Capital Equipment News August 2019

The design of the JCB Teletruk reduces overheads, saves time and space and improves site safety, all of which can translate into huge financial savings.

between the racks and the required aisle widths, among other warehouse equipment dynamics. Why JCB and Linde? According to Green, the two premium brands offer Eazi Access an opportunity to expand the product offering and add real value to its customers. “It’s an opportunity for us to serve our customers better. Customers are looking for a one-stop shop for all their access and material handling needs. They can now come to a single provider and we make it easy for them by providing that full service offering,” explains Green. Green says there was a real push in the market from customers asking for Eazi Access to expand the equipment range to include products of this nature. “The feedback we got from the market is that our customers were asking us to serve them on a broader scale. It stems from our service regime, which has been a key strength of our business. Anybody else can provide a machine, but it’s the uptime, ease of transaction and the aftersales service that really matters,” adds Green. “Service is what we pride ourselves in as a business – how we measure success and failure, as well as customer experience. It’s something that we have been working hard on and we get it right most of the time. Where we don’t get it right we relook, analyse, unpack and improve,” says Thorington. Thorington adds that from an OEM perspective, in Eazi Access, JCB saw a great partner that could give it a strong foothold into the industrial rental market, considering

Eazi Access offers a total of 59 Linde models.

that the UK manufacturer hasn’t really tapped into this market as best as it could in South Africa. “Linde Material Handling saw an opportunity to leverage our service model, as well as our South African and African footprint to provide an unparalleled service experience to its customers,” adds Thorington. Thorington also reveals that, some two years ago Eazi Access recognised the downward trajectory of the local construction market, which has always been the company’s bread and butter. Consequently, the need to diversify was apparent, and JCB and Linde Material Handling fit into that strategy to further diversify the product range to be able to offer integrated solutions to the market. Green adds that one of the key strategic aims is to gain a strong presence in the heavy sectors like mining. “We have been able to penetrate the mining and heavy industrial sectors, which, in recent years, have offered us an opportunity to diversify our target markets,” he says. Thorington says a major success driver in the mining market, for example, has been the company’s approach. “We are based on customer sites, where we have integrated ourselves into the business of the customer to be a valued partner, rather than just an equipment supplier,” says Thorington. From a support point of view, to be able to offer quick turnaround on parts supply for the new and existing brands, Eazi Access is busy refurbishing one of its four warehouses at its Midrand base, which will be turned into a national parts centre. It will service both South Africa and the sub-Saharan market. The parts stockholding is anywhere between R20-million and R40-million at any given time. According to Thorington, parts stockholding is a key enabler of the Eazi Access business. “It’s a service acumen that we have developed from our rental business. When you have got so many machines out in the field, you have to develop a structure that allows you to better service and maintain them,” concludes Thorington. b

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