Facilitate snow removal by: Hiring driver with no experience Saving lives

Transcription

1 Pneumatic Shock absorber Reflex

2 With Reflex Save $$$ by Eliminating the cost of repair of Side wings Truck frame Guardrails Bridges Accidents Removing excess snow on guardrails with out charge (With out snow blower and loader) Facilitate snow removal by: Hiring driver with no experience Saving lives 1

3 Table of content Historic p.3 Mission p.3 Profitability p.3 Pneumatic shock absorber p.3 Safety p.3 How it works p.4 Driver p.4 Tough p.4 Reflex bumper wheels p.4 Maintenance p.5 Installation p.5 Operation p.5 Reflex can be used on any kind of roads p.5 Advantages p.5 Safety reason p.6 Gouvernement p.7 Press Release p.8 2

4 History Flexaile Inc. was established in the year 2000 by the Transport Savard Company. Transport Savard has specialized in road snow removal operations for 30 years. Like many other businesses, the company has grappled with the problems resulting from the operation of its snow plough trucks equipped with a side wing blades: costly damage to the machinery from collisions with road side obstacles, damage to roadside infrastructure, the risk of accidents. With its experience in snow removal, Transport Savard started to make improvements and innovations which led to the creation of Flexaile Inc., a specialist in the development of better snow removal equipment. Mission Statement To use cutting edge technological systems in order to improve transport route snow and ice removal equipment and to permit savings on equipment repair costs, roadside infrastructure, labour costs, intervention time, accident risk, all at an affordable price. Profitability The intervention time on snowplows will decrease. Moreover, REFLEX allows you to remove the snow from the guard rail without using a loader or a blower. The money invested in the shock absorber can pay for itself in a very short time. You only have to avoid one accident such as a collision with guard rails, rocky edges, other vehicles, sidewalk curbs or cement borders, to recuperate the thousands of dollars invested in the truck, the cost of the guard rail repair, additional insurance premiums and/or reimbursements to the worker compensation board. The shock absorber The tough and compact REFLEX pneumatic shock absorber is designed as a linear pneumatic system. It easily attaches to the side wing moldboard on most snow removal equipment The blade then can retract up to 60 inches upon contact with roadside obstructions. Safety The pneumatic shock absorber is a device that will reduce the possibility of serious or deadly accidents to your drivers or others on the road. When there is danger of a collision with an on-coming vehicle, the truck driver stays in complete control of the truck without having to lift the side wing moldboard up in order to avoid a collision. How it works 3

5 The device works in the following manner. When the wing or blade moldboard meets an obstruction, it is pushed in towards the truck. This in turn, forces the push arm behind the blade towards the front of the wing. This compresses the balloon in the pneumatic shock absorber. The greater the pressure inside the balloon, the more the push arms will be forced towards the discharge end of the wing moldboard. The REFLEX shock absorber is made in such way that the pressure on the end of the wing moldboard remains constant no matter what its position, even when completely retracted. When there is contact with a guardrail, even if the wing is completely retracted, it should not cause damage to the guardrail. Before After Drivers There are numerous advantages for the operator. REFLEX allows you to hire drivers who do not necessarily have a lot of snow plowing experience, thus making it easier to find manual labor. It is not mandatory for the driver to know all the obstacles on the snow removal routes. As a result, you can substitute a driver without worrying about financial loss. REFLEX decreases the stress on the driver in tight corners with other vehicles. Tough REFLEX is tough. Even hitting an obstacle intentionally will not damage it. REFLEX is so dependable that it will not break down. REFLEX bumper wheels The REFLEX bumper wheels, located at the discharge end of the wing moldboard, allow for smoother contact with the guardrail. Installation 4

