29.06.2011

Rushlift secures £100m Saint-Gobain deal

Materials handling specialist Rushlift – part of the Specialist Hire Group – has secured a £100 million deal with international construction materials congolmerate Saint-Gobain.

Said to be the UK’s single largest supply level agreement, the exclusive 10 year deal will see Rushlift supply St Gobain with a variety of materials handling equipment including the management and maintenance of more than 2,000 forklifts across a variety of UK manufacturing and retail sites, including the company’s Jewson, JP Corry and Gibbs and Dandy builders’ merchants chains.

The scale of the agreement, over two years in the making and worth around £100 million over the next 10 years, has prompted Rushlift to recruit 30 additional engineering, account management and administrative personnel, with more appointments expected to follow.
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Rushlift's Peter Cosgrove (L) and Saint-Gobain's Dennis Welfare

Rushlift chairman, Peter Cosgrove said: “A great deal of credit has to go to everyone involved in this journey, from our sales and operations teams to our engineers and support staff, who have continually, and to the highest standard, demonstrated to Saint-Gobain what we are capable of.”

“We have been able to deliver higher levels of service at lower cost than our competitors and we have gained the business against competition from all the major companies in the industry. The agreement is on an unprecedented scale and we are excited by the opportunities and challenges it presents our business. It’s a superb vote of confidence in our business values and approach.”

Saint-Gobain was particularly impressed with Rushlift’s flexibility in providing electronic data exchange. The online system allows companies to log jobs without having to call a depot and for Saint-Gobain’s fleet management systems to be updated by Rushlift on a daily basis.

Saint-Gobain fleet director, Ian Berrill added: “We’ve had many years of growth and acquisitions since first establishing our fork truck fleet and we were keen to provide modern, reliable equipment to our many different users. Having the UK’s largest fleet has many benefits but also many challenges. Being able to manage the fleet makeup, control costs and respond to our changing needs is crucial. Rushlift’s approach offers us a real business advantage, allowing for full visibility of equipment across over 800 sites in the UK and Ireland.”

Rushlift has already taken responsibility for maintaining Jewson’s loader cranes as well as deliver a number of machines in selected businesses. One of the first groups to benefit from the deal has been the company’s Irish builders’ merchants chain, JP Corry. More than 50 new trucks have already been delivered and weeks of discussions, site surveys and feasibility studies have been completed.

Rushlift sales manager for Saint-Gobain, Matt Turner said: “We’ve taken a hard headed look at the fleet, and it’s true to say there were significant savings to be made from amalgamating the whole service package. However, we’ve also restructured the makeup of the fleet to more accurately reflect the business’ needs, and introduced new Doosan and Combilift equipment which has really pushed the operation forward.”

Rushlift has more than 100 mobile service engineers supporting customers from Aberdeen to Cornwall. As part of the Specialist Hire Group which includes the Specialist Crane Group.