Packing a Punch — Icepack Services

Inside the Toowoomba workshop where Robert and Lola Manteit’s Icepack Services turns truck customisation ideas into reality.

Original ACT archive feature. Images from the ACT archive; no individual photographer is identified in the retained feature.

Nestled in the industrial heartland of Toowoomba Robert and his wife Lola Manteit, have done very well to build up their truck customisation business, Icepack Services.

If the name sounds oddly familiar it’s because Robert, more commonly known as “Bones”, started the business as an installer of the now legendary Icepack units fitted to truck cabins to keep drivers cool and comfortable when they are resting.

He is old school in many respects and work ethic and transport acumen can be traced back a long way. Just turned 48, Bones has been working in transport since he was 15 starting out at a local transport firm in Toowoomba.

“I first worked at Hiles Transport and then progressed to Carpentaria Group. From there I went on to work for Morex Meats.

I was 18 and began driving the fridge vans running interstate,” he explains.

He finally settled down and worked for Neil and Marlene Findlay for 12 years. Neil was a co-founder of Icepack Services along with Robert at the start and is one of the most influential people in the Australian Transport Industry today. He had built up an award winning transport business which he eventually sold in 2007.

Having Neil as a boss and mentor gave Bones a strong foundation in people and business management skills. Working for Neil also fitted in well with Bones’ long term goals.

“I got to a certain point where I needed to make plans for where I wanted to be in life so I set myself up with definite goals. I wanted to be out of driving trucks by a certain age and in management, but I also realised my path was always going to be in transport and trucks. The old saying is, you’ve got to go backwards to go forwards, which I did, driving trucks I used to get paid good money, but going into management, well, it’s not until you get to know what you’re doing and work your way up that you start earning good money again,” he says.

However, he chose a good family business and a very good boss to learn from.

“Neil was a very good mentor to myself and all the staff,” Bones tells Australian Custom Trucks. It was his attitude to people, safety and business that netted the company awards for excellence. An attitude which is apparent in everything Bones does to this day in Icepack Services.

“I am very fortunate to have worked with Neil, and that’s why he’s a friend, even today,” he says.

In fact, Neil and Bones still work together, with Icepack Services becoming an agent for Neil’s new enterprise Findlay Import & Trade, which imports and markets a wide range of transport related products.

It was through Neil’s transport company Findlay Bulk Services that Bones first got his opportunity to install the Ice Packs. Findlay’s had found the robustness of the Ice Pack units perfectly suited to its fleet.

Bones also saw the Ice Pack as an opportunity to add to his lifetime goals.

“When I wanted to get out of driving I realised the only thing I really knew was trucks. I knew I had to look at something in this scope so when the opportunity came up with Haultech I decided to have a crack at it and here we are today. We’ve built up our business really well and I’m really happy with it,” he tells ACT.

At that time Haultech Engineering was relatively small. Bones simply asked owners Charles and Sam if they had anyone servicing the Western Division. They didn’t, and Bones asked for the opportunity.

The main goal of the business was installing and servicing the Icepack series of air-conditioning units. After a number of months, the Viesa range was also introduced as an added option for customers.

Bones didn’t have a trade and still doesn’t. What he had and what he has built on is what he learnt as a driver fixing trucks.

For the first twelve months of being the official Icepack person he spent three days a week still working for Neil and the rest of the time selling Icepack units. He rented a shed at the Findlay’s depot and worked out in Oakey. As previously mentioned, Neil sold up in 2007 opening up the opportunity for Ice Pack Services to relocate the business to Toowoomba and buy its first shed.

About 12 months later Bones took over Neil’s share of the business.

From day one the ethos of the business was to keep customers happy, do what they wanted you to do and provide a service and quality level that was second to none.

Bones worked hard. It was a seven day a week operation for the first few years. The work was consistent, and as word of mouth spread the workload steadily increased and so did the staffing levels.

This is when the business had the opportunity to venture into doing bits and pieces of fabrication, making guards and toolboxes, stainless work and from there it just grew. So much so, that the business moved from its three sheds in Gardner Court three years ago to their current and much bigger premises at 484 Boundary Street, Toowoomba. The shed can accommodate up to six trucks at one time to keep jobs in house and cut down on down time. Ice Pack Services service a broad customer base from all over the country.

“We do have a diverse customer base with people with trucks based down in Melbourne coming up, to people up north as far as Darwin bringing their trucks down,” he says.

“We do a lot of trucks for Brown and Hurley, VCV, and Western Star, along with our private customers. We do our part and it will move on to wherever it’s got to go from there.”

In fact, Bones says, Icepack Services have also sent accessories as far as Perth in WA.