6 The REFLEX shock absorber can be mounted on any truck model and fitted with any type of snowplow equipment. The installation requires some pipe cutting, welding and the installation of a pressure gauge inside the truck cab. Maintenance The maintenance of the REFLEX shock absorber is limited to washing the sliding mechanism and checking the tightness of the bolts. Operation The driver can adjust the air pressure on the shock absorber balloon according to the work on the road. He just has to increase or decrease the pressure on the gauge located inside the truck cab. When snowplowing during a storm, it is recommended to put the pressure at its lowest level in order to prevent damage to the guardrails. To clear a pile of hard packed snow at the side of the road, just increase the air pressure in the shock absorber. REFLEX can be used on any kind of roads On narrow logging roads, highways under construction, snow removal can be done much more quickly because the driver is now not so worried about hitting rocks, fallen logs, or piles of frozen earth which normally would damage the truck. The logging companies will benefit monetarily for several reasons: a reduction of reparation costs, less down time for snowplow repair, and an increase in the efficiency of snow plowing. Cities, provincial and states roads, municipality, will save on damages to their sidewalks, cement borders and medians. Snow removal work will be done more quickly, due to the fact that the driver is less worried about damaging sidewalks, cement borders and other obstacles. As well, less damage to the equipment means a decrease in truck down time, and an increase of the employees' productivity. This obvious decrease in accidents will provide a significant savings, because most towns do not have insurance on their trucks and equipment. REFLEX advantages From the beginning, REFLEX was developed to avoid damage to roadside guardrails caused by the snow-removal trucks (four axe wheels). Each time there was contact, damage to the guardrails or posts resulted. Since Transport Savard Ltée. has install the REFLEX shock absorber system on their trucks, they have not broken one post or guardrail. They estimate their annual savings in repair costs to be in the tens of 5

7 thousands of dollars per contract. On top of the savings from not damaging guardrails, the REFLEX shock absorber system cuts costs in other areas. They have saved a lot on damages to the bodies, the chassis', and the side wings and other parts of our trucks. As well, Transport Savard Ltée. have noticed that the parts that need to be changed on a regular basis (bolts, pins, etc.) are less worn down. Since they have had REFLEX, they remove snow accumulation along the guardrails (which can cause serious accidents) with the side wing of the snowplow. This new method saved them tens of thousands of dollars in snow blowing and roadside escort costs. They have avoided three accidents in the last two and a half years. Those accidents could have been fatal. The money, potentially saved, totalled in the tens of thousands of dollars. Transport Savard pays a deductible of ten thousand dollars per accident. Also, for the last two years they have received a return of $5000 on their annual insurance premiums. Thus, the effect of not having had an accident has saved them $ Moreover, each accident (including personal injury) costs thousands of dollars each year to the Workers' Compensation Board. Safety Reasons A truck equipped with the REFLEX shock absorber system decreases the driver's stress because he is less worried about the side wing. Thus, he will be better able to concentrate on driving the truck. The snowplough driver will not have to lift the side wing in critical situations, such as tight squeezes near bridges, curbs, or narrow sections of road lined with guardrails. He will stay in complete control of his vehicle and thus avoid accidents. Often during snow removal on bridges, the snowplough comes into contact with cement borders. This can lead to driver injury and even cause an accident with oncoming vehicles. The fact that we remove snow from guard rails continually during snowstorms and from the roads in the two to three hours after makes the roads much safer. The normal delay is reduced to almost zero, compared to the ninety-six hours stipulated in normal contracts. As well, there is no need of snow blowers and their vehicle escorts slowing down traffic during the clearing of snow from guardrails. Since REFLEX has been on the market, none of the REFLEX units have been broken or refused to work. All our clients are very satisfied with their REFLEX units. 6

8 Governments Economic Reasons The costs saved by businesses in snow removal will be subtracted from future government contract tenders. The Ministry will avoid a lot of unnecessary expenditures on repairing guardrails that normally would have been damaged each time a snowplow hit them with a traditional side wing. Often the Ministry cannot claim the damage to a guardrail was caused by a specific snow removal contractor because of lack of proof, even if it actually was the snowplow. Sometimes damage takes place gradually over several years of a contract without being noticed by government inspectors. At the end of the contract, damage costs are not charged to the contractor due to insufficient and inconclusive evidence. But with the REFLEX shock absorber system, a savings of several million dollars can be realized from undamaged guardrails each year, which can be re-invested in other areas. Another important saving will come from undamaged structures like bridges, curbs, and broken or frost-heaved asphalt pavement. With the REFLEX shock absorber system, communities will save hundreds of thousands of dollars on each fatal or non-fatal accident avoided. 7

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