… a symbol of the company’s service philosophy

The Goscor Lift Truck Company’s (GLTC) recently expanded their Pietermaritzburg (PMB) Facility in many ways symbolises the most important tenet of the company’s philosophy – i.e. it does whatever it takes to ensure the best possible service for its clients. This Division falls directly under the KZN Regional Office in Durban and is by no means a stand-alone facility, with all support and necessary infrastructure in abundance’.

“While we have serviced several PMB customers for many years from Durban and through a local representative we realised the we could improve service considerably for our customers if we had a fully-fledged GLTC branch nearer to their operations that could provide them whatever they needed more conveniently in double-quick time,” says Michael Keats GLTC KZN Regional Director.’ The Inland Region is rapidly expanding, and we feel it imperative that we expand with our customer base and business opportunities. For many years there has been a very limited number of choices in Lift Truck Service Providers based in PMB, which has not benefitted consumers, and we aim to change that’.

To make the concept a reality GLTC acquired the local representative and established the Pietermaritzburg branch which contains a comprehensive spare parts facility, a rental division, a showroom and, of course, a fully equipped service facility which is equipped for both regular servicing of machines and full rebuilds.

“Ultimately a world class service for our clients is the foundation of our business,” Keats says, “and the PMB branch is fully equipped and the service team appropriately trained to do a job on a par with any other GLTC branch in the country.

He adds that PMB is in constant contact with GLTC’s recently restructured head-office service department, which is one of the most experienced ‘skills upliftment and service training’ facilities in the country. Regional service staff is continually kept up to date with ever-changing machine technology and, to this end, special cut-away machines for “touch, feel and see training” and special bays for “direct participation training” are provided throughout the country. New and/or current machines are pulled into these bays so that GLTC technicians, new or experienced, can be instructed - or refreshed - on the machines’ service requirements.

“Of course,” says Keats, “the best service in the world is to no avail if you haven’t got the world’s best products and, in this regard, GLTC is the sole distributor in Southern Africa of some of the most famous brands in the industry including Crown, Doosan, and Bendi.”

Crown is the world’s largest manufacturer of electric powered materials handling equipment including hand pallet trucks, power pallet trucks, counter-balance forklifts, order pickers and more, and is renowned for its beautifully designed, durable, user-friendly machines.

Doosan is a world-leading manufacturer of one of the finest selections of lift trucks and offers a wide range of quality and user-proven heavy duty forklifts.   Its oil-cooled “brakes for life” system enables Goscor to offer a 60-month, unlimited hours guarantee on Doosan brakes.

Bendi articulated forklifts help the operator work faster, safer and more accurately - even in widths of just 1.6m. Many customers have reported up to 50% space saving by using the Bendis.

Keats says that, while the fact that there are some significant blue-chip companies in the PMB area certainly influenced the decision to open a new branch there, and we are blessed to be in partnership with such clients. We are geared up to service the biggest and the smallest and we appreciate – and take seriously – every order that we get and every single machine that we are given the responsibility to keep in good shape,” he says.

He adds that it is imperative that all companies, whatever their size, who need any sort of materials handling equipment (MHE) must feel free to avail themselves of GLTC’s PMB branch’s services. “Whether it’s one machine or a dozen, new or refurbished, the PMB branch provides all its customers with creative, effective financial packages including outright purchase, rental and structured leasing arrangements, the best possible product to suit their specific needs and personal one-on-one service and support to ensure the absolute minimum downtime,” Keats says.  

Like all GLTC branches the PMB branch, which has a cohesive and customer-oriented team, is an investment by a company that believes fervently in the future and that understands that taking world-class service to the customer, providing them with top brands and ensuring the lowest possible cost of ownership for their equipment is the foundation that has been responsible for GLTC’s phenomenal record in the MHE market.