A truck in a million!

A fourth Hino in the service of the national Sasko Bakeries fleet has clocked up over one million kilometres! The Eastern Cape-based 700 Series 2845, bought in 2015, is one of 183 Hino trucks in Sasko’s fleet. The only major repair needed has been a clutch replacement at 865 000 km, while “a few oil and water leaks” have also been repaired over the years. “The truck has been serviced between Algoa Hino and our PE workshop, strictly at Hino’s scheduled 40 000 km intervals,” says Arno Lourens, Sasko technical manager: vehicles, who is responsible for the national fleet.

Sasko has been using Hino trucks since 1990. Lourens says their most impressive features are reliability and durability, as well as the support from Hino’s countrywide dealer network. “Reliability is critical for around-the-clock countrywide deliveries: bread is a staple food, so we strive to deliver it on time every time. We cannot afford unscheduled truck downtime,” he expands.

“We use dedicated drivers, which we believe plays an important part in trucks running reliably for lengthy periods with only regular maintenance,” says Lourens. “We make our decisions on truck replacement based mainly on cost of ownership; we don’t necessarily replace at certain kilometre readings. If they are still operating efficiently, we see no need to replace trucks. This is the case with these high-kilometre Hinos.”