EXECUTIVE REPORT
Much has happened at Hewden since his last interview, so Robert Aplin meets Chief Executive Kevin Parkes to find out more about…
…The modern Hewden
I’m not going to give you a history lesson on the four decades that I’ve known Hewden. However, I will stand full square behind my comment in our October 2012 Obituary on its legendary founder, Sir Matthew Goodwin, ‘Hewden became the undisputed leader of the plant hire industry, building its business on a rock of Scottish granite.’
According to Hewden Chief Executive Kevin Parkes, “the recovery plan is complete. It’s now all about growth.”
That comment related to its market-leading position throughout the 1980s and until the mid-1990s. The second half of the 1990s and the new millennium have been
much less kind to Hewden. Acquired by Canadian-based Caterpillar dealer, Finning, for £322m in January 2001, its revenues and profits continued to decline and, in June 2010, Hewden was sold again into North American ownership, this time to Florida-based private equity Sun Capital Partners for £110.2m.
Described as ‘distressed and not in the healthiest state’ at the time of the purchase, how has Hewden fared under Sun Capital’s ownership in the last three and a half years? Clearly the senior management team, led by Chief Executive Kevin Parkes, who joined in October 2008, has taken a close look at every aspect of the Hewden operation and concluded that radical action was necessary.
“Whilst Sun recognised the heritage and strength of the Hewden brand, and its long and successful history, we had to stop being things that Hewden couldn’t be any more and recognise our strengths and use them to our advantage. We’ve not been shouting about what we have been doing because we wanted to make sure that everything we have undertaken has been robust and sustainable.”
At the time of the purchase, Hewden operated just over 100 outlets. Today, its network has been dramatically rationalised and now comprises 33 locations. “We are no longer a multi-depot operation. We had to find a new way to get the best level of service to our customers.”
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At the end of last year, Hewden even closed its Dartford depot, regarded by many as one of its flagship outlets, the site having operated as a major plant depot since its Agent Plant days back in the 1980s. “We have been through a massive transport optimisation project and concluded that Dartford is located on the wrong side of the River Thames for us. It has a really difficult bridge and tunnel to get through and, when we analysed our deliveries from this site, we found out that 80% were closer to our existing depots in the area. As a result, in terms of distribution, this site was no longer important to us.”
Hewden had also operated, for example, five depots in, and around, Birmingham – two offering plant and one each for cranes, access and accommodation. “It is far more efficient to operate from one yard, so we now only operate from the ‘hub’ depot in Willenhall.” Hewden’s other main ‘hubs’ are in Glasgow, Billingham, Warrington and Wokingham.
Hewden’s latest ‘hub’ is in Avonmouth, Bristol. Following the closure of depots in Cardiff, to the west, and Swindon, to the east, as well as nearby Portishead, Hewden’s Avonmouth location is now its largest fleet holding depot. It feeds ‘spoke’ outlets in Swansea, 70 miles to the west, and Newton Abbot, 85 miles to the south. At the time of my visit in mid November, the Avonmouth depot had 600 items of equipment on hire, which is more than Hewden had at all three previous locations. The large site has 50 staff, including 11 plant and specialist crane fitters, seven crane operators and seven hire desk staff. In March, Hewden is scheduled to re-locate its existing depot in Bedford to another large ‘hub’ site to serve the Home Counties and plans to open a west London ‘hub’ in the Heathrow area during this year.
Of its 33 locations, 21 are plant depots, four are accommodation sites, while the additional eight locations are industrial sites,
Hewden’s Willenhall ‘hub’ is one of 21 plant depots it now operates.
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