Eye of the Tiger
Transport Operator caught up with manufacturer Tiger Trailers
at its Cheshire headquarters
Trailer and rigid bodywork manufacturer Tiger, which celebrated its tenth anniversary in April, is increasingly making its presence felt in the sector.
Last year it was reported that the company’s output grew by 40 per cent in 2022, with turnover in excess of £90 million, and profits also up. On our recent visit to its 20- acre, £22 million manufacturing facility in Winsford, Cheshire – opened five years ago amidst rapid business growth – the firm told Transport Operator that it expects its good fortunes to continue.
The breadth of Tiger’s offering – which includes curtainsiders, box vans, moving double-deck trailers, bodywork for rigids, plus refrigerated vehicles – enables the company to adapt to shifts in demand from fleet operators, it contends.
Tiger Trailers managing director Ed Booth
It’s an approach that has seen Tiger perform strongly in recent years against a backdrop of some consolidation in the logistics sector, while some fleet operators have failed to survive in testing times exacerbated by Covid, international conflicts and supply chain disruptions.
“We’re in a fortunate space in that we can make lots of different products, and if we see the market depress in a certain area, we can switch to making others – and that’s enabled us to keep growing,” says managing director Ed Booth.
Growth has been especially marked in certain product segments, he says; by way of example, “when I arrived in 2021, we didn’t do much rigid product at all. This year, we’ll manufacture at least 500.”
Ed explains that 2022 was a tough year for the manufacturing sector due to high supply prices and component availability issues, limiting trailer makers’ ability to deliver full orders.
“When you’re doing well and you’re full, the last thing you want to do is stop your manufacturing facility. And we managed that quite well; but then in 2023 onwards, we’ve seen these issues ease a bit and supply become more readily available, so hopefully that continues.”
He describes Tiger as an automotive-style trailer builder; capital equipment is kept to a minimum, and most materials are brought in.
“We work with our partner suppliers to really get the best from the product we’re bringing in, and then we do what you’d call advanced assembly.
The range includes rigid bodies and double-deck trailers
“We pride ourselves on the customer experience and working with them on their products, visiting their site to understand their unique operations, and making sure they can get as much from the trailer as possible in terms of the load-fill, and in terms of lightweight materials so they’re not consuming as much fuel.”
While in some businesses a broad mix of products is perceived as a problem leading to factory inefficiencies, Tiger is able to translate customer experience into high-volume build relatively quickly, says Ed, highlighting the firm’s throughput capacity as a key strength of its offering.
“Looking at rigids, for example – if a blue chip company has a requirement for 200 vans, historically that was probably spread across six, seven, maybe even eight suppliers, because of the [limited] capacity of those suppliers.
“What we can say is, actually, you can have 200, and you can have 25 a week.”
The efficiency of the manufacturing process means 90 per cent plus of orders are delivered on time, which is not common in the trailer and rigid bodywork sector, he adds.
Though the company primarily manufactures trailers for end users, it also has a rentals division, which has the additional benefit of enabling it to demonstrate the quality of its approximately 1,000-strong trailer fleet to prospective purchasers.
Inside the Winsford manufacturing facility
While enabling operators to cover peak period requirements, particularly from Black Friday through to Christmas, the rental service can also be deployed to plug short-term gaps for customers awaiting build orders.
Meanwhile, a third business area, Tiger Finance, offers funding solutions on a lease or hire purchase basis for end users, with finance packages tailored to suit each customer, whatever their size.
Tiger employs around 260 people at its Winsford site; and Ed highlights a culture in which anyone can speak to anyone, and where salespeople, engineers, manufacturers and directors will collaborate in a process-driven approach, for example in product specification reviews.
95 per cent of sales are destined for British fleets, though the company has recently supplied to the US, and also sells into Europe – often to UK customers with continental operations.
A key area in which Tiger aims to expand its activities is the refrigerated sector. To this end it has forged a relationship with Lecitrailer, one of Europe’s leading trailer manufacturers, to offer the Tiger Siberian range of reefer products for chilled and cold chain applications.
Tiger has recently expanded its refrigerated offering further, with the launch of its new moving deck refrigerated trailer at the Cold Chain Hub event at the NEC Birmingham in October. One of its current, smaller refrigerated rigid vehicles was showcased alongside.
Whilst Tiger continues to build refrigerated fixed deck double-decks, rigids, and single-decks across all temperature variants, this venture marks the start of its moving deck refrigerated trailer offering.
The lifting deck is powered by Tiger’s direct-drive hydraulic four-ram system, designed without cables or pulleys, offering a much-reduced maintenance cost over the trailer’s life.
The trailers are available to order now with a competitive lead time, says Tiger, and will be available in all temperature variants: mono, dual, or tri-temp configurations.
A double deck-trailer for Asda
Ed highlights the diversity of Tiger’s customer base – from major parcel carriers and logistics companies through to supermarkets and major bakeries – and also emphasises its investment in research and development.
In response to the increasing pressure on both trailer makers and their customers to reduce CO2 emissions, he cites the company’s delivery in the longer semi-trailer (LST) segment, as well as its efforts in terms of lightweighting of panels and chassis frames, bodybuilding for an electric truck, and the use of solar roof panelling and integrated battery systems on trailers.
Tackling emissions is also a priority at the facility itself.
“We’ve just put our second set of solar panels on the roof – obviously it lowers our costs as well, but we spend quite a lot of money trying to do things in as environmentally friendly a way as possible.
“We’re going to install some new spray paint booths, which is a significant investment for us, and they’ll be very energy-efficient.”
Ed stresses the importance of staff development in the success of Tiger’s approach.
“We have a training and onboarding manager in the facility to really make sure that when we take on new coachbuilders or semi-skilled workers, there’s a real structure to the first few weeks of their time in the business.”
Labour shortages in recent years have driven fresh approaches to recruitment, he explains; for example, around eighteen months ago, the company experienced a shortage of welders. Its solution was to offer short, intensive training courses to ensure new recruits had appropriate levels of skill prior to entering the business.
Ed adds that Tiger takes its responsibility as a producer of heavy roadgoing vehicles seriously, and to this end has formulated the Tiger Safety Team. It delivers ‘Stop, Look, Be Seen’ – a road safety scheme targeting Year 5 and 6 children across Cheshire and further afield.
A further programme offered by the manufacturer sees local children invited into the facility to meet engineers and experience what a career in the sector is like.
Ed concludes: “Personally for me, it’s a real privilege to be working in this company… because we’ve got some fantastic people. We might be biased, but we think we make a fantastic product as well.”
