HireQuip executives cement OEM ties at Intermat

Australian rental executives Garry Woods and Barry Meale, directors and shareholders of New Zealand rental company HireQuip, have been attending Intermat to cement relationships with the company’s key equipment suppliers.

The two men visited OEMs including Haulotte, Komatsu and Hamm to discuss the equipment needs of HireQuip. The two men, who are both ex-Coates Hire managers, said forging closer relationships with key suppliers was one element of a new strategy for HireQuip, which is New Zealand’s largest rental company.

As part of the restructuring, the company will concentrate on fewer, larger depots – a process that had already reduced the depot network from 50 to 40 branches – and a shift from customers picking up equipment to more deliveries direct to site (which reduces the need to have an extensive depot network).

Mr Woods and Mr Weale, who became directors of HireQuip late last year, said the management of the company had also been restructured, with four teams created for sales and marketing, operations, asset availability and finance.

HireQuip is majority owned by a private equity firm, with Mr Woods and Mr Weale owning a substantial minority of the business. Barry Weale told IRN, “It is the largest rental company in New Zealand, but not by a long way. The plan is to get a bit of headroom between us and the number two and three.”

Although spending time at Intermat to meet suppliers, HireQuip will not be spending heavily this year. Mr Woods said HireQuip had invested in its fleet over the past few years and would limit 2009 expenditure to “fine tuning” of the fleet.