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Executive Report: “Consummate hireman” Robert
Aplin
talks
with
Ben
Jones,
Employee
of
the
Year
as
awarded
by
HAE,
about
his
hire
experiences
with
Kennards
in
Australia
and
Plantool
in
the
UK. Ben Jones was destined to be in the hire industry. His father, Simon, and uncle, Jeremy, founded Handi Hire in 1977 and built up a network of 24 branches throughout the East Midlands and South Yorkshire, before selling to Vibroplant in the summer of 2000. Ben used to spend his Saturdays and school holidays as a teenager “making a nuisance of himself” in the company’s Long Eaton Head Office, although his first ‘official’ job in hire was a three month stint at Rodger Webb’s Plantool Hire Centre in Warwick in early 1996. Moving to the family Handi Hire business full time later in 1996, Ben Jones started training as a fitter. “I had a choice of the hire shop or the workshops and I settled for the workshops because I liked getting my hands dirty, was interested in how things worked and wanted to be involved. I was part of a good team and learnt a tremendous amount. It provided me with a good base to move on from. “Each year my father visited the American Rental Show and the initial plan was to try and organise for me to work for a year in a US rental company. However, when visiting Australia in 1999, he made contact with Peter Lancken, MD of Kennards Hire, and suggested an exchange arrangement, whereby I worked with Kennards for a year and one of their team worked with Handi Hire. Whilst the Kennards’ employee never materialised in the UK, I was collected at Sydney airport by Peter Lancken in October 1999, at the tender age of 21. Working and exploring “I worked in several of Kennards’ Sydney depots servicing equipment and serving customers. The plan was always for me to travel around Kennards locations, so after a couple of months at various Sydney depots, I travelled the length of the east coast, visiting Canberra, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide, both working and exploring the country.” After Kennards bought a hirer with three branches in Perth, on Australia’s west coast, Ben was part of the team that introduced the ‘Kennards model’ into the company. “We completely re-structured the depots, standardised the equipment ranges and installed a new computer system.” At Peter Lancken’s invitation, Ben extended his stay in Australia to three years, working at one of Kennards’ leading outlets in Sydney as maintenance controller for a further two years. “At Kennards I learned the importance of quality and service, training – as it offered extensive programmes for all levels of staff, the introduction of a standard range of equipment and the fact that a Kennards branch is instantly recognisable across Australia from the way it is set out. Teamwork was another key element of the company. “Kennards was really good to me, but, after three years, I wanted to get a manager’s job and not work on the spanners any longer. Friends and family were also back in the UK.” Returning home in October 2002, Ben spent a few months driving for Hire Supply Company, before Rodger Webb rang to invite him to discuss the vacant manager’s position at Plantool’s Warwick branch. Ben started “in at the deep end, running a busy depot” in February 2003. “I was able to re-structure the depot’s layout, learnt how to manage people – the team of five was much older than me – and, generally, got on with building a successful operation.” Plantool opened its Lutterworth branch in early 2005 and, after a struggling first year, Ben took over the branch in June 2006 and remained manager until April last year. In that time, turnover tripled. Last May, Ben recommended to Rodger Webb that Plantool should open in Nuneaton, an area that the company was serving from its Warwick and Lutterworth operations. “I saw the potential in Nuneaton and identified a potential acquisition that would get us into the town.” Not surprisingly, Rodger Webb has promoted Ben to Area Manager responsible for all six Plantool depots. The Employee of the Year’s immediate plan is to grow these existing locations, especially the new Nuneaton operation, by investing in more equipment. Having nominated Ben for the Award, Rodger describes him as “a consummate hireman. He is so enthusiastic and constantly wants to learn. He thrives on variety. You can throw anything at him as he has the ability to multi-task. He is a people person and gets on so well with customers and staff.” • Executive Hire News › Archives › April 2008 › Executive Report › “Consummate hireman”
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