Outco Ltd – A Fleet Hire Case Study
Outco Ltd (formerly known as GRITIT Group) are, by some margin, the leading experts in outdoor estate compliance. In laymans terms, they look after the outdoor spaces owned by businesses to make sure sites of all sizes and shapes remain safe, attractive and functional all year round and no matter what the Great British weather can throw at them.
If this is the first time you’ve thought about even the existence of outdoor estate compliance, you wouldn’t be the only one. This sort of task is really only ever considered when it goes wrong or doesn’t happen, so it’s a testament to the skill with which Outco looks after the 7,500 plus sites in their care that you’ve never had cause to worry about it. Outco ensure that the outdoor assets and estate owned by numerous household name companies remain safe and operational all year round. If you can get onto your supermarket or workplace carpark despite extensive snowfall, not be troubled by surface drainage issues despite heavy rainfall, or even charge your electric vehicle while you’re there, Outco are likely to have had a hand in it. If your Amazon package arrives on time, it’ll be in a van that’s had to visit an Amazon depot and was able to get in and out unhindered, there’s a good chance this will also be thanks to the hard work of Outco. You get the idea!
So where does Westwood come in? If you’d guessed that’s because many of the vans going through Amazon depots are rented from us, you’d probably be right any other time, but that’s not what we’re talking about today. This post is partly about the great and essential work that Outco does as we head towards the winter, partly about some of the fantastic vehicles on our van hire and tipper hire fleet, but it’s mostly giving our own team a bit of well deserved recognition for having pulled together against the odds and how they completed a challenging job against a tight deadline. This is a case study in teamwork and how fortunate we are to have a collection of exceptional individuals working together for a common cause and how their commitment to the job has earned us a customer.
Pickup Hire – It Started With a Ford Ranger
A few months ago now, Outco Ltd first got in touch with us to hire one of our brand new Ford Ranger Wildtrak pickups. The Ranger is a sturdy, reliable ‘proper’ 4×4 pickup which is great on the road, but also highly capable off it. In Wildtrak specification, they have a level of luxury that’s up there with premium SUV’s. Outco’s reason for hire was to test out the fit of their kits which would transform these tough pickups into highly mobile, small snowploughs. All set for the winter and in particular, making sure that snow on Amazon depot carparks across the country, wouldn’t stop everyone’s Christmas presents from being delivered.
It turned out that the Rangers worked a treat, so when we were asked to supply and deliver 20, we were delighted to oblige. Our fleet team wasted no time in sourcing the additional pickups and our intrepid logistics team leapt into action delivering the Wildtraks to Outco’s Yorkshire and Leicester depots. We were mightily impressed at the efficiency of Outco Ltd who wasted no time getting their snowplough kits ready for action. By the time the final deliveries were being made, some of the previously delivered vehicles had already had their custom accessories fitted and were ready for some winter action.
Ordinarily, this would have been just another job well done and a great start to a working relationship. We simply did what we said we’d do and did so without a fuss.
The Emergency Fleet Hire Job – Specialised Tippers For Outco Ltd
A business the size of Outco Ltd requires a phenomenal amount of coordination and forward planning in order to do the job they do across thousands of sites up and down the country, so when one part of a grand plan falls down, there’s the potential, like a collection of well balanced dominoes, for other plans and processes to be scuppered as well. Through no fault of their own, this is what happened to Outco. They’d been suddenly and dreadfully let down by one of their other fleet vehicle suppliers and found they wouldn’t be receiving the tippers they had been counting on. These tippers had a job to do, people to crew them and payloads to be moved around, but all of a sudden and with a deadline looming, they’d essentially disappeared.
Thanks to us having helped with the Rangers, Outco asked us if we’d be able to help and after careful consideration, we were glad to say that we’d find a way. This is where our matchless team at Westwood demonstrated just why they’re the best in the business!
In order to help Outco Ltd meet their commitments without disrupting their meticulously planned schedules, we needed to source 15 tippers, each equipped with a fall arrest system in the back, deliver them to three of Outco’s sites (10 going to their Southern Hub; a site near Gatwick Airport) and do so in just two weeks.
Action Stations!
The sourcing part was easy, we started September with 70 brand new 72 plate tippers at our off-site storage facility and although the majority had been taken by the time Outco asked just over a month later, we still had enough for their needs so we started to bring them in to our Wigan Head Office. However, these were factory fresh, one-stop Ford Transit Tippers, which don’t come with the all important fall arrest system rails and accessories Outco needed. We have external suppliers who add custom accessories to our vehicles when they’re needed by our customers, however they were already heavily booked and wouldn’t be able to do the job for at least 4 weeks.
Fortunately, we have our own workshop and an exceptionally talented head technician, so after a look at what was involved, he saw what needed to be done and was confident he could do it himself. The kits, rails and other ancillary parts were ordered, but delivery schedules (as well as supplier errors) meant that we had to send drivers to collect the parts ourselves from as far afield as Middlesbrough and Dudley, but once again, team Westwood pulled together and did the job.
From there it was a matter of ‘production line’ fabrication and assembly. Many hands make light work and we were able to call upon the talents of not just our service team, but keen members of our rental department to swap a cushy desk for a drill and a spot on the assembly line. With Sean from the ever capable Pinnacle Signs & Print ably applying the Westwood livery to each tipper in turn. The deadline was tight, but once again, Team Westwood prevailed, having taken just 3 days to obtain the parts and just 2 days of hard work to finish enough of the job to meet that first deadline. Even though the last of those days was a Saturday when the workshop is normally closed. In just 5 days, we had two thirds of the tippers ready to go.
Having achieved the impossible was of no use if we couldn’t get the completed units to where they were needed, the most urgent need was for the tippers destined for Outco’s Southern Hub to be delivered and they had to be delivered before the weekend was out in order to ensure Outco met their deadlines.
So, were we able to get all those vehicles 250 miles across the country to be delivered the next day – first thing on a dark, stormy, SUNDAY morning? Yes we were.
Our Logistics team were gamely accompanied by some of our office team and some extra drivers we were able to enlist to help us. Some set off as early as 4am in order to make it on time. Even a member of our Marketing team stepped in to drive down the minibus we then used to bring everyone back afterwards. Driving rain, pitch black motorways and traffic delays all conspired to work against us, but once again, we were able to get the job done. We even spotted one of our Rangers, which by then had made its way down to London!
The modifications to the remaining tippers were finished and deliveries made over the following few days to Outco’s more Northern depots and we couldn’t be more proud of how our team made the impossible happen, from start to finish, in 12 days. We’ll always say that we’re the best vehicle solutions company in the business and we are, but this is because we have the best team in the business. Where others say it can’t be done, OUR team finds a way to do it. Where others might say “It’s not my job” OUR team says “How can I help?”. Westwood isn’t just a workplace, it’s a cause, it’s a culture. We live it and love it.
We said earlier, this isn’t just a post about how we helped another business when they’d been let down, it’s a post about how a dedicated, committed, motivated and talented team can overcome seemingly insurmountable odds in order achieve the almost impossible. This is the team we’re privileged to have here at Westwood and if you’ve read this far, maybe it’s the sort of team YOU need to help with your business fleet solutions, to help you get your job done and to help you keep your promises.
We’re here for you when you need us. Vehicle Sales, Vehicle Rental, Contract Hire, Flexible Hire – Whatever you need, we’ve got the lot!
