One thing I love about coming to work is that two days are never the same. Working with people and machinery can be unpredictable, though I’m sure that’s what is said about children and animals ...
I love the variety and the obscure requests that can come through. It’s challenging, requires some process and strategic thinking, as well conversations with a diverse set of suppliers, to come up with solutions. Clients don’t always know what kit they need as each job has different criteria to be met. It means we are all constantly learning about new solutions, what can be done, and the parameters of plant and innovations out there. This is never truer than with the breadth of conscious choices arising, particularly in lighting and power, as we all keep an eye on the planet.
A large part of my role is ensuring our clients have the plant and equipment they need when and where they need it. This not only involves advising on and sourcing the kit from our supply chain (saving clients half a day ringing round), but also managing on-time delivery and access, as well as any traffic management, off-hires, and damages and losses.
To give clients greater visibility across sites, I produce regular Live On-Hire reports which literally outline the equipment they have on-hire and where it is. This quickly enables them to recognise any kit lying dormant on the site so it can be taken off-hire, not only making financial savings and avoiding damages and fuel theft, but also making the site safer and less cluttered. It’s a win-win! It can also highlight kit that is missing and needed for the next stage of the project.
With all the pre- and post-checks that are part of my daily routine, there’s a great transparency with our hires. Not only does this mean we know what plant is where and for how long, we are also able to invoice more accurately. While we find 10.7% of our supplier invoices have errors, our clients query less than 1% of our invoices to them.
Still, things can go wrong … even with the best organisational process in place and high-quality kit from trusted suppliers! Only this morning, a delivery was held up by the delivery vehicle getting a puncture driving over a nail. Several calls later and some back and forth with delivery companies meant we were able to get a new delivery vehicle, our roto off-loaded and reloaded and ultimately delivered to site on time. Phew! Still, it made for a dramatic morning!
On the rare occasion I have downtime at work, I like to keep up with what’s new in plant hire. I’ll speak to our suppliers to gauge what innovative kit they are launching and how it can be used, and I’ll scour industry news. I also meet with suppliers regularly to make sure we are working together as effectively as possible and that we are dotting the ‘i’s and crossing the ‘t’s. It’s the details that make a difference.
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