IN THE DOCK | RICKY HIRANI
KEEPING PACE
Hyster is at the forefront of new material handling equipment for ports and terminals. DLM talks to Ricky Hirani about how Hyster is changing as an organisation, while continuing to put its customers first.
drivers advance the industry as a whole, no two individual operations are the same, which pushes equipment providers like Hyster to not only bring new solutions to market, but provide a level of customisation to meet customers on their terms. Addressing this variability requires optimising how people, processes and technology fit together. For Ricky Hirani, he relies on lessons learned at every step of his career, from nightclub doorman and Formula Student team leader to his current position leading big trucks and port equipment for Hyster. Hirani fell into security work after attending university. “It was a tough job. To do it effectively we have to work as a team. No one has eyes in the back of their head, you have to trust that your team has got your back and you have got theirs. Being in those type of situations taught me about teamwork and there are many transferrable skills I learned that I can still apply today.” He then moved to the Netherlands to study
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automotive engineering at HAN University of Applied Sciences. Here he became an integral part of the Formula Student racing team, an F1-style competition where universities each put forward a team who design, build and race a car. Starting out as the team’s power train engineer, Hirani managed the entire project for two years. “That experience was another form of building and working as a team, bringing in sponsors – it was hands-on experience,” he says. “In academia if you get a question wrong you can still get some marks for showing how you reached that answer. But this was a real company structure with real deliverables and real sponsors spending real money. You don’t want to have to explain to the sponsors why the car they are supporting was not running.” He remains involved to this day, having set up an alumni technical committee as a way for
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ajor trends and technologies are redefining how ports around the world move cargo. But while key
former team members to give advice and support to the team.
Valuable experience After graduating, Hirani joined Hyster. He is based at the Nijmegen plant, where Hyster has been producing its big trucks line for more than 70 years. “The factory is right outside my office, so I can see the products and the people who put them together. I have friends in software development and it’s much harder for them to visualise the end product.” “Ultimately our products help a company move materials from A to B. But we deal with so many different types of organisations across the globe which all bring their own requirements and regulations, so that has been a fun challenge to engage with.” His previous roles have helped him develop the skill set needed for his role as global commercial product leader, big trucks & port equipment. “I am very people and process driven. From my experiences with the racing team and in security, I learned that I could add processes and tools to help people.” He notes that it isn’t about eliminating waste, but all employees striving to spare each other unnecessary effort. Here, the OEM’s aim is to foster a culture of mutual support, enabling people to help each other. “People need the right tools and processes
to help them work together to achieve the right results. I see my role as bringing people together to understand the pain points and find a creative way to make the process work.”
Business agility Hyster, like many companies, has felt the impacts of change demanded partly as a response to post-covid world and the supply chain challenges it brought. “The business has become more agile as it has adapted to those challenges and to new ways of working. For
Ricky Hirani
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