making the most of new technologies and processes to enable new ways of recycling the waste streams that we handle,” she says. Up until 1988, the firm was sending everything it collected via its skip hire operation, directly to landfill. “That was the norm back then, but it was unsustainable - there had to be a better way of dealing with waste and that’s when my dad Gary saw opportunities for recycling and for growth.” As the business grew, so too did its requirements for reliable and robust equipment. And Shorts Group’s introduction to Volvo Construction Equipment was to come through a third-party local plant hire operation running Pel-Job mini excavators. That business was eventually brought into the Shorts portfolio which gave the Group a different fleet of machines to compare to, as transport manager, Steve Meade recalls. “We had other makes of mini excavator at the time, and the Pel-Job kit opened our eyes to what we had been missing out on – mainly reliability,” he says. “As the business grew through the 1980s, so too did our fleet, and when Volvo acquired the Pel-Job company in 1995, our fleet naturally adopted the Volvo brand.” Since then, the Shorts’ plant and machinery fleet has continued to grow and currently comprises around 70 items of Volvo Construction Equipment. The portfolio extends from mini and midi excavators for its plant and tool hire operation, up to a 50-tonne EC480 excavator bought for demolition work.
“Around 12 years ago, we looked at the Volvo ECR235 as a replacement for other short radius excavators on our fleet and we’ve never looked back – we now have four of them,” he adds. “Our operators really like them – they’re a compact, powerful and very stable platform.” At its Ascot and Aldershot waste transfer stations, the business operates a variety of Volvo kit including a L110 wheeled loader, an EC220, a pair of ECR235s and a pair of EC140 excavators. Its latest Volvo purchase was an ECR235 to add to the demolition operation. It joins an existing ECR235, an EC300 in full high-reach specification, and an EC480 – the latter bought secondhand to meet the need for continued organic growth within the business. “We’re really pleased with the level of service we get
from SMT GB,” he says. “Yes, there have been issues, but they have been dealt with in the same way that we deal with our customers – and that really matters to us. Everyone is tested on how good their service is.” Restricted working hours at the nearby Ascot waste transfer station dictates that a high level of productivity and reliability have become essential daily requirements. “Ascot is a 7am to 5pm operation, and we expect to get 10 hours of work from our machines on site every day. We get a lorry over the weighbridge every 90 seconds, so when a machine operator needs to stop for a break, another operator takes the controls to ensure these
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