The UK’s national Cat® Lift Truck distributor and service provider, Briggs Equipment, has secured a major contract after demonstrating how it could dramatically reduce costs for a leading supplier of fresh produce.
Leading fresh chilled produce supplier, Kanes Foods, had been working with four materials handling service providers and needed to gain greater control over its running costs. Following a series of thorough site surveys, Briggs proposed a fleet management solution to maximise machine utilisation and dramatically reduce overall running costs.
Briggs optimised the new fleet of 22 Cat counterbalance machines by putting together a standard specification, which means that every machine can be used in each area on site.
Independently owned Kanes Foods, based in Evesham, supplies to leading supermarkets and maintains a strong market position in the fresh food sector. In order to control its monthly running costs and keep them in line with budgets, it needed a new approach to fleet management.
Ernie Burton, Logistics Manager of Kanes Foods, commented: “As a business we have seen rapid growth over the last several years and our running costs were escalating. We decided to use Briggs to manage the contract including maintenance of all on-site auxiliary equipment, and this has led to a significant monthly saving.”
The Cat equipment was already a proven product on Kanes Foods’ site; reliable and durable and popular with drivers due to its user friendly functions.
In addition to the new standard specification, Briggs provided a UK first fleet management system called Speedshield to help reduce damage costs.
John Powney, Sales Executive at Briggs, said: “We wanted to ensure that Kanes Foods not only reduced its monthly running costs, but it also avoided unexpected bills. The Speedshield system helps Kanes to monitor the drivers’ performance and thereby reduces damage to the equipment.”
Speedshield is an intelligent asset management tool with a suite of options so that customers can have the level of control, efficiency and HSE compliance that they need. Speedshield is quickly and easily installed onto almost any vehicle. Additionally, Speedshield automatically transmits data to any internet ready PC so the most up-to-date information is always available via the password protected online portal.
Speedshield offers a wealth of services including authorised operator access, speed monitoring, impact detection, a suite of auto shut-down options and itemised pre-shift EH&S operator checks, all with online access from any computer and no additional expense for software.
Prior to the new contract, Kanes Foods were wearing through up to three sets of tyres per year on each truck. With the new Speedshield system in place, this is expected to be halved, saving up to £15,000 per year on tyres alone.
The fleet of 22 Cat machines consists of 1.6 to 2.5 tonne gas and electric counterbalance trucks as well as an access platform. The contract rental agreement includes all service and maintenance.
BE Fleet & Speedshield Tel: 03301 23 98 44 www.befleet.co.uk www.speedshield.co.uk
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