CPA Bulletin

36 CPA Bulletin > August 2024 www.cpa.uk.net NEWS FROM CPA MEMBERS: 4 Takeuchi UK have appointed Daisuke Yanagisawa, better known as Yana, as the newManaging Director. Yana has spent the last 12 months as Assistant MD, getting to know the industry in the UK. Yana will be leading the team of 25 at Takeuchi’s UK head office in Rochdale and Thatcham depot. He said: “There’s a huge opportunity to build on the success Takeuchi UK have achieved so far, and I’m really looking forward to working with the team to grow the business significantly. My main focus is to take Takeuchi UK to the next level by strengthening the team. I strongly believe having the right people at the right places is the core for our growth.” Takeuchi UK benefit from an extensive and established dealer network of 30 depots supporting customers nationwide. Customer-led innovation has always been a central to the Takeuchi philosophy and developments in the New 3-Series range and New Electric models is an exciting next chapter for Takeuchi in the UK. Takeuchi remain a major excavator supplier to the UK’s construction and plant hire industry. The excavator product range has expanded year on year, now with over 22 models between 1 to 15-tonnes. This year Takeuchi UK will reach its 50,000th machine sale, a major milestone for the Takeuchi UK team and dealer network. “With the recent opening of the new Aoki factory in Japan and increased productivity, our machine availability is going to be its best-ever. Over the next few years, we aim to grow the Takeuchi customer base nationally. Our dealer know-how and expertise will be critical to our on-going success,” Yana added. NewMD for Takeuchi UK Cobalt Converts Customers to JCB X Series A plant hire firm has invested in a fleet of new JCB machines worth £4 million – including 19 X Series excavators. Kent-based Cobalt Plant Hire was founded in 2022 with support from JCB Finance and its fleet of JCB machines has just been joined by new JCB 140X and 220X models. Supplied by dealer Greenshields JCB, the X Series models are joined by JCB 85Z-2 and 86C-2 midi excavators and six and nine- tonne JCB site dumpers. It takes Cobalt Plant Hire’s extensive JCB fleet up to 55 machines, all with striking dark blue livery. Cobalt Plant Hire Joint Managing Director, Barry Verrent says the JCB X Series excavators are proving a big hit with hire customers, with former users of competitor machines now becoming big fans of the X Series models. He said: “We choose JCB as it’s a great British brand and we have an excellent relationship with the team at Greenshields JCB. The service has been really good and we really like the X Series. It’s a powerful excavator. Operator comfort is a big thing for us and so the comfort levels in the cab stand out. As long as the operator is happy, we’re happy. The customer feedback has been very good. Even those customers who previously used competitor machines are now converts to the X Series. “The team at Greenshields JCB has been very supportive of us - from the very early days of Cobalt when we were starting out with nothing. JCB was the one manufacturer and dealer combination that backed us, fighting to secure finance for us too. They’ve been behind us all the way and are a big part of why we’ve stuck with JCB.” Cobalt Plant Hire was established in 2022 by Barry Verrent and Mick Lippard and employs 10 people at its Rochester base. Offering self-drive plant hire, the company operates a fleet of 190 machines including 35 JCB tracked excavators, ten JCB dumpers, six JCB Loadall telescopic handlers and four JCB compaction rollers. To submit news for consideration for future issues of the CPA Bulletin, please email: lisa @ lisacollinscommunications.co.uk