UK water companies make increasingly strategic use of hire equipment in AMP7

11.09.2020
The UK water companies are making increasingly strategic use of equipment hire as part of their their regular AMP7 activities, according to wastewater technology specialists HUBER Technology.

Kevin Ockwell, HUBER’s Sales & Aftersales Manager, said that ahead of AMP7, HUBER had invested in additional hire equipment and expanded both the range and number of machines available to meet the anticipated additional demand.

With a dedicated 5000 sq. ft. building at its strategically located central hire depot in Rotherham, the company already had the capacity needed to accommodate the additional hire equipment. HUBER has also added some different types of equipment into the hire fleet, providing them with more flexibility in terms of what it can offer as solutions for customers.

Kevin Benson, who heads up the hire business, said that the company had opted to expand the range based on knowledge and experience built up over a number of years, coupled with feedback from its field teams who are in regular contact with customers.

He commented:

“It quickly became clear that we've got a number of key products which are continually needed by customers - inlet screens, sludge acceptance kit, to mention just two - which is where we have made the additional investments.”

For example, HUBER has increased the number of its Sludge Acceptance Plants ROTAMAT® Ro3/1200/355/6. The tank mounted sludge screen comes complete with control panel, level and flow controls. As soon as the extra units became available they were immediately sent out to clients. With more customers now seeking to make use of the units, further additions to the hire fleet are in the pipeline.

The technology specialist is also seeing an uptake in demand for its skid mounted screenings handling plant.

HUBER’s well-known screenings wash presses WAP®-L are supplied complete with control panel and discharge chute.  The wash presses are suitable for dry or launder feed and used for the intensive washing of screenings.

According to Kevin Ockwell, HUBER’s hire fleet is being used by customers for three reasons in particular:

  • Equipment failure where a temporary solution is needed quickly on-site to avoid downtime while repairs are being made
  • Major works where new plant is being constructed and a compactor or inlet screen is required while the new works are put in place 
  • Trial works of equipment to understand their capabilities and how they can be used to best effect on sites prior to future purchase

In Kevin Ockwell’s view, customers welcome the peace of mind HUBER’s one stop solution approach offers them. He commented:

“We’ve tailored our hire service specifically with that in mind.

“Ideally for our clients, our equipment is complete and hits the ground running. They just need power, wash water supply, inlet/outlet pipework on some of our hire unit, a skip, some telemetry and they’re away.  It’s quick and very efficient. The telemetry is our eyes on it when we're not there.

“We’ve changed the way we cable it with more flexible cable to make it easier to manhandle on site. We've made completely new control panels for all the existing equipment with standard automation and telemetry monitoring built in.

“The hire fleet now has interconnecting plug and socket so everything can work with everything. So if we have a hire in place and a panel fails we just take another panel along to site and plug it in and we're back on.”

Going forward, HUBER Technology sees standardisation of hire equipment which can quickly interface with any water company installation, irrespective of individual differences as a key part of its hire business.

The approach is backed by Kevin Benson and his team, who are in direct contact with customers on a regular basis. Kevin Benson concluded:

“We’re at the sharp end – we’re out there on the ground on site visits to our customers every day.

“Generally speaking, all our equipment goes out on hire as soon as it becomes available – so we’re confident we’ve made the right decisions to help our customers.

“We’re also good listeners – so whether our customers come to us for advice, or want to see new equipment added to our hire range, we make sure their views are taken on board.”

 

For further information or for any Hire enquiries please contact Kevin.Bensonhuber.couk 07802 459307