Bevan Group has headquarters in Halesowen and is a leading supplier of dry freight box, curtainside and platform bodies to some of the biggest names in the UK transport industry. Bevan also builds insulated, temperature-controlled vehicle bodies in partnership with Schmitz Cargobull.
The company has also launched its Bevan Passport initiative, which allows smaller-scale bodybuilders to benefit from its quality management systems in order to secure Whole Vehicle Type Approval for their own trucks and vans.
‘Given the amount of work that has to be done to secure each approval, especially following the introduction of Euro 6 exhaust emissions legislation, we recognised from an early stage that we needed to commit dedicated resource to work directly with VCA,’ explained Bevan’s group operations director, Lee Dimmock.
‘By doing so we have been able to make the process as lean and efficient as possible, so that all applications are made and complex supporting documentation is submitted in precisely the right manner. And by making the lives of our VCA colleagues easier, we’re able to achieve a speed of throughput that would not otherwise be possible.’
The alternative to securing Whole Vehicle Type Approval certification for batches of identical trucks or vans, is an Individual Vehicle Approval (IVA) test. ‘But that’s a costly process and, perhaps even more importantly, can result in delays of many months,’ adds Dimmock.
‘That’s why our Bevan Passport scheme is proving so attractive to smaller bodybuilders who don’t have the infrastructure or technical experience within their own businesses to meet the very considerable demands of Whole Vehicle Type Approval compliance. A Bevan Passport proves that a vehicle meets or exceeds all of the requisite environmental, safety and security standards.’
Recent additions to the company’s product range include its lightest Luton body yet – it combines a highly competitive payload, when mounted on a 3.5-tonne Mercedes-Benz Sprinter chassis, of 1,250kg. Bevan had sold more than 200 of these competitively priced and attractively styled bodies within just six months of its launch last summer.
‘With brilliant new products like our lightweight Luton body, a highly productive relationship with VCA, and the industry’s finest aftercare service, the future has never looked brighter for Bevan Group,’ declared managing director, Anthony Bevan.