At the City of Casey, in Melbourne’s south east, the road maintenance unit has been expanding its business operations by relying more heavily on hired equipment and the services offered by the Cat Rental Store at Hallam.
The introduction of compulsory competitive tendering several years ago forced the City of Casey to take a fresh look at its contracting operations and management of all its plant and equipment. Council used to own most equipment needed to undertake all its own road maintenance and construction. However, some items of plant would sit in the depot for months between uses.
According to Rick Terrington, Council’s Team Leader Road Maintenance, batteries would go flat and fluid leaks would suddenly appear, so maintenance would have to be undertaken even if the plant was not being used.
“We were seeking best value and best use of Council’s capital,” Rick Terrington said. “So we did our sums and calculated that we would be better off if we hired virtually every piece of equipment we couldn’t see ourselves using at least three days per week. With rollers, for example, our requirements vary considerably from week to week so it’s better for us to hire them instead of owning a wide range of machines only used occasionally.”
He said it is a similar story with excavators.
“A few years ago we had three excavators, but none of them were being used consistently, so we sold them and now hire exactly what we want when we want it.
“We still have our own graders, because they’re operating full time, but rollers, excavators and things like pumps, message boards, saws and lighting towers we hire as required.”
The road maintenance unit is now extremely competitive with outside contractors and it has developed a real niche for itself in projects running four to five weeks, to a value of around $200,000. It was fortunate for Council that a Cat Rental Store opened nearby at Hallam just 18 months after it rationalised its equipment needs. Casey now relies on the store for 90 per cent of all the equipment it hires.
“The best thing about Cat Rental is their good range of equipment,” Rick Terrington said. “If they don’t have it at Hallam they can usually source it from one of their other stores. The equipment is all late model gear, it’s well maintained and it complies with all the latest OHS regulations.”
He said that another advantage of hiring through Cat Rental was that Council’s operators get to trial the latest equipment. In fact Council recently purchased a new Cat 120H grader and a Cat 226 skid steer after hiring those products from the Cat Rental Store.
For further information contact Cat Rental on 1800 228 736.
* Copy supplied by Caterpillar Australia
