GREENVILLE, SC – Western Star enjoyed time on the silver screen when a pre-production model of the 5700 was customized to star as Optimus Prime in an installment of Transformers. But the manufacturer’s true “transformer” was unveiled to media at the Laurens Proving Grounds on Thursday.

A new Extreme Duty (XD) Offroad package was unveiled along with the MBT-40 Transformer chassis, which with a 68,000-pound Palfinger G68 hooklift is able to switch from watering truck to dump body in less than 10 minutes – quicker than it would take to refuel. And the open platform means there are other applications to come, ranging from cranes to fuel and lube trucks. That means much higher productivity for construction companies and mines that might traditionally leave specialized trucks parked for extended periods.

It is available on 4900 and 6900 models in 6×4 and 6×6 configurations.

“This is just the beginning. These are three samples. We are actively working with other body builders,” says John Tomlinson, XD and vocational sales manager.

 “The MBT-40 package is a game changer in construction applications for its ability to be multiple pieces of equipment in one chassis,” he adds. “The development of this platform was all about finding better economic ways of filling needs for our customers. Off-road chassis equipment can be expensive to buy and maintain and new emissions levels are making the investment even more costly.”

It’s more costly than a dedicated truck, but there are clear savings when you don’t need different powertrains or cabs for the individual pieces. “If you need a water truck, order the attachment. If you need a tip trailer, order it,” he says.

Electric, pneumatic and hydraulic connections spin on by hand, and drivers can monitor the activities behind them with a video screen mounted between the seats. Once bodies are connected, a related template fits over a generic control console. Switches for the tip truck, for example, suddenly become controls for the water truck.

“I think we’re looking at trying to really address a problem, providing a more cost-effective solution than people have realized could happen,” Western Star president Kelley Platt told Today’s Trucking. “This is something that we think will help mine operators and heavy equipment operators more cost-effective in what they do. It doesn’t totally replace articulated equipment or other big, heavy off-road equipment, but it allows people to take advantage in certain areas and lower their cost structure.”

Early adopters will be those that truly understand their cost structure, she adds. “We’ve had people tell us that this will allow them to take advantage of maybe auxiliary areas of their mines, where it’s too expensive to build roads to. In a lot of areas where you build roads to a mine, you’ve got to put them in and take them out. With this type of heavy haul equipment, you could build a much smaller road on the order of 40 to 45 feet wide as opposed to the 120 feet wide. And when you’ve got fewer pieces of equipment, it allows you to have a lower investment level and still work on what might be auxiliary areas to where your current operations are. We think it will make them more effective.”

So, too, could it add versatility to those involve in building infrastructure.

“Working with Western Star on this open platform concept product has been great. Carco Industries is very experienced in mining and off-road fuel and service products along with carrying the PALFINGER crane lines,” said Charlie Schimmels, sales manager, Carco Industries. “This combination of experience and product along with the rugged design and carrying capacity of the XD40 off-road chassis offered by Western Star makes the MBT-40 package a very unique product. With commodity prices down and budget cuts becoming common place we need to think smarter about how we do business and the MBT-40 does that.”

Western Star used a backdrop of Michelin’s Laurens Proving grounds for related demonstrations, focusing on the off-road terrain tucked in a corner of the 3,300-acre real-world laboratory that includes more than a dozen test tracks such as straightaways, wet tracks, high-speed tracks, and a “noise and comfort loop” with different road surfaces.

In a way, this latest product line honors the company’s roots, as it prepares next year to celebrate 50 years since being formed under the White Motor Company, when it focused on punishing logging applications.

The 6900XD comes with 28,000-pound slippered springs to absorb harsh terrain. Butterfly hoods are connected with six bolts, clamps and a plug. Built for off-road environments, there is even black smoke coming from the stacks.

The trucks will come with Detroit Series 60 Tier 3 engines for off-road use, or the 2016 DD16.

Treated as a whole new category of truck, the XD Off Road will be sold through Western Star dealers, but with a specific series of spec’s.

There is no room for experimenting in equipment like this, Tomlinson explains. “If you order it wrong, you have a very expensive planter out in front of your dealership.” The added advantage is that they can be spec’d in less than an hour. Replacement parts are available overnight.

To put the punishing environments into perspective, he referred to a coal mine that had truck fenders cracking at the bottom. It turned out that slurry was spraying into the fenders and adding about 800 pounds of weight. “Eight hundred pounds going up, we didn’t design for that,” he admits, referring to how a plate was added to handle the stress. “They’re made to carry that weight every day for 12 years.”

The 6900XD itself can haul 500,000 pounds as a tractor and move 80,000 pounds at a time as a dump.

The engineering team behind the truck was able to work with a fair bit of autonomy, yet still tap into the resources of the 17^th largest corporation in the world. “It allows us to tap into global technology,” Platt said, referring to the benefits of being part of the Daimler family.

There has been plenty coming from Western Star in recent years. In 2011, a Baby-8 4700 truck was added for dump, roll-off and municipal fleets. Last year came the aerodynamic 5700 XE (for Extreme Efficiency), which in the Daimler stable ranks second only to the Freightliner Cascadia in terms of fuel economy. And where fuel economy is averaging close to 7 mpg, one customer has reported an average closer to 7.86 mpg.

One Winnipeg fleet was so enamored with the truck’s lines that it even changed the corporate logo to highlight the contours.

The market for the trucks has changed along the way. As recently as 2010, close to one in four Western Star trucks were sent to Australia, with the remainder split between the U.S. and Canada. Now, selling twice the number of trucks, the company sends just 5% to Australia, with 30% coming to Canada and the remainder going to the U.S.

“We’ve really grown the U.S. piece of it, but we’ve also grown the Canadian piece,” Platt says, referring to market shares here of 8-11%.

As for other products in the pipeline? “I can tell you that we’re not sitting still,” she said. It’s about building the “best, toughest, and most bad-ass trucks in the industry.”