02.11.2008

Nationwide Platforms is born

Nationwide Access, the UK’s largest aerial lift rental company and sister Lavendon company, The Platform Company have officially merged to become Nationwide Platforms as of this morning.
Please register to see all images

The premises are now all rebranded

The merger creates a combined company with 28 locations, over 1,000 staff and over 10,300 lifts.
Click here to see original announcement
Parent company Lavendon acquired The Platform Company in March and announced the merger and new identity for the business in August. Before the merger could go ahead it was essential to develop the common IT platform for the two businesses and plan depot and staff mergers.
Please register to see all images

Delivery vehicles and vans have been re branded

As a result of the coming together some locations have merged, necessitating the closure of some and the inevitable loss of some staff.

The new business will be managed by Grant Woodward in the south with 13 locations and 5,602 machines and Peter Douglas in the north with 15 locations and 4,746 units.
Both men will report to Andy Wright, chief executive of Lavendon Access Services (Lavendon UK)
Please register to see all images

(L-R) Peter Douglas, Grant Woodward and Andy Wright

Concurrent with the merger, the company has stepped up its TechX programme which aims to differentiate the business, along with sister company Panther, through technical excellence.
Please register to see all images

The rental fleet will be rebranded gradually ove the next couple of years or so

The programme is being supported by manufacturers such as JLG and Genie, which are both passing on their expertise in areas such as quality, constant improvement, waste reduction and health&safety.

The programme which is extensive and all encompassing will take around two years to implement across its full depot network. So far just three locations, that were part of the pilot programme have been TechX’d.

The idea is to dramatically improve product reliability through detailed analysis of breakdowns and stringent planned maintenance. The programme will also include a major war on waste and on sloppy facilities, with a highly structured plan to introduce minimum quality standards.

Vertikal Comment

The TechX programme has high aims and when complete will have set new standards for a large company in the UK rental industry. The challenge will be to persuade its staff to embrace it wholeheartedly.

The net result will be a more profitable and competitive company which could help raise the standards of the industry as a whole.