Executive Hire News › Archives › March 2009 › Executive Report : E T looks forward
Executive Report : E T looks forward
Having re-branded and re-focused its operation, Bolton-based E T Hire is set for growth. Alan Guthrie reports.
Although its headquarters today are in Bolton, and it has another depot in Manchester, E T Hire was actually founded over the border in Scotland. It was established in 1989 as a subsidiary of the trailer manufacturer, Indespension. “We could see potential in tool and equipment hire because so many buyers of trailers were professional tradesmen and contractors who were typical hire customers,” says Richard Fairfield, Managing Director of E T Hire, who was Indespension’s Commercial Director with responsibility for the dozen or so depots that the company had at the time. He had previously worked for the private equity specialist 3i, after completing an MBA at Manchester Business School.
“As a pilot project, we established E T (Edinburgh Tool) Hire at Indespension’s facility to the west of Leith, and it quickly proved successful, essentially offering a typical range of tools and equipment that could be lifted by two men and loaded into a Transit van. After 18 months the operation was re-located to larger, dedicated premises nearby. We opened an additional depot in Livingston soon afterwards, and another in Bolton at Indespension’s head office site.” However, in 1993 the trailer manufacturer decided to concentrate on its main activity, and Richard bought the E T Hire business. New, larger premises were found for the Bolton depot, and further branches were established in Openshaw, east Manchester, in 1999 and western Glasgow in 2003. “We strongly considered opening at another site in east Glasgow, to reinforce our coverage throughout the central Scottish belt, but we realised that the business had become somewhat ‘lopsided’, with consequent logistical challenges. 70% of turnover was derived from Scotland, but I wanted to maintain the company’s base in the north of England region, where we saw great potential. After much thought, we sold the three Scottish depots to Hire Station in August 2007 for £1.1m.”
E T Hire had, therefore, reverted to a similar size as it had been ten years previously, but it now had cash in the bank to develop its operation. “Last year we effectively re-launched the business. To strengthen the management team Marcus Gunning was appointed as Sales Director and Diane Doyle as Training & Marketing Manager. We upgraded our hire software system with the latest MCS-rm program, and between Christmas and the New Year we moved the Bolton operation into larger premises with 6,000ft2 of storage space, offices and training facilities.
“Last year we appointed a marketing agency to work with the company. With its assistance we have completely re-branded the business with a more modern logo and fresher literature, adopting the strap line ‘Access, Tools, Training’. This summarises the services we offer, with access equipment comprising our largest single product range.”
The company’s interest in training derives from its own recruitment experiences. “There is still no recognised career path for hire industry trainees, and we know ourselves how difficult it can be to find competent, dedicated personnel. Consequently we are committed to training our own staff, and we are applying for Investors in People recognition. All staff are PASMA trained. We provide PASMA training from both our depots, as well as courses on abrasive wheels and discs, and training on equipment such as Paslode and Hilti nail guns. We will shortly be able to offer appointed persons and full first aid training, and courses on manual handling.”
Between them, the Bolton and Manchester depots employ 14 people. “Being 22 miles apart, equipment can be moved quickly between the two if required,” says Richard. “We can reach customers in areas such as Liverpool, Warrington, Wigan, St Helens, Blackburn and Chorley. We do not cover locations such as Leeds, on the other side of the Pennines, as the greater travelling times mean we could not guarantee our normal rapid response times - we always aim to be at a customer’s site within 45 minutes.
“We pride ourselves on establishing close business relationships with customers, who chiefly comprise local authorities and their contractors, regional building companies and tradesmen. We are very positive about the future and believe there is scope for us to grow our depot network, although any expansion will be confined to this geographic region. Feedback from customers suggests that many remain busy and have further contracts in the pipeline. There is also a tremendous amount of building activity planned for this region, including the BBC Media City in Manchester, redevelopment of Bolton University and the continued regeneration of east Manchester, in addition to government-funded work on schools and hospitals.
“Several national hirers have closed depots in our area and re-located them within ‘hub’ facilities serving larger areas. We believe this gives us an opportunity to build stronger relationships with local businesses. By being closer to our customers we can react more quickly - and if we need to buy more equipment or add to our service, our flexibility means we can have plans in place almost immediately.
“We have excellent links with our suppliers, several of whom attended an open day we held on 8 January to mark the opening of our new Bolton depot. Those suppliers exhibiting at the day included Youngman (whose Boss X3 compact scissor lift we have just ordered, having seen it at the Executive Hire Show), Hilti, Oswald Record, diamond products supplier BOA, and access equipment specialist AFI, which supplies us with larger powered equipment on a re-hire basis. Attendance on the day was excellent, and it showed us that our customers, like ourselves, are still looking forward.” •
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