Haweka Opens Gloucestershire Educational Unit

Haweka (UK) Ltd, one of the world’s leading independent manufacturers of wheel alignment and balancing solutions, announced on 10 November the opening of a specialist Wheel Alignment Training Centre in Gloucestershire, UK. The brand new facilities contain a state-of-the-art commercial vehicle MOT bay, lecture room and communal area. Haweka believes that the educational facility will help garage workers to speed up significantly the process of alignment and balancing. It is designed to provide a platform for the company to train UK commercial workshop technicians on the next generation of Haweka’s wheel alignment systems, the TA-20.

Located at Richard Read Transport’s Longhope depot, the new training centre gives Haweka the resources to keep offering tailor-made courses to customers nationwide. The lecture room contains the modern facilities needed to communicate the theoretical side of wheel alignment and how to provide optimal logistical angles, reducing tyre wear and fuel consumption to customers. The communal area is spacious and comfortable allowing course attendees to discuss the theory between themselves and relax during breaks. It overlooks one of two workshops where the practical training sessions will take place.

Guy Carter, chief training officer for Haweka, said that, “The new training centre is exactly what we needed. The amount of money the TA-20 saves fleet owners, hauliers and councils means we have been inundated with enquiries and training requests that our current resources have just met. This new centre will allow us to train multiple workshops at once and make sure everyone who leaves here is competent and confident aligning wheels on every vehicle.”

The TA-20 is the company’s new generation of wheel aligners, which the company claims can measure a 2-axle semi-trailer tractor in ten minutes. Its magnetic clamp should leave no need for compensation. The system measures the front toe, individual toe, camber toe-out on turns, turning radius, castor, kingpin inclination angle, angular tilt of axles, thrust angle and axle offset simply and easily.

The company believes it has found a solution to the problems traditional wheel alignment systems often experience with twin steering axles. They often need extra time to allow for re-measurement and compensation. The new TA-20 can measure and adjust the twin steering axles quickly one after the other when equipped with two additional turning plates. It is adaptable, possessing the ability to align cars, light trucks, heavy trucks, buses, tractors, farm tractors, cranes, earth moving vehicles and more. The TA-20 offers the choice between measuring from axle to axle or from the axle to the chassis, which should help the machine fulfill requirements both today and in the future.

Peter Spraggs, director of Haweka UK said that “The new facility Richard Read has built is state-of-the art and he has spared no expense. The added bonus of the site is that we have access to their fleet and the different vehicles in it. I am very happy that we can continue our accredited training programmes and offer current and future customers the opportunity to become expert wheel alignment technicians. I know that customers will enjoy the experience here and leave able to offer their customers a greener more
profitable service.”

Richard Read Transport was founded in 1946, and is still managed by the Read family today. The Longhope depot mainly concentrates its efforts on its MAN/ERF distributorship that it is proud to have held for over 40 years. The vehicle repair workshop houses every piece of technology needed to offer a one-stop shop to commercial vehicle operators including a paint shop, a Ministry of Transport approved Tachograph facility and MOT test centre. Employing 18 skilled fitters, the service department carries out a full range of HGV maintenance & repair. It possesses a fleet of recovery vehicles capable of dealing with any type of accident/emergency.

The first formal wheel alignment session at the new Training Centre was given to staff from Richard Read Transport by chief training officer, Carter. Workshop manager, Maurice Williams was joined by fleet engineer, Graham Price, and Technician, Simon Read, in the first expert wheel alignment session held at Longhope. Maurice Williams said that, “The new TA-20 is brilliant, so quick and easy to use it makes wheel alignment simple.”

Graham Price said “I used the traditional wheel alignment systems at my last workshop and this is much easier to use. It takes a lot of the hard work out of wheel alignment and all the vehicles are easy to align.”