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the way I’ve conducted it is to add
assets not cost. In my eyes it’s what
business is all about; adding depth and
surrounding yourself with assets. In a
downturn you can off load assets to
generate cash. With an operating lease,
you’re stuck with it for that term you
agreed to. It’s not the way I would want
to go being honest.”
With regards to the day-to-day running
of a successful hire centre, James told
us: “We offer a personalised service
for our clients. But you are only as
good as the people around you and we
have to think that we’re in the service
sector so reliability and service quality
are key factors - without good people,
you cannot achieve these goals. It’s
ultimately down to the guys out on the
counter who have the contact with the
customers. Backroom, it’s knowing
the products and markets; things do
change and you have to be up for
change – something I pump into these
lads weekly, don’t get stuck in a rut
otherwise you’ll get left behind.”
The future at WHC
Despite building an impressive small
business in a relatively short period of
time, James has still bigger plans for
the future. He said: “I see myself and
my team going from strength to strength
with a good reputable company name,
widening our company client base.
We’re currently investing 2.5 million into
a new site (based in Gloucester) so this
will double the capacity of the company
and the new acre site will become the
head office. Our portfolio of products
and services now includes anything
from a car roof box to a 16 tonne
tracked 360 degree excavator and a
whole lot in between. We also offer
hand-arm vibration (HAV) and whole
body vibration (WBV) consultancy
testing for clients.”
James originally invested in training
and equipment in 2002 and has
constructed a purpose made building
with test beds where he can test tools
and equipment for HAV on a range of
materials typically used by his clients,
thus obtaining real life data. James
continued: “We have a four acre site
where rollers, dumpers and other
mobile machinery can be tested for
WBV. For both HAV and WBV we have
created a large database of exposure
levels that our clients can benefit
from. We extensively use the Reactec
monitoring system, which is fantastic,
and we can provide an extremely
comprehensive vibration management
programme to suit all. In 2010, we won
an NJUG award for our vibration data
and testing/services and we’ve just won
another ROSPA award for occupational
health with specific reference to
vibration and noise.”
“In ten years from now we’ll still be
in business, still going strong and
hopefully reaping the benefits from
new ideas, innovations and inventions,
but we currently have no ambition of
100 depots nationwide. Instead, we’re
concentrating on other areas such as
product differentiation and we have
many commercially sensitive good
ideas in the pipeline awaiting further
development.”
The impact of recession
When asked about the recession
and how this had impacted upon his
business, James said: “During the
recession, manpower has actually
increased, partly because we’ve
been lucky and partly because of
good management to be quite frank.
We’ve taken on five new people, with
two more starting after May. New
employees are being taken on across
the board - drivers, service engineers
and so on but none of us have one job.
This is the thing about an independent
hire company, we need people who
are keen to learn and are committed
to service quality. We invest in them
by providing training courses but it’s
an interesting sector and no day is
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the same, so there’s a lot to learn and
some exciting opportunities there for
young people who want to get on and
get ahead in life. To illustrate how we’ve
grown, we’ve bought about 50 new
mobile machines in the past two years
alone.”
“There are not that many smaller hire
companies who have hit the wall during
this recession – it seems to have
been the bigger companies who have
struggled. One problem I have noticed
though is that you can’t easily get
second hand plant and the costs of that
available have gone up, as the costs for
new plant have risen considerably also.
This all points to hire rates increasing to
cater for these cost increases but we,
as an industry, seem to beat ourselves
up and do ridiculous hire rates on
equipment or plant. Actually boys, we’re
here in business to make money so it’s
about time we [the industry] all reviewed
our hire rates to take account of the
price increases we’re paying for new
and second hand plant and small tools.
The Japanese crisis has had an impact
also because hydraulic pumps, engines
etc. all come from Japan and supply has
been outstripped by demand – so that
will be the next thing to push up price.”
Finally, we asked James what his advice
to government would be. He said: “To
get ourselves out of this recession we
can’t just rely on cuts, we have to invest
and grow capability which will help UK
manufacturing and the supply chain
to those OEMS. A lot of companies in
Worcester supply to OEMs, such as JCB
as an example, and those companies
and people who work for them would
benefit from increased demand. It has
been an extremely harsh time for every
sector and we have a tendency for
complicating business in this country so
let’s just pull back a bit and get to basics
and put in some hard graft to produce.”
April 2011
23