BOSS Agriculture, a division of New England’s BOSS Engineering, has been running a Scania R 540 prime mover for 12 months to deliver its innovative farming machinery to locations such as Townsville in the north to south of Geelong, as well as making the trek across the paddock to Perth.

Delivering their own products rather than exclusively using sub-contractors is a relatively new facet of the business but one which Service Manager Darryn Hill feels suits the nature of the customer-focussed business.

“With our own trucks we can deliver when we need to and don’t need to rely on third parties. We have our own trucks and our own trailers, which include a quad axle Tuff Trailer unit that extends out to 24 m. Naturally we need pilots to escort us at this size.

“The R 540 has done the job really well, covering around 100,000 km in a year, and we have just added a new R 620 V8 as well, to give us just that bit extra grunt up the hills. The V8 can run all day in the hills at 100 km/h which is helpful when you have the big planters on,” Darryn says.

When running with escorts, the BOSS Agriculture trucks can sit on 100 km/h in NSW and Victoria, but in Queensland they are limited to 80 km/h.

“We have been getting good fuel economy from the R 540 and overall, it has performed very well,” Darryn says. “It’s very quiet inside and our drivers love them, and I’ve always like Scanias.

“We were very lucky to acquire the R 620 V8 recently, thanks to a timely call to Coffs Harbour’s Mid-Coast Trucks’ Scott Hargans. He’d just had an order cancelled so we snapped up the available truck. Although it’s only been in the fleet for a couple of months it is proving to be a good asset.”

The BOSS Ag trucks are serviced by Scania’s independent authorised dealer, Inverell Truck and Diesel Repairs, and are on Scania’s five-year maintenance package.

The BOSS Engineering business began in Inverell, northern NSW in 2007 and has burgeoned from the initial role of making ute bodies under the BOSS Built brand, to a diversified array of agriculture and transport sectors, using the latest engineering and manufacturing techniques.

Demand for products drove the need for more workshop space, now up around 30,000 square metres, and staffing levels have risen to more than 160, assisted by laser cutters and robotic welders.

In 2010, BOSS launched its own brand of agricultural machinery to provide Australian farmers, and some export markets, with broadacre planters, row crop machinery, and air seeders, along with a spare parts business. Downtime in farming is as critical as it is within the transport and logistics industry.

“Our aim is to deliver quality products at competitive prices,” Darryn says. “The business is growing every day and we’re well supported by Australia farmers with current orders taking us through to 2023, so there will be plenty of ground for the Scanias to cover.”