13.03.2006

The changing face of the Access Link

The Access Link has been arguably the most successful association in the European rental market. It comprises a group of privately owned access rental companies, all with a similar mind set and ideas regarding quality of service. It allows regional companies to provide their customers with good quality national coverage, with a single account and invoice point.

Members have agreed inter company rental rates, so that if a company in the south of England has a customer who needs a machine in the north of Scotland. The customer simply places his order with his local company and everything is taken care of, the price and terms are identical to a local hire and the invoice is issued as if it were local.

The recent acquisition of Panther Platform rentals by Lavendon has caused Panther and the Link to mutually agree to part company.

Mike Boyle the current chairman of the Access Link said that all of the Link members were happy for the Panther team and had the chance to congratulate them at their last meeting. At that meeting, held at the Manitou UK headquarters in Verwood, Boyle expressed thanks to the directors and staff of Panther for being such an active member of Access Link since its foundation.

Richard Miller and Brian Fleckney, who were very instrumental in the founding of the Link, said that without the Access Link they would not have achieved the levels of growth they have enjoyed over the last few years, which ultimately made Panther such an attractive proposition to Lavendon.

Boyle said , “As with all endings come new beginnings and the Access Link has never been about individual companies, its strength comes from a collection of directors and owners, all communicating the needs of their Customers, continually improving standards of service and never sitting back on the Laurels”.

“Since the acquisition of Panther, the Access Link has received a steady stream of applications for membership, all of which are being duly considered. At the Verwood meeting it was agreed that the normal vetting procedures would be followed through and that Panther and Access Link members will continue to work closely together during the transition period”. .

The members of the Access Link have also said that they were “pleased that the Lavendon has chosen the acquisition route towards consolidating the industry, rather than through more new start ups, which always weakens the market place which in itself applies pressures to safe practice due to financial restraints”.

Vertikal Comment

The Access Link has been nothing but a success story, melding together a number of strong regional companies into a national grouping. Inevitably when one member has aggressive national aspirations or as in Panthers case is taken over by a major national company, the groups balance is strained.

AFI was an earlier example or a company, that not so much outgrew the Link, but more accurately its expansion plans introduced too many potential conflicts. At that point it makes sense for the member to exit the association in order to pursue its own national strategy.

With Panther, it is obvious that going forward it will re rent machines from Nationwide rather than the link. The challenge for the Link is that Panther was more than just a founding member, it was also a driving force in keeping the Link fresh and active and in encouraging the disparate members to pull in the same direction. It was also one of the largest contributors of business to the other members.

The challenge now will be for the Boyle and the other members to replace the large void left by Panthers departure. The fact is that the Link has a very important place in the market and can continue to be the very positive influence that it has been on quality of service and safe working practices. It still has some very strong and well run member companies. A number of excellent businesses which were previously excluded by geographical conflicts have applied to join.

There is also much the group can do in terms of marketing and promoting itself. As long as the key members are willing to put in the effort, the Access Link could emerge form this period stronger than ever.

This is also a concept that could and perhaps should be emulated in other countries.