Construction World February 2019

EQUIPMENT

Repeat PURCHASES Build It Pinetown, one of 350 retail stores in the SPAR Group South Africa stable, mixes paint, cuts glass and boards, reads business plans and, most importantly, provides home deliveries for its customers. T hese deliveries are currently being performed by two FAW trucks, each bought from the FAW Pinetown branch. Paul Nothnagel, sales executive at the full sales, service and parts dealership — one of two such facilities in KwaZulu-Natal – has been the driving force behind the deals. Nothnagel proactively marketed the FAW brand by personally visiting Build It Pinetown, and leaving marketing brochures for the store’s management to mull over. This strategy worked, and he continues to pay the store visits, sometimes after-hours, to ensure complete customer satisfaction. The first FAW the Build It Pinetown branch bought was a five-tonne 8.140FL, which was secured in October last year. This acquisition was quickly followed by another identical purchase, this time financed in-house by FAW Pinetown, a month later. The popular FAW 8.140FL is a 4x2 heavy-duty truck with a body and payload allowance of 6 019 kg and permissible gross combination mass (GCM) of 14-tonnes. It is powered by a 3.8-litre Cummins ISF engine. Quintus van Rooyen, general manager at Build It Pinetown, explains that the busy home improvement store wanted to buy its own trucks as it had been outsourcing deliveries to subcontractors — with mixed results. Ironically, a driver from one of these

companies had also recommended FAW to Van Rooyen. He adds that Build It Pinetown delivers a range of building materials up to 500 km away. “The FAW’s have impressed us and we are now preparing to buy a third FAW, most likely the larger 15.180FL, due to its 24-tonne GCM rating,” he explains. With Build It Pinetown being so busy with home deliveries, some as far away as Nkandla, the two FAW trucks are already approaching their second visit to the fully-equipped FAW Pinetown workshop. “There hasn’t been anything that Paul and FAW Pinetown have not been able to sort out for us,” Van Rooyen continues. “The low fuel consumption recorded by the FAW trucks and the superb after-sales service offered by FAW Pinetown and from Paul in particular, is the main reasons why we keep going back to them,” he concludes. The Pinetown FAW branch is strategically based alongside the N3 to Johannesburg and is in the same vicinity as other leading truck OEM’s. It was established eight years ago, with dealer principal, Mike Williams, at the helm of the impressive facility since 2013. Individually owned and managed, the Build It group have been supplying retail home improvement building materials across Southern Africa for more than 32 years. 

10 000 IN A DECADE

Bobcat has announced a spectacular achievement in 2018 for the company’s market-leading E10 one tonne mini-excavator with the 10 000 th unit rolling off the production line in the same year as it celebrates its 10th Anniversary. The E10, now renamed the E10z, is ideal for a variety of applications including rental, construction, demolition, refurbishment, landscaping, trenching and drainage work.

A landmark excavator model The launch of the E10 mini-excavator in April 2008 was a landmark moment in Bobcat’s history and in the development of the company’s compact excavator range. The E10, along with the E08, were the first excavator models designed and built from start to finish in Europe. The goal was to replace and greatly exceed previous models by meeting the expectations of customers in Europe and beyond. The 10 000 plus sales and the reputation the E10 has earned over the last 10 years confirm that this objective has been more than achieved. The E10 is now called the E10z to reflect that it is a zero tail swing mini-excavator with a maximum digging depth of 1,82 m and a machine weight of 1 066 kg. Bobcat’s E10z is designed and engineered to provide the best combination of high performance, stability, operator safety, ergonomics and durability in this segment of the mini-excavator market and offers the ability to retract itself to easily pass through standard 80 cm door openings. The main feature which differentiates the E10z from other machines on the market is the patented side adjustable consoles which accommodate hydraulic pilot pressure controlled joysticks. This design is unique in its class, allowing the operator to enjoy the

comfort and feel of much larger machines, whilst being able to adjust the width of the consoles for easy passage through narrow openings. In its 10 th anniversary year, Bobcat customers and dealers alike continue to be very impressed with the E10z. Tom Macfarlane, Owner of True Plant Hire Limited and Trueline Midlands Limited, based in Wymeswold in Leicestershire in the UK, says: "All of our fleet below 8 tonne is from Bobcat and has been supplied by our local dealer, Butler Reynolds. The Bobcat E10z was one of the first machines we bought for our hire fleet. It is a very good machine offering compactness and versatility with a width of 710 mm allowing it to pass through doorways and other narrow passages. “For a small machine, it offers much more power than you'd expect for a 1 tonne model and much more than other minis of this size on the market. It combines this with high operator comfort — the joysticks are easy to use and offer high precision when working." According to Bertus Boer, general director of Inter-Techno, the Dutch reseller for Bobcat and one of the most active sellers of the E10z in Europe, the market share for Bobcat compact excavators in the Netherlands is steadily growing.

42

CONSTRUCTION WORLD FEBRUARY 2019