Home>Lift trucks>Counterbalance>Partners for Success
Home>Lift trucks>Fleet management>Partners for Success
Home>Lift trucks>Specialist trucks>Partners for Success
ARTICLE

Partners for Success

22 April 2021

The best businesses adapt to change, reflect the requirements and needs of their customers and deliver on the promises they make, says Windsor Materials Handling.

That’s a big enough challenge in so-called ‘normal’ times, so it’s safe to say that everyone has had to adapt lately to achieve these goals, after this most challenging of years.

Of course, we Brits are globally renowned for pulling together and collaborating when needed. We are known for being strong, determined individuals, facing difficulties head on. It’s why we believe there’s never been a better time to work locally, collaborate closely, and reflect on your business partnerships, ensuring you’re working with the right people. 

Maximising business potential and solving materials handling issues may not seem like earth shattering tasks for those that face them every day, but when things go wrong, shelves are left bare and raw materials become scarce. 

There’s never been a more important period in recent history for us to pull together and collaborate to ensure success. 

Our greatest achievements are made through collaboration, sometimes in the face of adversity, with pure grit, determination, intelligence, teamwork and strength. It is somewhat ironic that the virus that has forced us apart has also shown us that if we pull together and collaborate we can ensure success.

The tools of our trade maybe forklifts, sideloaders, warehouse equipment, access platforms, cleaning machines and much more, but it’s the way we approach issues, implementing the right product mix for the right application, and the work we do with specifiers, that is key to our success.

Long-term relationships are a top priority at Windsor. Our branches are empowered to put customers first and bring innovative and flexible thinking, extensive resources and an unrivalled brand portfolio to make it happen. Each of our 13 locations operates as a standalone branch, which means our customers don’t get put through to a call centre when they need to speak to us. Our customers and clients can rely on us to ensure a knowledgeable service manager based local to their facility will take their call and rectify their issue as soon as possible.

Our commitment to the local community and our personal approach is now a long-established ethos within our company, and it is this belief that’s helped us develop and retain some of our oldest customers.

We don’t do call centres, but we do talk to our customers on a daily basis or, when possible, face to face. And when you’re talking to us, you’re talking to local experts in both sales and service, with great knowledge of your area. This means the local service manager always has a thorough knowledge of the trucks and customer sites – and that parts are held locally, for rapid access and maximum uptime. 

Adding contingency equipment is one way today’s fleet manager may add additional capacity, but few businesses have the luxury of carrying unused equipment long-term. That’s where utilisation comes into play.

Bringing supplier and customer closer together, both geographically and commercially, is the best way to inspire change, increase efficiency and be prepared for whatever the future brings.  Our business has had this closeness built in for decades, and whilst we would like to credit our founder as some kind of visionary, the truth is partnerships just make sense. 

A successful Komatsu distributor for over 25 years, we added the Doosan range to our portfolio in 2009. Our supplier partnerships have worked well with all three companies attaining excellence in the forklift sector, and all three past FLTA award winners. Since then, we’ve added many more brands to our roster, including Still, Unicarriers, Baumann, Kalmar, Comblift and Aisle-Master, and several others. 

With more of our customers requiring a single supplier solution over the years we’ve added ancillary equipment such as access platforms, shunting tractors, warehouse and cleaning equipment. To back up the equipment we maintain the highest levels of training, with our own training academy and support from our manufacturer partners.

Although we count major national fleet users amongst our customers, we are not a large corporate company, nor a small trader. We offer the professionalism, security and high standards of a large corporate but not the constraints or rigid structures that hamper the decision-making process. 

Geographically we now cover all the UK and today we manage fleets of materials handling and access equipment for all manner of businesses. For that to work, you need to be analytical, tech savvy, financially prudent and willing to change, something that doesn’t come easy to an industry based on engineering and metal bashing.

There’s a great deal more done electronically, from recruiting staff to sharing information via our intranet. We use GPS and tablets for our mobile engineers, maintain prospect databases, social media channels and our customer portal, and analyse utilisation data for key performance indicators.

The whole business has gone through a process of digitalisation, and understanding the capabilities and potential pitfalls is vital for every business owner. Our business continues to evolve. We began as a local service provider, to a nationwide business that still emphasises local service. Now, we are inspiring others with new technologies and a fresh approach to materials handling. We’ve witnessed the growth in on-board diagnostics, fire suppression and engine management systems, operator presence sensing, even blue LED lights are now fairly commonplace. Hence our engineers are manufacturer trained and have developed a deep understanding of all manner of lifting and materials handling equipment.

We are also at the forefront of lithium battery and intelligent charger technology, championing ways of utilising the latest developments in electric power to improve productivity without increasing costs or harm to the environment. We see this as a crucial component of the way in which the market is moving forward.

In fact, we remain confident that there are many opportunities for businesses to take advantage of new technology and new opportunities, to rebalance their operations, and move on with the professionalism, financial security and highly knowledgeable assistance from Windsor.

For more information, visit www.windsor-mh.co.uk

 
OTHER ARTICLES IN THIS SECTION
FEATURED SUPPLIERS
TWITTER FEED