Since the Reading, Pennsylvania based manufacturer of service bodies already has a 30 percent market share - according to National Truck Equipment Association figures - the industry paid attention, and waited.

The secret was finally out in early November, when Reading introduced a new line of aerodynamic service bodies.

What makes these truck bodies stand apart from other products on the market, said Jack O'Donnell, the company's vice president of sales, is that they're made completely from steel, not the fiberglass or plastic composites more usually used to produce aerodynamic styling.

"It's definitely cheaper - and faster - to manufacture truck bodies like these out of composites. But they simply don't have the durability steel bodies do," O'Donnell said.

UFM ,attended the November 11 unveiling and press conference at Reading's manufacturing facility. We learned that the new Aerotech line represents nearly four years of market research and $4 million worth of new manufacturing equipment including the purchase of a robotic laser cutting system and a high tonnage draw-formed press, used to shape the door and body panels.

These, expensive investments were well worth the cost, according to Dan Perlman, Reading's manager of manufacturing. "If the Aerotech end panels were made of plastic composites, the tooling would cost $45,000 to make. Because we use steel, the tooling costs upwards of $500,000." If it's that expensive, why use steel at all? "Thing is," Perlman said, "steel simply takes more abuse and lasts longer than many other truck body materials.

"That's why our customers buy steel bodies, and why we are committed to using steel for our next generation of service bodies."

Other key Aerotech features are: flush-mounted doors with concealed hinges; hold-backs on vertical doors to keep them open at a 90 degree angle; lock cylinders that won't freeze or jam; flange- mounted rubber door seals; a factory-installed, flush-mounted lighting package: and a pickup-style removable tailgate.

Backbone of steel

Steel has been the backbone of Reading's light-, medium- and heavy-duty truck bodies since the company we founded by Irving Suknow in 1955. Reading uses 1,200 tons of steel per month to produce an average of 800 truck bodies and the new Aerotech line. oil. "The zinc coating helps eliminate rust. The A-60 steel we use is coated on both sides by .06 ounces of zinc per square foot. We even apply a three-millimeter coating of zinc to the bumpers through a flame gun at 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit to make sure they are protected, " Perlman said.

Perlman, incidentally, is the man who, in 1987, designed and built Reading's other claim to fame - the 12-step immersion priming painting system known as Lectro-Life. Lectro-Life consists of ten tanks holding 27,500 gallons of fluid that is 92 percent water and eight percent paint. A 400-volt charge, from 800 to 1,200 amps, pulses into each tank fusing paint to the assorted truck bodies, bumpers, body doors and other attachments lowered into the mixture. The immersion process, which takes only minutes to complete, ensures that even hidden and recessed areas within the truck body compartments are coated.

The new Aerotech line represents nearly four years of market research and four million worth of new manufacturing equipment - including the purchase of a robotic laser cutting system and a high tonnage draw-formed press, used to shape the door and body panels.

Radically new design

But steel construction and "cathodic electrocoating" are the only two similarities shared by the new Aerotech design and Reading's older bodies.

"Because of its aerodynamic shape, the Aerotech has three times as many parts as our other products - but requires less welding and grinding in the final stage of manufacturing" Perlman told us, adding, "Reducing welding and grinding means more zinc stays on the steel, increasing rust protection."

Reading contracted with a Detroit based computer firm to run a computer simulated stress test, called a Finite Element Analysis, on the Aerotech design, Perlman said. "The test showed us that the aerodynamic shape of the body made it more durable, more flexible, and reduced drag compared to our other models."

Hot market

The Aerotech design may have been a long time coming, but Reading has already sold its three prototype models - with demand heating up. "We received double the number of orders we expected when we showed the Aerotech design to our distributors, so we're going to have, our hands full for a while," said O'Donnell. "But we don't mind it one bit."