England 14/09/2013 – Despite a difficult trading environment Impact Handling have been able to expand their business
The firm has been selling and leasing CAT lift trucks to UK businesses since 1985. In November 2010, CAT made them their sole provider for the UK and Ireland.
Over the years, the team has seen demand for lifting equipment fluctuate, and they have learnt the importance of continuing to improve their service despite difficult trading conditions. Much of their success is down to their high customer service standards, which they are always striving to improve.
In March 2013, they moved short-term hire services to a bespoke site in Manchester. They did so in response to increasing requests from firms for shorter contracts. Many of their customers are experiencing sharper fluctuations in demand, than before the recession. This means that their warehouses and factories are busy for two or three months then quite for several months. Naturally, the last thing cash poor firms need is to be paying to lease lifting equipment that is sitting idle for several months. Impact Handling responded to this problem by offering more lease options and setting up the Manchester site to deal specifically with short-term leases. Their new Manchester site also brought them geographically closer to many of their customers, which has helped them to improve the speed of their service.
Expansion through Acquisition
The firm is growing in other ways. They have just acquired Abex, which is a Birmingham based handling firm. The acquisition is a good fit, because Abex already leases forklifts to companies in the Birmingham area. They have a good reputation and a strong brand, so will operate as a subsidiary rather than being rebranded. They have 25 experienced staff who will be offered the chance to stay on and work alongside http://www.impact-handling.com employees. As well as offering the full range of CAT equipment, long handling equipment will be made available to all Impact Handling customers. This should further increase the firm’s customer base and helping them to continue to expand as they have done for the past few years.
