Tell us about Tiger Trailers’ work with road safety charity Brake?
Long having been aware of the fantastic work Brake does in supporting the bereaved and keeping communities safer, we proudly became a corporate donor in Q3 2021 and will be supporting Brake financially for a minimum of three years. Brake has supported us with the development and launch of the Tiger Safety Team’s ‘STOP LOOK BE SEEN’ programme for school children (which their mascot Zak attended). All of our CSR and fundraising activities will ultimately generate funds for two charitable organisations we’re focussing on, Brake being one of them. We also plan to work with Brake’s team on developing safety programmes for cyclists, truck drivers and other audiences.
How is Tiger Trailers supporting the Veterans into Logistics programme?
Aside from helping to promote them on social media, on our website, in other literature and opening up discussions for them among our network of contacts, we have supported Veterans into Logistics by servicing their articulated trailers and making engineering modifications to them as required, to aid their training provision. Both Tiger Trailers and ViL share a determination to promote careers in the logistics sector to women and we look forward to continuing to support them wherever possible.
Any new trailer products to talk about?
We’re introducing a new product to our Tiger Siberian refrigerated range very soon, aimed at offering temperature-controlled operators even greater choice, flexibility and capability. One of the UK’s largest supermarkets has already placed a significant order for this new product which will be unveiled to the media shortly.
Just beforehand, our new business unit Tiger Parts will be launched, signalling our intents in online retail, and providing both our customers and general trailer component buyers with greater choice, from OEM and common parts to the bespoke. Alongside the B2B e-commerce channel, Tiger Parts is also a constituent of our new customer portal, which is helping to streamline the resources and assistance our customers require.
How has Tiger Trailers adapted during the pandemic?
Firstly, the pandemic resulted in our parcel delivery and both traditional and online retail customers becoming busier than ever, which subsequently translated into increased demand. Online conferencing, which was necessitated during the early days for our office teams, is still playing a part, enabling Tiger Trailers to collaborate ever more closely with our customers, partners and others in the UK and beyond. The pandemic also provided us with the opportunity to make our production lines even more efficient, increasing capacity as a result, which has opened up at least 50 jobs for our local area, following our recent introduction of a nightshift.
How important is SMMT membership to Tiger Trailers?
Tiger Trailers views its membership seriously and our engineers, compliance officers and others welcome the guidance from SMMT departments to ensure that the products we manufacture meet all current and forthcoming regulations. SMMT has also been an invaluable source of advice for us amidst Brexit, in our relationship with European customers and associates, and in SMMT’s influencing of policy updates.