Hewden aims to become a major force in the crane hire business once again, says new chief executive Adrian Murphy.
Once a leading crane specialist capable of providing contract heavy-lift services, Hewden has scaled back its crane activities over the past 20 years or so to focus on quick turnaround 鈥榯axi-crane鈥� services for general building and industrial customers.
Speaking on the company鈥檚 stand at the Plantworx show in June, Murphy admitted that Hewden鈥檚 crane hire division is 鈥渧ery understated鈥� as a business. And he wants it to flex more muscle.
鈥淲e are still one of only two national providers of cranes in the UK,鈥� said Murphy. The other, of course, is Ainscough. The Hewden fleet currently extends from 25-tonne capacity city cranes to 130-tonne capacity all-terrain models and Murphy has plans to extend this range.
鈥淲e are looking at capacity and starting to reinvest. Cranes are now a separate part of the business 鈥� a different business with its own dedicated operational structure. We can now start focusing on it,鈥� he said.
Murphy joined Hewden in January 2015, taking over from Kevin Parkes who unexpectedly announced his departure in December after more than five years at the helm. Murphy was previously chief operating officer at rival hirer Speedy 鈥� albeit for just a few months, having taken up the post in April 2014.
His career has also included spells with top power tool manufacturer Hilti, engineering group United Technologies and cladding manufacturers Pilkington and Arcelor-Mittal. Besides developing the crane business, Murphy said that he wants to forge closer links with the supply chain and focus more on equipment that will deliver a quick return on investment. Hewden鈥檚 鈥渃ore fleet鈥� concept, launched in late 2012, has proved a great success said Murphy. This idea 鈥� essentially to guarantee next-day delivery on the 30 most-hired items in the fleet 鈥� has proved popular with the target market of smallto medium-sized customers. Murphy is now extending this idea by teaming up with attachment manufacturer Miller to offer a range of boom-mounted breakers along with its excavators.
The 拢1m deal will see Miller supply a range of hydraulic breakers modified to Hewden鈥檚 own specification. This includes auto-lube and Tracker anti-theft systems as standard on each unit, and a custom-made hanger-plate to make each model compatible with both 海角社区app and Caterpillar mounting systems.
Murphy believes that this line of products is a largely untapped market in the hire sector. 鈥淧eople don鈥檛 do attachments very well in the UK. They鈥檙e more complicated to manage and are usually regarded just as an add-on. But we will offer breakers for hire. We think it鈥檒l drive us closer to the customer,鈥� he said.
Last year Hewden invested around 拢60m in new plant. This year it will invest a similar sum, said Murphy, much of the spend going on developing new lines. 鈥淲e will invest where we see a good return,鈥� he said.
That could mean more cranes and more accessories and attachments 鈥� Murphy mentioned small hoists, generators and other ancillary equipment. He doesn鈥檛 rule out power tools, either.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 want us to become a hire 鈥榮hop鈥�,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not a retailer, but we are looking at other ways of approaching this sector 鈥� maybe with more of a site presence or on-line.鈥� Murphy feels that Hewden has failed to realise its full potential in recent years. 鈥淭he people are great and it鈥檚 a wellestablished brand but it鈥檚 lost its way a bit,鈥� he said.
鈥淔or the past couple of years, Hewden鈥檚 been focused very much on house-building and I think we鈥檝e neglected the big contractors and major projects to some extent,鈥� explained Murphy.
Ironically the core fleet idea, though sound, could have led to Hewden focusing on just one, albeit major, sector. Murphy wants to explore other areas 鈥� events, oil and gas, renewables and infrastructure are among the markets he鈥檇 like to address more directly.
Hewden has in its favour a lean structure, a good network of depots and a loyal customer base 鈥� the core fleet guarantee is very popular with small- and medium-sized customers, he said. 鈥淲hat we don鈥檛 need are more depots. We have 30 and that鈥檚 plenty.
鈥淏ut we will get out of some unprofitable product areas and into more profitable ones,鈥� he said.聽
This article first appeared in the July 2015聽issue of聽海角社区app聽magazine. To read the full magazine online,
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