CPA Bulletin

NEWS FROMCPA MEMBERS: 4 Mather+Stuart Power Solutions, the temporary power equipment division of A-Plant, has announced an investment of almost £8million in new equipment. The company’s strategic investment programme, which aims to capitalise on new growth opportunities, follows a string of recent service centre openings across the UK. Phase one of the company’s spending spree has seen a multi-million pound order placed with Harrington Generators International. The investment boasts over 180 pieces of equipment, including a range of new innovative generators. With synchronisation panels installed on many models, the new equipment offers customers more options to link generators together, providing significant fuel savings. A-Plant’s Powered Access division has also made further investments in its fleet. Over the past three years, A-Plant Powered Access has invested over £40million in new innovative equipment and since the company’s acquisition of Plantfinder UK last year, its fleet has increased to over 4,500 units. Ian Jordan, Managing Director of General Equipment at A-Plant said ongoing investment has enabled the company to win a plethora of major construction contracts over the past 12 months. He explained: “We have managed to win a number of exciting contracts recently and I believe it is the quality of our equipment, coupled with our truly national presence that has attracted such a high calibre of clients. Our access fleet now has an average age of under four years, we have 38 service centres across the country and our latest products are even safer, more productive, greener and more sustainable.” In other developments at A-Plant, the company hosted its first ever Battery Power Seminar in December as part of its ongoing sustainability programme Act Now. The inaugural event, which took place in London and was open to A-Plant colleagues and selected customers, explored the future of battery technology. It included presentations from the UK’s leading battery power experts, James Lam, Energy Storage Expert at DNV GL and James Basden, Founder Director at Zenobe Energy plus updates from leading equipment manufacturers and suppliers including Wacker Neuson, CCL, ECOBAT, TRIME, JCB, Hilti, Makita and NanoSUN. During the event guests discovered how the technology could positively affect construction and infrastructure projects and there were discussions around solar and hydrogen as alternative power sources. A-Plant Continues to Strengthen Fleet Rebrand for JK Ashbrook Congleton headquartered JK Ashbrook is in the process of completing amajor company rebrand. Operating for over 25 years, the company has expanded significantly in recent years with the purchase of two depots fromHewden Hire. Whilst previously offering a wide range of earthmoving and agricultural hire items, the purchase of the former Hewden depots at Warrington and Bangor, NorthWales, saw the introduction of smaller plant, equipment and access hire to the company. “We saw this as an evolutionary step forward with our business. One step we weren’t prepared to take over was in the shape of the crane hire side of their business. This didn’t fit with our business plan or with our field of experience,” MD James Ashbrook explained. The integration of the two depots into the Ashbrook family added a further variation onto the already differing corporate identity of the company and it was at this point that the family owned company looked at a full rebrand in a bid to freshen up and modernise the company’s appearance. “We run a fleet of high specification, modern plant and equipment throughout all of our hire lines. But nothing seemed to flow from the branding perspective. We needed this to change and uplift our fleet’s appearance to meet the professional way in which we operate the company,” James commented. Autumn 2018 saw the first vehicles entering the fleet complete with newly designed branding. A fleet of five new Scania R500 6x2 tractor units entered service in the haulage division sporting a new, blue colour scheme complete with the ‘A’ logo. “We are extremely pleased with the look of the new trucks. The new look will be rolled out across the remainder of the 2,500 plus items of equipment we use over the next six to 12 months,” James said. Launch of New and Updated Spider Crane Kranlyft, themaster distributor for Maeda Mini Cranes in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, has launched a new third generationMC285C-3 spider crane with lifting capacities of 0.995 tonne to 8 tonne. The Maeda MC285C has been one of the most popular machines in the Maeda range and new features include slew limit setting, new seven inch display, HBC radio remote control and detachable electric motor. The multi position outrigger system is fully monitored by the load moment limiter to add to its versatility. Power comes from a Yanmar EU Stage V diesel engine which meets the requirements of the new emission standards that are valid from January 2019. At 750mmwide the crane is slim enough to fit through a standard doorway, allowing access to areas previously inaccessible to larger cranes. There is the option to fit an 850kg searcher hook and auxiliary winch with 900kg capacity. www.cpa.uk.net CPA Bulletin > February 2019 33