Transforming the Future of Tool Hire
In September 2010, Hire Station embarked upon a
project to improve the experience of our customers and make us
stand out above our competitors in the tool hire industry. Our
objectives are to have the best presented employees and branches;
properly serviced and maintained kit that fully meets our
customers' demands every time; the best customer service in the
hire industry; and a health and safety culture embedded throughout
the company, from the Managing Director through to each individual
branch-based team member.
The platform being used to develop our business in this way is
Project Transform and is now well underway with a lot of
improvements having been seen in the business since launch.
The project is divided into key work streams, the priorities of
each are summarised below:
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Transforming our procedures: |
Transforming our procedures has entailed a full review
and gap analysis of all service; maintenance; operating; test; and
branch administration procedures. We are in the process of
completely updating our procedure manual and ensuring up to date
procedures are instantly available to employees throughout the
business via the company's intranet (The Hub).
Read more about
Transforming our procedures
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Transforming our appearance: |
Transforming our appearance has led to the introduction
of a much improved range of work wear and PPE (representing a £70k
investment in our people). We are also in the process of upgrading
our fleet of delivery vehicles, with smarter decals and enhanced
safety features.
Read more about
Transforming our appearance
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Transforming our safety culture: |
Transforming our safety culture has the aim of ensuring
the safety of our customers and employees at all times. The work
stream team has already introduced a new electronic accident
reporting form; monthly Health & Safety
bulletins issued to all colleagues; and we are currently working on
a company-wide safety passport to be issued to all employees.
Read more
about Transforming our Safety Culture
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Transforming the environment: |
The Transforming the environment work stream team are
working to reduce our impact on the environment. All branches use Biffa for
recycling and we have launched a new campaign ("Ban the Can") to
eradicate the use of aerosols within our workshops. All new
vehicles are also now fitted with speed limiters and start stop
technology to reduce emissions.
Read more about
Transforming the Environment
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Transforming our communication: |
Transforming our communication is essential to ensure all
employees and customers receive timely information. We have
improved communications a great deal since the start of the
project, with the launch of a new intranet, branch notice boards,
Twitter / Facebook
accounts and facilitating customer feedback.
Read more
about Transforming our Communication
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Transforming the customer experience: |
Transforming the customer experience is considering ways
to improve customer service and completely fulfil customer needs.
We are currently in the process of rolling out a huge training
programme that will see all drivers trained in how handing over our
equipment. Finally, we are currently working on ways to ensure we
can meet customer expectations on delivery and collection
times.
Read
more about Transforming our customer experience
Transforming our people will completely revisit the
content and timing of our induction process. We intend to prevent
drivers from making any deliveries until they have undergone our
new training programme to improve the safety of our people and
customers along with the improved customer service this will
undoubtedly ensure. We are also going to do a full review of
employee role profiles and pay to reward people based on individual
performance rather than the overall profitability of the branch at
which they are based.