GO PLANT TRADING UPDATE
GPL is structured into four main trading divisions each providing national coverage in their respective disciplines of:- Contract hire with maintenance, short term rental, operated road sweeping and plant hire. The combined service network operates from 20 centres coupled with mobile engineers, providing an enviable coverage and enables the company to deliver a customer service second to none.
With investment of over £20 million in two years on new vehicles and plant to support the success of winning new long term contracts and by adding 70 new vehicles to the short term rental fleet over the last 12 months has significantly increased its share of the market. GPL has invested in a range of new products in response to customer demand and renewed vehicles in order to maintain a high profile modern fleet with improved fuel economy and lower emissions. Paul said “we are proud of our reputation hard earned over many years of serving the public and private sectors where the Go Plant brand has become synonymous with reliability and dependability. The market has witnessed significant change where we have continued to develop and adapt our offering to remain attractive and competitive whilst others have failed.”
The short term rental division have recently won a number of contracts and opposite is a photograph of part of the new Reigate & Banstead fleet being handed over for 3 & 5 year contract periods. Frank Etheridge (Operations Manager of Reigate & Banstead) said: “Following competitive tendering via the Pro 5 Framework Agreement, GPL were selected as the Councils new supply partner. During the evaluation process both quality of service and value for money were given high priority."
The Landscape Group (English Landscapes) have awarded GPL exclusive supplier status on all their Municipal Equipment for the next two years and vehicles have started to be phased into contracts. Angus Lindsey Group Head of Asset and Fleet Management at The Landscape Group said:- “Following an exhaustive review of our street cleansing requirements “The Landscape Group” identified that the supply of street cleansing equipment was best served by an experienced organisation providing user preference quality equipment, strong operational back-up at competitive contract hire rates.
Having reviewed previous and potential suppliers we were impressed by GPL’s understanding of our business, their willingness to visit individual sites to discuss requirements with the operational managers, a realistic and no nonsense approach in dealing with day to day issues and a professionalism towards our and their own business which seems to be lacking in many other areas of supply.
Another new customer who GPL were pleased to help out when their vehicle down time increased with a competitor was Reading B.C. who now have a fleet of 6 Road Sweepers on hire until the new tender documents are released and where GPL also now provides a maintenance package on some of Reading’s owned vehicles.
GPL’s Contract Hire division continues to grow and the new partnership with East Staffs B.C. who are committing to up to 20 vehicles for a five year period is the latest in a series of Contract gains in the last year.
Additional vehicles have been delivered to the London Borough of Barnet with more to follow demonstrating GPL’s competitive edge and the ability to introduce new innovations in service delivery throughout a contract.
Lichfield & London Borough of Hackney have increased their fleets too selecting GPL as their preferred supplier.
The compact sweeper fleet at Salford has been renewed for the second time in the nine year contract supplementing the new refuse fleet supplied by GPL and maintained in house further cementing the long term relationship.
A further testament to GPL’s consistent performance is the extension of Contracts such as Cornwall C.C. for a further two years and Enterprise Liverpool for an additional year which Malcolm Norton, Deputy MD commented “Our relationship with our customers is key to the success we have enjoyed over the last five years. In our experience services are often enhanced through partnership working so engaging with our customers helps us to focus on achieving targets. We are committed to continuous improvement to deliver the lowest cost without compromising value.”
GPL has also increased its provision of service to include long term maintenance contracts and new opportunities were awarded by Serco & Enterprise in the last 12 months.
Technical resources within GPL have been expanded with a number of new technical engineers joining the team bringing additional support to the ever growing fleet and improving customer service.
The commercial road sweeping division has enjoyed similar success with some of the larger National Term Maintenance Contracts which have been awarded on either sole or preferred supplier status by Biffa Waste Service, Tarmac, Lafarge and Hanson’s having proved compliance with the strict operating guidelines for training and health & safety combined with effective account management to deliver cost savings and additional services. Evan Sutherland (Senior Procurement Manager of Biffa Waste Services) said: “Go Plant are a national sole supplier to Biffa Waste Service for operated road sweeping services. We chose them as our partner because of a combination of reliability and cost efficiency over the contract period. We have a long term working relationship with them which is at a national level but with frequent account reviews has maintained the closeness of a regional relationship, with any issues and problems sorted straight away. The relationship has moved from a tactical hourly rate discussion to minimise cost; to a strategic approach to see what we can do differently such as different sweep patterns etc".
With ever ongoing investment Go Plant has over 200 sweeper drivers all of which have now obtained CSCS and Epic status. In addition the driver CPC programme is being rolled out to provide all drivers with the qualification.
Paul Langham said finally “We need to remain focused on the ever changing industry, to ensure we are able to advise our customers and deliver a first class service where we remain the preferred choice for vehicle hire and maintenance across the UK. And with the backing of the Wilson family, the owners of the business since 2007, and their long term commitment in support of the growth aspirations of the GPL management team then the future, despite the economic challenges, looks much brighter indeed”.
Large Sweepers
Compact Sweepers
Gully Machines
Refuse Vehicles
Telehandler
