August 08, 2008 - Briggs Equipment, one of the UK’s largest suppliers of short term lift trucks, has invested £8 million in nearly 550 new machines for its short term hire fleet. Alongside a range of counterbalance machines, the new fleet includes 120 pieces of Cat® warehouse equipment, as well as eight 10-16 tonne SMV machines and six 5 tonne Baumann sideloaders.
Briggs explains the growth in customer demands for the specialised heavy lifting trucks as being down to risk-averse buying behaviour coupled with traditionally poor quality of short term hire equipment available in this market.
Often the quality of short term hire machines available in the heavy lifting and long load handling sectors is poor. The machines are usually old and not very reliable but most importantly availability can be poor. However, the current economic uncertainty in the UK means that demand for this equipment is strong.
Allan Parsons, Briggs’ short term rental manager, explains, “Even some of our larger customers in the construction industry, for example, prefer to take a shorter term rental contract out for the larger machines. They represent a significant investment and when there is uncertainty in the economy customers become more risk averse. The shorter term contracts are a good way of minimising risk if a customer is unsure of the long term business forecast.”
A fifth of Briggs’ 2,400-strong short term rental fleet is now made up of warehouse equipment. Allan Parsons puts this down to seasonal demands coupled with the unpredictable nature of retail demand, “Our largest retail customers deliberately keep up to 30% of their fleet on short term rental. This increases their flexibility as a business to respond to increases and decreases in demand at short notice and also avoids the risks of reduced cash flow through increased capital expenditure, in the short term.”
Short term rental equipment is often subjected to more abuse and misuse. The trucks are often used in highly pressurised environments, when demand is high and goods need to be moved quickly, perhaps by agency drivers who aren’t as familiar with the equipment. So the challenge for a national service provider such as Briggs is to keep its short term fleet in excellent condition.
For Briggs this is dependent on familiarising the operators with the machines as much as possible as well as having a thorough inspection process whereby customers are charged for excessive damage. Allan Parsons says, “Our fleet of new machines is LOLER certified and we check and service every machine before it goes out and when it comes back from site. Our priority is having reliable machines that are safe and kept in good working order and available immediately.”
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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
Tags: Briggs, Cat, short term, heavy lifting, rental,
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