Revere by CIE – It’s All About the Value

CIE Manufacturing

Who doesn’t want the best value for the dollars so hard fought for today, whether it be in your personal lives or in the businesses we manage? Who among us can afford not to maximize the return on the investment (ROI) of the dollars our companies spend? How can we not have safety at the front of all equipment discussions and decisions? CIE Manufacturing would argue that none of us can afford to be blind to opportunities that offer a safer piece of equipment with lower operating costs, all the while providing outstanding value and therefore a resounding ROI. That’s why we created the Revere Container Chassis product line.

CIE has long been known for a best-in-class but extremely cost competitive container chassis, but we felt the need to “up our game” to bring together high-quality raw materials and manufacturing processes, coupled with extremely reliable, serviceable, affordable and available complementary components to develop Revere. Let’s look at what makes Revere “all that” in a marketplace and general product category that traditionally has been known more for low cost than high quality.

Starting with the coating on the frame rails and attaching components, we use a powder coating from PPG called KTL. Our standard for corrosion resistance has always been seven years, but by increasing the coating thickness by a full 25%, Revere offers a 10-year corrosion resistant finish. Even though powder coating takes a little longer to prep for and a little longer to apply when considering all the necessary processes, it is more environmentally friendly than traditional paint and produces a superior product. The trump card is the durability KTL offers in chip, scratch and fade resistance to keep the chassis looking good far into its life. Keeping equipment looking better longer and not having to worry about corrosion eating away at it is a value-add that none of us can afford to ignore.

Moving into some of the attached components used to build Revere, we would like to highlight the products selected to give Revere the reliability demanded by such a revolutionary concept. One of the systems most regularly needing attention on any vehicle today is wiring and lighting. Use of a modular system with an easily replaceable J560 connector and AMP connections that seal out the corrosive elements at the lights has made Phillips the obvious choice when looking for a low-maintenance and highly dependable wiring harness. The modularity piece of the system allows the user to insert a drop for a GPS or other telematics device without having to splice into the main harness and open a spot for corrosion to start. Put their nearly indestructible lights on the end of the harness and it adds up to an electrical system that offers users exceptional corrosion protection and reliability over the long haul. Standard theft protective rings on the lights contribute to an added measure of security and afford the operator a sense that all the lights will be in place and working when the tractor is hooked to a Revere chassis.

JOST International provides Revere with an unparalleled quality in kingpins and landing gear. The kingpin used is an AAR spec, which means it is 100% tested in several main areas. With a surface over 20% harder and a material yield strength almost 30% higher than a standard kingpin, you’ll never have to give wear in this area another thought. Even though you may have never experienced a trailer kingpin failure, a good insurance policy is the best thing you can have for “just in case.”

We’re all familiar with the environment a landing leg lives in – constant splash and spray from a tractor’s drive tires, not being lubricated properly and general inattention. Also, we know what happens when a landing leg is hard to crank up or down, wears quickly or fails to work at all because of a lack of lubrication – the chassis becomes virtually unusable. By developing a product specifically for the intermodal market with features like a grease tube to contain the grease installed at the time of manufacture, a cast aluminum gear box cap and special shaft seals, JOST has met the reliability challenge with the A440 Intermodal Magnum Series. And when the landing leg does need repair, easily replaceable parts meet the serviceability requirement of Revere.

We all know about “Final Mile” deliveries and that this portion of freight movement seems to be growing. However, we can’t get to the “Final Mile” without getting through the “First Mile.” If the chassis your tractor hooks onto to move a container isn’t roadworthy, has lights out or the driver can’t get the landing gear retracted, we can’t accomplish the “First Mile,” much less the “Final Mile.” Revere ensures all the critical components that make a chassis roadworthy stay in good working order and proves its value with the longest warranty in the industry so you can execute the “First Mile,” the “Final Mile” and all the miles in between.

But wait, there’s more! Moving to the rear of the chassis, there are even more components that allow Revere to be the unmistakable choice of those who want to control maintenance, downtime, unscheduled maintenance costs and total cost of ownership. Stay tune for part #3 of our Revere series as we outline the wheel-end and braking system details and how they help Revere claim its place as the premier container chassis in the intermodal industry.