Going the Extra Mile
Most organisations are winding down on a Friday afternoon, preparing for the weekend. At Solution Plant Hire we are busy ensuring that all our customers with weekend work are ready for their weekend shifts, and that all equipment is functioning and on site. On this occasion moments before 5pm on a Friday we kicked into gear to source and supply equipment for an early Saturday start.
The Challenge:
A call was placed to our sales representative, Nick Brookbanks just before 5pm on a Friday afternoon, the customer urgently needed to arrange a 23T Zero Swing Excavator, with rubber pads, for some emergency work which had been scheduled in for the following morning. Being one of the most popular pieces of equipment, and an incredibly busy time of year, Solution Plant Hire’s entire fleet of 23T Excavators were already on hire to other customers.
To fulfil the customers need, Nick was going to have to look to the rest of the fleet, at this late hour he began his search for a machine that would suit the customers’ requirements, however once again being such a busy time of year, the only excavator available was a 30Twith steel tracks. He offered this as a solution to the customer, who came back adamant that as the work was being completed on the road, they definitely required rubber tracks.
The Solution:
With only the 30T Excavator with steel tracks as an option, Nick had to think outside the square. He quickly came up with the Solution to provide 40 square meters of rubber track mats, which could be placed where work was being carried out to prevent ripping up the road, but still allow the customer to use the Excavator Nick had sourced.
Planning:
The moment the call was received late on a Friday afternoon the planning process kicked into gear, to ensure that the customer’s needs were met, whilst not missing any important key considerations.
As already outlined, Nick first tried to source the exact machine the customer had asked for to get the job done, being unsuccessful in this, he then began to track down a machine that was similar and would be able to complete the job. After sourcing a piece of equipment (30T Excavator), he then checked that the equipment met the customer’s needs, which it didn’t.
It was then up to Nick to brainstorm how to meet the customer’s needs with limited available equipment in the market, and an incredibly tight schedule. It was then Nick had the idea to provide the rubber mats.
Delivering the solution:
Needless to say the customer was very happy with this innovative solution.
Nick was able to arrange a night time float with a pilot support vehicle so that the machine, and the track mats would arrive, ready to work on site by 7am the following day, as requested.