“We basically cover the whole east coast of Australia however people had seen some of the gear we’d done and they wanted us to replicate it and send it across for them to fit over there,” Bones explains.

Word of mouth has spread and repeat customers are a growing breed.

Fitting air-conditioning had moved to fitting fridges, TV’s and eventually full cab fit outs and the fabrication of toolboxes, steps and pretty much everything else that could be customised and placed on a truck including hydraulics and auto greasers.

It has been this mix of attitude, hard work and knowledge of trucks and the industry that has seen the business expand to, dare I say it, be the one-stop shop it is today.

“I look after the Western people, Darwin runners and basically people just asked us, can we fit this, can we fit that, could I fit a TV, could I fit a fridge,” he explains to ACT.

“l hate the word CAN’T so we just started working it out.” This is Bones’ approach to everything. It is refreshing. Nothing is a problem and everything has a solution. This approach not only reflects his disposition but also his organic growth strategy of the business.

Taking this further, everything that is designed and added to a vehicle has to be tough and practical. His approach is to create products that are easy to use, accessible and serviceable.

This comes directly from his life as a driver having to fix things on the go.

“Our main priority is to keep our customers happy and do what they want, not what we want, and at the end of the day our biggest thing is creating products that are high quality and with complete serviceability,” he tells ACT.

He says that nothing was worse than having to pull something apart to get to another part that should be serviced regularly.

“When we do work, it’s got to be good, it’s got to work and it has to be manageable that you can work with it alongside the other stuff on the truck,” he says.

“Basically I find my background actually helps a lot because I know from a driver’s point of view what works and what doesn’t and it has to be cost effective as well.” Bones is very hands on and works as part of the team. In this capacity he says he works closely with the design process.

The advantage of having a customiser like Bones is that everyone in this industry wants something different and that stands out from the pack. The customisation in this regard isn’t only aesthetic, it is safe, practical and productive. The trucks that are fitted out by Icepack Services are working in some very demanding conditions in the country with extreme temperatures, dirt roads and lots of dust. Bones says each operator knows what they will use the truck for and knows what to spec to make their job easier.

“A lot of people want clean lines but they want the practicality and for it to look good as well,” Bones says.

In this regard he says he works very closely with the operator. He is meticulous in finding out the exact specifications and usage so he can build it spot on and purpose built for the job and he gets it out of the workshop and onto the road quickly. “In the transport industry it’s always been just in time (JIT) so if you’ve got someone like an owner driver come in, he can’t be off the road for a week, so if you are doing a fit up for him, get it in, get it done, get people who can get it organised, everything’s ready to go, anything that can be premade beforehand, have it ready,” he says.

“I talk to people. I ask the customer what sort of work he does, what sort of trailer he tows.”

He says, for example, he works on a lot of stock trucks and he has a customer who has customised toolbox skins that light up at night with the Kenworth bug lighting up on his racks. He has customised mesh deck plates on his trucks that are steel mesh designed to allow maximum airflow to the diffs because they are pulling three trailers. “They’ve still got something to walk on but they can see what’s happening on their diffs as well,” Bones explains to ACT.

The scope of the work that Icepack Services do is just amazing when you walk in the building. There are paint booths, a sandblasting booth and heaps of sections with pretty awesome modern tooling like plasma cutters, metal benders and a dedicated section with material for the inside of the cab. To make use of the ample space and modern machinery is a very strong team.

There is a total of 10 staff including Bones and Lola. Seven of the staff work on the floor but Bones is always there for guidance. “Staff retention in transport can be a challenge, but all of the blokes I’ve got are really good and they’ve been with me for a fair while,” he says very proudly. “It’s just about having the right people that can blend in and our biggest thing is time frame,” he explains the importance of a well-functioning team.

The business has become a supplier and agent for some of the biggest brands in transport including King Bars for bullbars, Alemlube auto-greasers, they do all sorts of hydraulic fit outs for tippers and other applications. They are also an official installer and agent for Waeco fridges, Ultra Vision lighting and lcepack units.

Most recently the company has become the preferred agent in Toowoomba for Lucidity Lights and Armoury Group.

The team on the floor is highly skilled and multi-skilled consisting of two auto electricians, four boiler makers, a painter and of course Bones.

Backing up the boys on the floor, Lola has come into the business full time now.

“That allows me to look after sales and all my customers and be on the floor more often just seeing what’s going on and having more input into design and development,” Bones explains.

IPS have already created a new range of heavy duty guards and practical racks for stock cartage but are constantly developing new innovative products for their customers.

The great part about this for us and our readers is that we may be in for a bit of a treat in future editions of ACT where we might have the opportunity to display a brand new development from the crew at IPS.

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