Roll-Off Case Study
New Roll-Off Makes it Easier to be Green
Wilkinson Iron & Metal acquires Palfinger’s American Roll-Off truck and immediately sees a return on investment with vehicle reliability, lack of service maintenance and meeting current emissions regulations.
Kristie Pohlman
Wilkinson Iron & Metal may have started in the small Texas town of Brownsville, but the business is going as strong as the steel they recycle. Jim Wilkinson grew up around the recycling industry with his grandfather starting out in 1937. Jim took over the business in 1966, serving the southern area of Texas as well as northern Mexico.
Collecting Scrap Metal
For Wilkinson, the scrap industry is pretty straightforward. They collect scrap metal of all kinds and transport it by rail to a smelting plant in Mexico where the metals are refined and eventually return to the U.S. as a raw material. In most cases, the scrap metal comes to Jim through other hauling companies, so the need for a large fleet of vehicles is minimal at this point in time. However, Wilkinson does have several of his own container trucks to provide scrap removal and hauling services to other companies. Empty containers are delivered to businesses to be filled and then “swapped out” once they are full.
Jim only acquires new equipment when the need arises. As existing trucks become a burden through service maintenance costs, they are replaced. One truck in particular led him to search for a state of the art truck. The Palfinger American Roll Off truck he found was not only their newest model, but the quality was also there, along with the right price. Another key factor that made fueled his decision was availability. The truck was already built up and ready to go on the dealer’s lot.
Adding a Palfinger Solution
Wilkinson’s most recent additionof a PALFINGER American Roll-off (PARO) truck package has many qualities that make it a unique vehicle. The truck itself is a newer Kenworth model. The T440 has a configuration for regional hauling, city pickup and delivery, municipal and vocational applications. The bed features a PARO ARL 60-22 that accommodates container beds that are 10’ to 22’ long with a carrying capacity of 60,000 lbs. Hi Tech Truck Rigging & Equipment, the PARO dealer in the Houston area, put the truck package together.
Bill Rhodes, Technical Sales Rep. for Hi Tech, explained that the ARL has a very accommodating body frame. Knowing the potential that this truck package would have in the region, Bill worked with a local Kenworth dealer, Performance Truck out of Buda, TX, to arrange putting together this turnkey package and offering it through a consignment with the truck dealer. He introduced the ARL 60-22 as a new unit and mentioned its advantages and how it’s a product that no one else currently offers. “Let’s make one to put on your lot until you have it sold,” Rhodes said, and that’s exactly what happened in three months time. Once he explained how “Space is at a premium on the trucks and the cylinders are now located inside the frame which allows more space for building up the truck,” the decision to proceed was clear. This has become a huge advantage for trucks that are configured with the new compressed natural gas (CNG) fuel tanks.
The transition to the new vehicle was relatively seamless. The whole process took a span of two weeks. The only delay was the fact that Jim needed a tarp system. However, it is quite common for trucks to be sold without a system installed due to the needs of the customer that buys it. There is a wide range of tarping systems available that cater to the needs of the industry. By installing a system prior to sale, dealers would limit the number of potential customers that may be interested in a particular truck.
Benefits of the ARL 60
With its compact design, the ARL 60 can easily accommodate larger CNG tanks with no problem. At this time, fuel distribution is limited based upon the region, with many businesses being their own filling station. However, in a municipality operation or local hauling it is perfect. The ARL can fuel up at its home base, deliver/pickup containers and easily be back by the end of the day for refueling.
Overall, Wilkinson is pleased with his PARO ARL 60-22 and how it positively contributes to his business. As with any replacement of equipment, he has immediately seen a return on investment with vehicle reliability and lack of service maintenance. Of course, being a new model, Jim also acknowledges the benefit that the truck runs more effectively and meets current emissions regulations. This also means that more containers are picked up with less fuel being used which adds dollars and savings through efficiency. He mentions, “In the past 25 years the scrap metal industry has exploded in popularity.” This has created the need to add the roll-off to his operations. He now feels that Wilkinson Iron & Metal can work much more efficiently in their territory.
Kristie Pohlman is a Marketing and Customer Relations Specialist for PALFINGER North America Group. She can be reached at (419) 443-8431, ext. 211 or via e-mail at
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Benefits of CNG
CNG is a type of fossil fuel that is produced at a relatively low cost and is a cleaner burning fuel compared to gasoline and diesel fuels. The new fuel has its advantages and disadvantages as well being that it emits significantly less pollution yet refueling stations are still very limited. Other issues include the fact that CNG is consumed at a faster rate than standard fuels and the tanks that hold the CNG are much larger and require a greater amount of space on the truck to house them. One advantage that entices many businesses is that the U.S. offers Federal tax cuts for CNG vehicles. Beyond the tax advantage, CNG is considerably cheaper than gasoline not to mention the green aspects of it reducing pollutants into the environment.