Shaping the Future
The Executive Hire Show is a unique showcase for products and services that will shape the future of our industry. Dan Jenkins asks what inspires innovation and what is driving development in the hire sector.
W
here do ideas for innovation originate? For Tom Cannon, founder of Tracked
Carriers, it was as simple as spotting a gap in the market.
“Moving heavy items is probably the oldest problem known to mankind,” he said. “Narrow access lifting equipment has been quite well received over the past few years. However, companies were not giving the same level of regard as to how the materials that the cranes would lift should be transported to the work site.
“Typically, they were still relying on manpower, so for example, half a dozen blokes would carry a steel beam between them to get it round the back of a house. You often saw improvisation as well such as skates or even short pieces of scaffold used to roll the beam. These methods can easily end up in broken fingers and toes for those involved. The fact that our machines can be operated remotely is a big factor in demand. No one has to be holding the material and this ‘hands off’ approach has been integral to their success.”
Innovation in core components has also made Tracked Carriers possible. “Even ten years ago the product would not have been able to deliver the same performance and certainly not at the same price,” added Cannon. “We were one of the first companies in the UK to use the new generation of Curtis controllers and they have been incredible for us. Previous generations probably would not have been suitable for the levels of performance we need. We are also benefiting from advances in electric motors.”
Tracked Carriers uses the Executive Hire Show to gain feedback from hirers on potential new products and is showing two prototypes this year. One will be a dolly with increased towing capacity. “The machines can tow many times their own weight, so they are a cost-effective solution for moving larger, heavier items,” said Cannon. The second is a 300kg capacity tracked carrier
which would be the smallest in the range, featuring a levelling platform that can carry materials up slopes or steps.
Transformative tech
Telematics companies like Trackunit continue to innovate, taking the technology beyond simple ‘track n trace’ to provide insights which reduce machine down time.
Meanwhile, the company is innovating with a new product called ‘Trackunit Kin’. This uses the latest Bluetooth technology to connect small assets and make them visible in the fleet management system. “This is radical innovation for equipment that couldn’t justify the cost of a full-blown telematics solution such as smaller light towers and generators,” added Frost. “Losing or misplacing these items impacts site productivity.
Mathias Frost Bilgram CCO at Trackunit.
Mathias Frost Bilgram, Chief Customer Officer for Trackunit, said: “As an industry we are still getting started. There are two big areas of development we will see in the coming years. The first is ‘Uberisation’ of equipment rental, and that starts with the OEMs, who will build machines that can accept over-the-air software updates. This in turn will enable rental companies to place a machine on site and adjust how it performs over the air. For example, you can put a powered access platform with a 30m working height on site, but if one contractor only requires 20m working height you can limit the machine and charge them accordingly.”
This also opens the door to a multi-rental model where one machine can be rented by the day or even hour, by multiple contractors. “The most forward-thinking hire companies in the world right now are working on solutions where a contractor can walk up to a machine, the machine recognises them, logs the hours used by that contractor, and bills them accordingly. This is still in the experimental phase but will definitely mature.”
Trackunit Kin, a new product using the latest Bluetooth technology to connect assets.
“Fitting Bluetooth modules on this type of equipment enables us to connect to them in a cost-effective way and provide precise locations. This means that finding an excavator attachment or a lighting tower takes three minutes instead of thirty.”
Productivity boost
Unless an innovation is driven by changes in the law, it has to deliver a return on investment. Walid Hussain, National Tool Hire Manager at Hilti (GB), believes that the most important element of innovation is getting informed feedback from customers. “Our own trained people being on site, listening to what people think, gives us the opportunity to understand what the construction companies really need,” he said. “Innovation sometimes comes from the person using the drill or the technician servicing a product. They give us the starting points for how to keep improving our products to three key metrics: safety, productivity, and sustainability.”
Hilti will showcase two new products at the
34 Executive Hire News - Jan/Feb 2022
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 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78
