Ruskim’s group transport manager Lee Shropshire explains: “We immediately saw its potential for giving us flexible, multi-temperature zones in our vehicles which could be moved up and down the bulkhead to reflect the wide variety of food products we now handle.”

The insulated door curtain system, using SMI’s Tempro thermal insulation equipment, is said to conserve significant amounts of energy. The system consists of four movable insulated curtains, fitted on a sliding bar mounted below the truck ceiling. The curtains can be moved by hand to any position on their track as required, held in position by a magnet. A fully automated version of Back-Stop is also available.

Shropshire continues: “We have had a set of curtains on test for just under two months now, and it has been very successful. 

“I was slightly sceptical at first, but it is quite amazing how such a lightweight, flexible curtain can have the ability to form such an effective temperature control barrier.

“We have been retaining frozen temperatures of around -15°C on one side of the curtains, and ambient or chilled temperatures of  between 0 and 3°C on the other, consistently. 

Shropshire says he is now waiting for SMI to adapt Back-Stop so that the curtains rail can be moved up and down the length of a truck.

“When that has been developed, I am sure we will be fitting Back-Stop into a significant number of our vehicles. They will allow us to use our trucks more economically, and make life easier for our drivers too.”