EXECUTIVE REPORT


Open doors indicate business as usual, but HSC's team of 27 is reduced to just five staff for now.


Life during lockdown


While tough trading conditions continue, hirers and suppliers are finding different ways to stay afloat. But how did the Hire Supply Company manage when its Managing Director Gary McWilliam was forced to self-isolate? We find out…


How quickly things can change. Following the tangible mood of positivity at the Executive Hire Show, and with the budget looking like it might actually benefit the hire sector, to the dreary privations of the current pandemic. Make God laugh and tell him your plans, as they say. But planning and sensible mitigations are exactly what is keeping HSC in business at the moment - notwithstanding the fact that the MD of the company has been forced to remove himself from the senior team for a fortnight.


Hire Supply Company Managing Director, Gary McWilliam


This turns out to be a precautionary measure, Gary McWilliam’s partner being a nurse and having developed some minor symptoms that thankfully dissipated. He is in fine fettle


when we catch up on the eve of his return to work - something he was greatly looking forward to. However, we begin with a brief chat about HSC’s performance at the 2020 Executive Hire Show.


“It was a success for us - it always is, to be honest. This year we sold more on the stand than ever before, so it was a record year for us,” says Gary. “One of the best-selling products was the beam-lifter. It has taken us eight years to get some traction on this, but people were able to see it working and understand how it folds flat, see how it’s assembled and how it’s moved - which is a lot better than looking at a picture of it in the catalogue.


“We also showcased the MAS 13 air-scrubber, which is manufactured by Master. We had a lot of interest in that, and we received several orders after the event. Unfortunately, production has been delayed by around 30 days because of the coronavirus, but we’re expecting to get them in stock at end of April-beginning of May.”


28


This leads us to the central question of our interview, and a minor ‘theme’ that seems to have developed in this edition - namely, how businesses are managing to operate in the midst of the lockdown. What measures did the HSC team have to undertake, we wondered? “The first problem was getting the clarification about whether we were an essential part of the supply chain,” explains Gary. “We felt that we were, because we sell the products that support the emergency services and utility industries. When the HAE said it had been in touch with the government and had confirmation that tool and plant hire are an essential part of the supply chain, we felt that we had been doing the right thing by staying open to support hire shops.


“With regard to social distancing, we’ve been following the guidelines and making sure that we have hand-sanitizer in all places of work. Business has dropped off, so we’ve had to furlough a lot of our staff in order to retain them for when we come out of this. That leaves five of us at the office, and our desks are a good three metres apart from one another.


“We’re doing contactless deliveries, so there are no signatures on the paperwork. When we’re loading our couriers, it’s us that puts the order on the wagon and there’s no contact with the driver. It’s all about maintaining best practice as much as humanly possible.”


In spite of a slowdown in trading and a dramatically smaller team keeping the business ticking over, HSC has been able to aid in the national effort in the fight the coronavirus, as Gary reveals: “Yes, we helped A-Plant with the new Nightingale Hospitals.


The current view across the HSC office. Four at their desks and a fifth team member in the warehouse.


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