Company Announcement - Bobcat Equipment Rental and Goscor Access Rental, part of the Imperial Group, joined forces to provide an end-to-end lifting equipment solution to meet essential materials handling duties during the construction of a wind farm in the Western Cape. Brent Viljoen, Branch Manager of Goscor Access Rental in the Western Cape, says “by joining forces with Bobcat, we could provide the customer with a complete rental solution consisting of Telescopic Handlers and work-at-height machines, qualified operators and back-up service. I approached Bobcat Equipment Rental, Western Cape, the company immediately came with its A-game. The combined strengths of the two divisions enabled us to offer the customer an excellent group deal culminating in us securing the two-part rental contract in 2014.”

“We conducted site visits to familiarise ourselves with the boundaries to which our machines would be used so that we could offer the best solution, from equipment rental to highly trained operators and back-up service,” explains Viljoen. In terms of the rental equipment specifications, the work-to-height machines had to lift workers to a maximum height of 26m while the Telescopic Handlers had to have minimum lifting capabilities of 4 tons. All the equipment had to be diesel driven and would have to ably cope with traveling over uneven, rough terrain.

“We understand the high value our customer places on productivity and this of course correlates directly to uptime. Major sites, particularly those that are remotely located, always bring challenges especially when it comes to parts availability and service response times. So one of our main objectives was to structure a back-up service to optimise our customer’s uptime.”  

Bobcat delivered three Telescopic Handlers as part of the first laydown requirement and Goscor Access Rental honoured the second part with the supply of three Genie boom lifts. The rental solution included qualified Goscor operators who received further training to ensure that they were fully familiarised with the units. Parts availability and 24/7 technical standby service completed the end-to-end offering.

According to Viljoen, a number of key factors contributed to the customer’s decision to appoint Goscor as preferred supplier. “A good customer relationship is an essential part of any business undertaking and we built a strong relationship with our customer during the negotiation stage. “While our equipment stands for itself as high end products, the challenge is to bring ongoing expertise and service to the operation and machinery and this is what we delivered.” Viljoen acknowledges his staff because he says it is only possible to become a preferred supplier with knowledgeable, well-trained and dedicated staff.

Viljoen ascribes the seamless operation of the materials handling equipment at the site to the collaboration of Bobcat Equipment Rental and Goscor Access Rental and the partnership that has been established with the customer. “The success of this project brings to the fore the strength and capabilities of the Goscor Group as a turnkey solutions provider.”