Leading plant hire specialist Selwood has sealed a major new strategic partnership with Finning UK & Ireland that will see the business add Caterpillar machines to its fleet for the first time in its history.
The ongoing partnership has seen the first order placed for four Cat 313FL GC and eight Cat 308 excavators, which will be delivered into Selwood Bristol and Cardiff. The rest of Selwood’s branch network will receive their machines in due course and, as part of a close working relationship, Finning will be providing equipment training to Selwood engineers and sales staff.
In addition, each machine will be connected through the Cat Product Link™ system, allowing Selwood to monitor machine performance, utilisation and location information, sharing data with customers to reduce idle times, emissions and fuel costs. Finning will also provide service support through its national network and mobile engineering team, ensuring Selwood customers benefit from industry-leading machine uptime and performance.
Commenting on the partnership, Richard Bright, Chief Operating Officer at Selwood, said: “Before we made the move to Cat we spoke to our customers to get their views and preferences when it comes to hiring machines. This allowed us to make a much more informed decision with our first ever Cat fleet purchase. For us, this partnership is much more than just the purchase of machines. It is a strategic move to support our ambitious plans for growth, while enhancing the service we offer customers, allowing us to further differentiate our offering in an ever-changing market.
“Finning will be providing us with service, technical and training support across our business to ensure we can help customers make the most of our new machines. By having each asset connected, we will also be able to access data on each machine and we intend to share this with customers so they can make more informed decisions.
“We have also signed up to parts.cat.com, so each individual branch can manage parts orders online. With the fleet details already loaded into the system, the process of finding the right part will be much quicker and simpler.”
With Finning looking after machine service, Selwood engineers will be responsible for machine preparation including safety/operational testing and pre-hire inspection. This information, as well as data sheets, hours and servicing, will be loaded into a new online Selwood information portal, with each machine having a unique QR code that both customers and staff can use to assess relevant information.
For more information on Cat products and services from Finning UK & Ireland, please visit www.finning.com, or for more information on Selwood plant hire solutions, visit www.selwood.co.uk/plant-hire