Parts availability, price and after sales support are the three most important service factors in the materials handling industry. In combination, these three factors can bring significant gains to operational efficiencies and ultimately improve a company’s financial performance. So how would the industry benefit from the best quality genuine parts, available at cheaper prices than generic brands, produced in a sustainable way and delivered door to door the next day?
February 22, 2008 - An improved service from Briggs Equipment, the UK’s national Cat® Lift Truck distributor and materials handling service provider, achieves these seemingly opposing criteria to ensure that its customers make up to 30% savings on high standard Caterpillar® and other manufacturers’ parts.
Briggs Equipment’s Service Exchange is a programme whereby a broken or failed component, such as an engine or starter motor, is rebuilt rather than repaired or replaced. By rebuilding the part to the highest standards, and providing the same warranty as a brand new part, Briggs guarantees its customers the same length of life for the rebuilt part as they would expect from a new part.
Parts such as engines, starter motors, drive motors and transmissions can cost in the region of £20,000 to £40,000 to replace. The Service Exchange programme offers significant savings on some of these high ticket items that commonly need to be replaced during the lifetime of a machine. The secret to making this work for both the customer and the supplier is in managing the whole chain of supply. Once a part has been identified as having potential to fit into the Service Exchange scheme, Briggs conduct a full feasibility study to determine whether the logistics and cost savings involved in this outweigh the cost of buying a new replacement part. Usually this means that the part is a fast moving component with a demand to justify the set up costs of the exchange programme. Then a cost-benefit analysis is conducted to ascertain whether it makes economic sense, for both Briggs and the customer, to offer the rebuilt part exchange.
The viability of the logistics involved in this is a key consideration. Briggs uses a specialist network of engineering rebuild providers to do the repair work. These providers are contracted to the highest standards of workmanship, as all Service Exchange units are given the same warranty as a new component. Briggs carefully manages the logistics and standards of repair across this network. The transport, locations and processes involved in this logistics chain all need to be factored in to the feasibility study.
Any component in the Service Exchange programme must meet the objectives of reducing costs to customers and achieving economic viability for Briggs Equipment.
“We set up contracts outlining the standards of workmanship that our engineering providers must adhere to. We set them high and we manage them tightly,” says Clive Green, parts sales development manager at Briggs Equipment. “By balancing the best specialist support and taking a view across the whole supply chain we can ensure that we get a win win situation for our customers as well as for Briggs.
“With 75% of our parts going to our own contract fleet, this has proven to be a great way of reducing our own costs. It is also environmentally friendly in that we manage the system to ensure viability and guarantee that the rebuilt part has the same lifetime expectancy of a new part. Of course this recycling and reuse of parts is also helping to increase sustainable business practice and can even contribute to reducing carbon footprint.”
Once a component has met all the criteria then it enters the Service Exchange programme. The core unit is given a unique number and location and set up on a separate part of the system. The next time a customer has a failed part he is given the option of Service Exchange, and as long as his part is repairable, the customer gets a replacement part at significant savings over a new part and for delivery the next day.
This ‘seeding in’ process, where the failed part is received in, triggers the rebuild logistics and the existing stocked item is released to the customer. Each core unit has a total of six lifetimes, which means that it is expected to be re-used six times before it is beyond economical repair and a new unit needs to be seeded in.
For its larger customers with fixed fleets and standardised parts requirements, Briggs sets them up with their own Service Exchange programme. These customers make significant savings on their parts spend.
Inspired by listening to customers needs in research, the programme is another first to market service innovation for Briggs Equipment and part of its vision of being its customers’ first choice of service provider. Briggs were also the first company in the industry to offer direct ship of parts and has recently launched a new, dedicated service for the tail lift market.
- Ends -
Visit our blog at www.lifttrucknews.net where you can find company and industry news designed to keep you updated with relevant information on some of the topical issues faced by organisations and operators within the UK industry. From opinion pieces from our CEO, through to how-to guides and “what’s new” from Briggs Equipment, join us… It’s worth blogging about.
Briggs Equipment UK
Briggs Equipment UK Ltd is a leading materials handling service provider and sole distributor of Yale Materials Handling products in Great Britain. Providing a wide range of equipment for a broad customer base, Briggs provides innovative, tailored and cost effective solutions on a nationwide basis. With its headquarters and national support centre in Cannock, Briggs people assist and advise in the delivery of long term solutions that enable customers to develop more efficient and results driven businesses.
Media contact:
Tiffany Clowes
Changeworks Communications
T. + 44 (0) 1785 247588
E.
Company Contact:
Scott Bullock
Briggs Equipment
Orbital Way
Cannock
WS11 8XW
T: 01543 430 455
W: www.briggsequipment.co.uk
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