Elgin Sweeper Introducing New Non-CDL Sweeper Models... and More

Elgin Sweeper Introducing New Non-CDL Sweeper Models... and More

Published on May, 02 2022

WorldSweeper's Editor discusses Elgin's new sweeper models with Eric Marx, the New Product Development and Program Manager at Elgin Sweeper. The conversation is shown below.

WorldSweeper:I'm looking forward to having you talk to the industry about where Elgin Sweeper is headed for 2022. I have learned that for 2022 you have a 26,000 GVW chassis option that can go under your RegenX and your Broom Bear.

First, let me get the ball rolling by saying that I know it's been reported that currently there are between 60,000 and 80,000 truck drivers needed in the US marketplace alone. Plus, in the sweeping industry CDL drivers are even harder to obtain and keep. They are not only hard to find and cost more, but once they get trained a lot of times they go off to higher paying jobs or want to work daytime instead of nighttime, that sort of thing. I know when people learn about the non-CDL chassis your Broom Bear and RegenX can now be mounted onto, they're going to want to know if both of those units will still provide the same level of heavy duty sweeping capability. So please be sure to address that factor during our discussion.

Elgin Sweeper:Absolutely. Both models are basically the same units as you would get if you ordered the same machines on a 33,000 GVW chassis. Both have the same output capacities as their 33K GVW predecessors. We've done a handful of things on the Broom Bear to reduce weight to provide the end user more usable capacity in the way of GVW limits. We've done those things primarily to the sweeper, where it made sense, where there wouldn't be any risk to the end customer.

We've even gotten clever with the chassis. On the chassis we went to aluminum wheels to save weight. In some of our 'voice of the customer research,' many were interested in having a 26K GVW Broom Bear for purposes of sweeping on certain sites where they could subsequently dump on that site. So, they in essence wanted to drive to the site empty and sweep all day while dumping multiple times. Then, at the end, they wanted to drive back to home base empty so they would have no concern about GVW limits while driving on the road.

For the RegenX, the same thing holds true. The unit's exactly the same except it's on a different chassis that is rated for 26K GVW. The good news about the RegenX is it was designed to be lean from a cost perspective from the get-go. That had an unintentional byproduct of keeping the weight down, so we can still get a substantial amount of material in the same hopper – the 26K version hopper is the same as the 33K version – before we go over the GVW limit.

WorldSweeper:That's great to hear. I know you involved contractors significantly in designing the RegenX so no wonder the end result was leaner, lighter! Still, it's good to hear there's nothing of significance that has been left off or modified in the two machines to get them onto a smaller chassis.

Elgin Sweeper: Correct, especially the RegenX. The RegenX is built on the Elgin assembly line exactly the same as the 33K version. However, we do put a couple of decals in the cab to remind the user/operator that he's driving a 26K version. The only other thing is we set the whisker switch for the hopper overload alert to the operator at a different dimension.

The Broom Bear, however, is a heavier unit so we did find ways to take weight out of it. For example, we took 50 gallons of water capacity out, although that still leaves the 26K Broom Bear version with 310 gallons. There were a handful of other things that, in combination, added up to be some benefit to the end user in the way of hopper capacity, but nothing super major other than taking away the 50 gallons of water.

WorldSweeper:We want to put in a caveat here: If you're buying a sweeper just to stay onsite at your location, or if your contractor is going to a site and dumping multiple times on that site, there's no apparent downside other than safety issues that might occur due to having more material onboard. That's something you have to assess, whether you can go over the GVW safely in the location you're in. I would caution to be especially careful offloading if you have lots of material in the hopper.

Elgin Sweeper:That's exactly correct...

To read more of this conversation between WorldSweeper and Eric Marx at Elgin Sweeper, see the link below.

https://www.worldsweeper.com/Industry/ElginNewProducts1.22.html