St.Marys Journal Argus                                                      COMMUNITY                                                                Wednesday, December 7, 2005
St. Marys invaded by Robica Forman!
 

By E.R. "Bob" Nothof  SPECIAL TO THE JOURNAL ARGUS

  
     
   Some St.Marys citizens were probably wondering Monday morning if there was an invasion, as the army was observed in dress fatigues doing something on St. Maria Hill for about half and hour.          No, it was a demonstration being put on by local manufacturing company Robica Forman Tank, as the "first off" of the recent $2.2 million contract with the Canadian Department of National Defence (DND).   The rebuilt trailer was loaded with over 15 ton of cement blocks and had to demonstrate that the brakes would hold the loaded trailer both facing up hill and down on a 20 per cent grade hill.   A 10,000-litre, six wheel drive military refueler was used as the towing unit and  created some rubber neckers, especially in the Highway 401 portion of the demonstration.   Totally the demo was over hills, gravel roads and secondary roads, mostly in Perth South, with some highway travel for about six hours total with three military personnel observing form a following Robica vehicle.   All demonstration were approved and
Robica Forman Tank   was doing a demonstration in St.Marys Monday morning.  they loaded a rebuilt  trailer with over 15 tons of cement blocks and proved that the brakes would hold the loaded trailer uphill and down on St. Maria Street, a 20 per cent grade hill.  The trailer is part of a recent $2.2 million contract with the Canadian government.
 
       
Robica can now start full production on over 80 DND units starting in 2006, and Editor's Note: Bob Nothof is the V.P. and general manager of Robica Forman.
  running until 2008.                             And that's the rest of the story