Finger in many pies

Running a successful company can be an exhausting and testing time for anyone at different stages, but when you have three businesses under the one umbrella, it takes a special kind of person to deal with such a workload.

Part of the impressive JVW fleet

This is the case with the JVW Group, which is based at Shraugh, Gowran, Co Kilkenny. Managing Director Jim Weldon gave Irish Trucker a run down of the business that has been running for many years now. The JVW Group is made up of Gowran Truck Repairs, Vincent Byrne & Sons Ltd and Equine Horse Trucks.

Jim along with his partner Eleanor Byrne has worked hard to build each business into a reliable and efficient firm with a long client list in all three companies. While Jim looks after the haulage end of the business and the truck repairs, Eleanor oversees the manufacturing of the horse trucks, with all businesses being ran from the same premises in Gowran, Co Kilkenny.
Gowran Truck Repairs carry out maintenance on trucks for their own fleet and have many customers from the area also. Having a long standing knowledge of the haulage industry means that Jim is in synch with other hauliers and understands that they need to get the job done quickly.

“No haulier wants his truck sitting in a workshop and certainly for no more time than is necessary. So we do our best to keep downtime to a minimum as we know ourselves what it means to be without a truck for a certain length of time,” he revealed. “We keep a large quantity of parts stocked at all times, while the stuff we need to have delivered usually gets here the same day that it is ordered.”

Vincent Byrne, Keith Egan (KD Garage), Wesley Byrne, Jim Weldon and Eleanor Byrne pictured with the prestine 2007 fleet

With a highly trained staff, Gowran Truck Repairs ensure that all trucks are properly maintained and there are certainly no short cuts being taken.
The haulage end of the business runs under the name Vincent Byrne & Sons. As a national and international firm, they have 12 trucks specialising in transporting goods around Ireland and the continent. Reliability is a major factor in the haulage industry and the Kilkenny based company can guarantee that in abundance, while a testament to their good work is the impressive client list that they cater for many years now.

“We have a number of customers, but our main ones are P&O and Walsh Western. Vincent Byrne & Sons have an impressive fleet of 12 trucks of which six are brand new Scania, three DAF trucks and three Renault Premium Lorries. Jim says the purchase of six new R cab 420 tractor units is a confirmation of their decision, made in 2003, to become a Scania Fleet owner. The company believes this truck offers the lowest whole life costs backed by the highest levels of after sales service available. High fuel economy and Scania EGR offered by these models was the final deciding factor leading to the purchase.

Sparkling clean and ready to go

KD Garage is the Scania dealer for the South East. Based in Wexford, they provide Sales and After-Sales services throughout the region from their modern premises at Drinagh on the outskirts of Wexford town.
“Buying brand new trucks means that the trade in price is usually very good, while the warranty on them is also very competitive. We like to expand by one truck a year, but it depends on what work we have on. Fortunately we are busy enough for the foreseeable future and the fact that Walsh Western has expanded is good news for us.
“When buying a new truck you have to allow for a settle in period and that means you have to allow time for the truck to start repaying some of the money that it cost.”

Jim is fortunate to have a reliable transport manager in Zbigniew ‘Ziggy’ Czech, who takes a lot of the pressure off the MD, while Orla O’Grady looks after the accounts and the international transport.
“There is a very good staff here and they are reliable and efficient. You can’t ask for much more than that. The majority of the 18 staff are actually Polish, all the drivers are experienced and ‘Ziggy’ manages that end of the business very well.”
As stated Eleanor looks after the manufacturing of the horse boxes and the company make to order, which include four horse full living boxes and other models.

JWV comprises three different operations

It was not surprising to learn that a company involved in making horse boxes, also has a keen interest in horses and even though Jim and Eleanor have busy schedules Jim revealed that his partner’s sons Vincent (15) and Wesley (11) are keen riders.
“The lads are into the horses in a big way, we all are. Vincent was due to ride in the European championships, but unfortunately his horse fell ill just days before the competition begun and he could not compete.”

The JVW Group combines hard work, dedication, enthusiasm and reliability to ensure that they deliver a quality service to its large customer base. As the company has grown over the years, so to has the quality of work delivered. Jim, Eleanor and their dedicated staff continue to strive to make the business better and are always looking for perfection while never forgetting that the customer always comes first.