COMPANY PROFILE BY SANDRA DICK


you buy a car, the dealer continues to communicate with you well after you buy that car. They’re regularly on the phone to you offering customer support. “Blue Scotland sells you a machine, then


you get the back up and the parts. So it’s all included together.” Distance, even when it means reaching


outpost such as Scotland’s furthest away islands, doesn’t faze him either. Nor does that idea of springing into action – weekends included. “Why shouldn’t we be raising the game?”


he adds, “as our improved facilities enable us to do that.” The new facility at


Broadlands Business Park near Stirling city centre opened earlier this year. Dramatically larger than the company’s old base, it includes a modern workshop, refurbishing facility, training room, offices, parts storeroom and masses of space to show off kit. There’s a crack


team of 20 staff, including eight engineers, who are often out on the road, plus three service department staff to keep work schedules running on time. They have an incredible capacity to identify spare parts from the vaguest of descriptions, and know precisely which engineer might be free at any particular time. Like Jane in


accounts, service controller Mandy Dawson thinks little of pulling out the stops to keep customers happy. She explained:


“A customer calls because they need a part. Rather than have them trying to find an engineer to fit it, we supply the part and the engineer” Telematics equipment on customer


Blue Scotland Account manager Chris Rankin with Jane Craig, senior accounts, and Paul Houston of the parts department discuss stock. The Blue Scotland parts department has space for up to 500,000 parts.


vehicles and equipment tracks mileage, hours of operation, and when a service is required. The information is sent to the Blue Scotland office, helping staff there keep on


and Pat McGeary who ran Powerscreen Central. Together they launched Blue Machinery in 2004. Their ethos from the start focussed on


putting customers’ needs first, whether they were investing in new kit, second hand gear, or spares.


Register your email for news and updates at www.skiphiremagazine.co.uk


top of performance. Should a breakdown occur, Blue


Scotland’s engineers use the tracker information to diagnose problems and arrange parts. When arriving to carry out repairs, they’re already armed with spares and a clear idea of what’s needed. Changed are the days when Blue Scotland


MD Austin Carey was running a dealership for Powerscreen equipment from his own kitchen. He went on to hook up with Powerscreen London rep Eugene Donnelly, Brian Maxwell at Powerscreen Southern,


Now Blue Machinery is one of the UK’s


leading suppliers of mobile equipment to the quarry and waste industry, specialising in Powerscreen shredders, crushers and screeners, Doppstadt, MDS trommels, Terex Fuchs material handlers and BlueMac Manufacturing Ltd, another arm of the Blue group business. Last year, turnover was in excess of £78m. At Blue Spares in Warrington, there’s £3m


of stock and 50 staff. Every day they pack and dispatch 1000 items. Meanwhile at Blue Ireland, formed in 2014 and expected to turn over £7m this year, customers from the scrap and waste recycling industry around the world can pick up a single piece of equipment, or order a bespoke integrated processing system. That’s what


Dem-Master Demolition and Total Recycling in Bathgate did. Their £700,000 investment in a bespoke MRF facility for heavy materials, built by Blue Ireland and


Blue Scotland Service Manager Adrian Millar with service controller Mandy Dawson (left), and Pamela Watt, customer services.


installed in October, has given the business the chance to focus on bigger clients. “We got the hands


on attention from Blue we didn’t feel we got with others,” said Johnston McCulloch, the


firm’s commercial manager. “The personal touch made the difference.


“Meanwhile another, perhaps surprising, element of Blue Scotland’s work is training customers to


carry out their own maintenance and small repairs. It might sound like slicing their


own throats, but Service Manager Adrian insists the workshops make sense. “We bring guys in, and give them half a


day’s training so they’re familiar with daily and weekly maintenance, as well as hints and tips about the equipment,” he added. “If things do go wrong they can’t fix, there’s


always the option of phoning us for help – weekends included.”


Issue 132 December 2016 SHM 15


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64