Scottish refrigerated trailer manufacturer Gray & Adams recently received a 2020 Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the innovation category for its double-deck trailer design.
The Queen’s Awards, established in 1965, are considered the most prestigious awards given to United Kingdom-based businesses. Previous winners include Dyson, Jaguar Landrover and JCB. This year, 220 UK businesses were recognized with Queen’s Awards in one of four categories, including 66 for innovation.
Gray & Adams, which specializes in temperature-controlled vehicle design, was founded in 1957 in Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, by Jim Gray and Jim Adams. The company is a key player in the UK cold chain, supplying double-deck trailers to many major supermarkets, including Aldi, Asda, Co-op, Iceland, Sainsbury’s and Tesco, as well as blue-chip household brands like DPD, John Lewis Waitrose, M&S and Warburtons.
“Whatever you can buy in a supermarket, from fresh, chilled produce to frozen products and pharmaceuticals, the chances are it will have travelled in a Gray & Adams semi-trailer or rigid,” the company said.
The family-owned business claimed its Queen’s Award for its innovative double-deck trailer design featuring a full-length moving upper deck.
Previously, the moving upper deck of a double-deck trailer spanned only the rear two-thirds of the trailer due to height restrictions created by the trailer hook-up design. Gray & Adams developed a bespoke chassis that slopes 1.5 degrees from front to rear, removing the need for a step in the chassis and making it possible to have a moving deck the full length of the trailer, leaving enough height inside the trailer at the front to have two load levels.
The design maximizes payload capabilities, reducing the number of vehicle journeys required and increasing operating companies efficiency. These, and other, designed in benefits have helped the trailer grow to 10% of total sales.
“In these challenging times, we very much hope the recognition this prestigious award brings will bring a small amount of cheer and encouragement to our employees in the North East of Scotland, and across the UK,” managing directors James Gray and Peter Gray said in a joint statement.
“We are massively appreciative of our highly skilled engineering teams and our manufacturing operatives that allow us to produce our world-class products. We would also like to thank our very loyal customers and partners, without whose assistance and support we would be unable to enjoy such highly respected recognition.”