. It will take an hour for them to reach the four story building site across town. This is when men and material need to be on site so the work can start immediately because with a time ‘window’ of only two hours before concrete starts to set, reliable vehicles are essential to Camfaud, Britain’s largest, privately-owned pumping company.

Also on its way to the site is the 60-tonne, six-axled Mercedes Actros 6560 flagship carrying a giant high performance pump capable of placing 160 cubic metres of concrete an hour through its 66 metre boom. If anything goes wrong with this, hundreds of tons of concrete would have to be disposed of – a real financial loss.

As well as the 60 tonner Camfaud’s five service vans are all Vitos. Three are long bodied 113CDIs – the other two vans are 111CDIs from the previous model range. On the inside they are all outfitted with the necessary equipment to keep pumps and trucks on the road and on time. The outside is specified with additional rear lighting, the back doors are finished with high visibility marking strips that meet Chapter 8 Highways Maintenance rules. In addition they are also fitted with a vehicle tracking system that allows the company to keep its customers updated on arrival times.

When asked why Camfaud had choosen Mercedes the Director Peter Faud said: “Ours is a time-critical business so we need equipment that won’t let us down. We choose Mercedes-Benz truck chassis because they have proved over time to be man enough for the job, and the same is true of our vans.”

In the meantime the Actros with its German made ‘Putzmeister’ pump has arrived at the site and truck after truck is unloaded, shuttering walls raised by the site’s three cranes move gracefully through the air, men direct the pump into the reinforced forms, the site is a hive of activity. At 2 pm the work is finished: the entire fourth floor is complete.
Today everything when smoothly, but who knows what tomorrow will bring. Peter Faud continued: “The Vito is outstandingly reliable, which is critical given the service commitments that we give to our customers.”