With 30-years’ combined industry experience, Platform Sales Australia discusses the importance of identifying a valuable fleet asset versus a financial burden on profitability.

Balancing a wide-range of assets to meet Customer needs is a critical component that impacts the success of any hire business. More importantly however, is ensuring that those assets generate enough income to build sustainability for the future.

In many cases, when purchasing a new asset, the initial investment can overshadow the bigger picture, such as total cost of ownership (TCO), utilisation, hire-rates and resale value at end-of-life. These much broader considerations are what will truly impact the return on your investment.

TCO considerations might include finance costs (such as leasing/depreciation), ongoing service and maintenance, downtime, labour costs (wet hire), as-well-as the expected resale value of the asset at end-of-life. Taking the time to investigate and understand these costs will ensure that you are able to apply accurate hire rates, based on utilisation.

Here are some considerations, based on our experience.

Finance Costs

Shopping around for the best interest rate is usually a given, however it’s important to consider the residual too. Further research should be undertaken on the current sale price of your potential asset at a similar age to when you would consider disposing of it – the value should ideally exceed any residual you may be liable for.

Service and Maintenance

Most equipment will require quarterly and annual servicing/inspections. Depending on how long you plan to keep the asset, a major inspection will likely be required as well. When investigating costs, ask the Supplier to provide a quote for the asset’s maintenance. This will provide increased visibility into costs, allowing for more accurate budgeting and determining suitable hire rates.

Downtime

Let’s face it, equipment breakdowns happen. This doesn’t usually mean that your asset is inferior, however, the frequency of breakdowns and the Supplier’s ability to repair the equipment in a timely manner will impact your Customers, and therefore your business.

Researching both Supplier and equipment reliability will go a long way in reducing overall downtime associated with breakdowns. Parts availability and supply history will also provide valuable insight into the commitment that comes with your asset. Common parts should always be available.

Remember, every day that an asset is out of service, impacts both Customer satisfaction as-well-as your ability to generate income.

Hire Rates

The market can often dictate hire rates, so we found it important to research current hire rates for the same/similar equipment while comparing this with the costs we detailed earlier.

The margin you add to these costs should also consider your overheads.

If you decide on a 30% margin and your overheads are 20% of your revenue, then your actual margin is only 10%. Will this sustain your business while maintaining a competitive hire rate?

Utilisation

Determining the correct hire rate to cover your total cost of ownership with a potential margin is one thing, but it also needs to link to an expected minimum utilisation rate. When we research our own ROI, we explore expected minimum (required), and maximum (optimal), obtainable utilisation days and factor this into our hire rate equation.

There are many more points to consider when researching total cost of ownership specific to your business such as, whether there is a market for the equipment and if not, can one be created? What are the costs of marketing the equipment, and what are the costs of training staff?

Proactive research into your assets’ ROI and all that it entails will ensure that you are building a sustainable future for your business.

Platform Sales Australia, suppliers of the largest range of innovative and advanced powered-access platforms, built by leading manufacturers worldwide. Call or enquire to speak with a qualified technician today.

Machine Solutions – Designed by Hire, Built for Hire

The most commonly engineered spider lift heights are the 17, 18 and 19 metre classes. Interestingly, most of the 18 and 19m spider lifts run an outreach weight-limiting system that catch out many end-users.

What does that mean exactly? The limiting system means most of these aerial work platforms can only achieve their peak outreaches at drastically reduced basket weights. For example, a 200kg basket capacity is reduced to 80-120kg at max outreach.

Quite often when we analyse the data, the TRACCESS 170 spider lift will outperform its 18 and 19m counterparts, with a fuller fixed working envelope of 7.5m at a full 200kg basket weight. No electronic limiting systems or limit switches, making it far more reliable on outreach. This spider lift is the ultimate in access solutions as it boasts a significantly more compact dimensional length (even less than its 15m competitors) at 3800mm with the basket removed. This ensures a much more accessible piece of equipment, for a far higher access utilisation than any other available.

Combining a good sized track-drive, with double drive speed (and lower driver speed for difficult negotiations), high quality proportional controls and Swiss high tensile steel – this exceptional piece of access equipment stands apart from the rest.

Read more about the Traccess 170 Spider Lift here.

Call us today for an obligation-free discussion on your next spider lift purchase.

What to consider when selecting the best machine possible to increase your productivity and profit.

In today’s market, spider lifts are the investment for the future. However, selecting the right machine for the job can sometimes be difficult. When trying to determine the appropriate specifications required for your new asset, factors such as pricing, commission-driven sales tactics and equipment availability can often impact the purchase choice made by end-users.

Access in Urban Areas

The whole concept of a Spider Lift (or tracked access machine), is primarily for access. When it comes to negotiating the tighter and more narrow spaces found in urban areas, users should consider a spider lift with the most compact design, with the longest outreach specifications available. (The ultimate spider lift for urban arborists will ideally offer the best ratio of smaller stowed dimensions, with a 17m outreach).

The level of access is therefore minimally restricted by either factor.

Manipulation

Spider Lifts that combine a true ZED boom configuration with the smallest of footprints allows for better boom manipulation in far tighter work zones. ZED with Zero tail swing also provides the best up-and-over capabilities available.

Unrestricted 200kg Outreach

A high-performance fixed work envelope provides unrestricted outreach at 200kg, without weight limiting. No services housed externally need to be hooked up, minimising damage and ensuring a clean boom design.

Simplified Electronics

An electronics philosophy of ‘simplicity’, increases reliability, reduces downtime and lowers service costs on any spider lift. This ensures an overall improvement on return-on-investment.

When we look at investing in this style of equipment, we are after high utilisation coupled with a high return. When purchasing a spider lift, or any other asset item, it’s critical to understand the purpose of the equipment, it’s philosophy, as well as the features, functions and benefits of similar options. That’s why Platform Sales Australia – with over 30 years technical experience – are the right choice to grow your business’ assets for the future.

Call or enquire to speak with a qualified technician today.