12 minute read
LIVING ITS LEGACY
Kanoo Machinery counts Bobcat among the prestigious brands in its stable, along with Perkins, Hyster, Snorkel, Grove and others. Their association with Bobcat is for over 40 years now.
extremely challenging, not only for us but also for every business across the region and even the world. Overall, the compact equipment segment dropped by about 30% in the pandemic but even in these tough times, we increased our market share because of our focus and efforts and by giving the best possible customer service 24/7.
A big reason for this is our customer service initiatives. An ongoing initiative that has brought us results is an activity we’ve named “100% Customer Excellence Movement”. It is a set of objectives with which we wanted to give 100% customer service, which started in June 2019. As part of the movement, we put up in bold letters what we mean by 100% customer service excellence, and we publicized what were the things that we would do. Under the activity, every employee of Kanoo Group in the UAE wears a patch with our promise to customers written on it and whenever a customer asks, our employee explains the concept to him and gives him a card which outlines the objectives we aim to achieve.
There are bold commitments under these objectives. For example, we said that every sales enquiry would be replied to within 24 hours, but only after thoroughly assessing the application. When a customer places an order for a forklift, for example, we don’t just ask them for the type of brand they prefer and the model they want; we do more than that. Our sales teams have been trained as consultants and they study the requirements and come back to advise about the right product for the right application, as the customer may not always have the clearest
Fahad Kanoo, CEO of the Kanoo Group, and Kanan Chandrasekaran (left), country manager, UAE and Oman, at the Kanoo Machinery integrated facilities in Dubai’s Al Quoz Industrial Area. idea about what will suit their requirements or there may be some other product we have that is even better for their requirements.
This is only one example. Also, for every enquiry we give the enquirer a spare parts quotation within that day if the enquiry is received in the morning, and the following day if it is received in the evening.
When it comes to service, we increased our first-time response rate to a full 100%. We have set up a 24/7 tollfree number and an email address, both going directly to our divisional service manager, and he immediately allocates the resources for the service job and sends them out. Even if the calls come in at 10pm or 12am, he attends to them and sends the mechanics as soon as possible, thereby assuring maximum support.
During Covid-19 we focused more on the 24/7 support, services, parts, annual maintenance contracts, and increasing the perception about Kanoo Machinery being a reliable service provider. All this won us an additional market share.
Our focus was firmly on existing customers, on service and parts. Increasing the brand perception of Kanoo Machinery was vital and we also did several promotions in terms of free maintenance, free check-ups and parts campaigns. We’ve focused all our efforts during the pandemic on ensuring service with safety and came up with the slogan: ‘You stay safe, we take care’
We have involved all our 220 employees in this effort. Every day, we would spread this information on our social media, showing one of our employees holding a placard with the 24/7 phone number and an email address. We put out all our news and developments on social media to reach out to our customers and got a lot of enquiries. The focus of our efforts is market support instead of new sales and that in the end helped us increase our numbers - focusing on the customer, going out to the customer wherever possible and paying close attention to after sales service.
The Kanoo Group is very proactive, thanks to our Chairman. Under his initiative, we started selling thermal imaging cameras and sensors by the end of March, just days after the pandemic struck the UAE in a big way.
Digital thermometers were immediately dispatched to all our offices and we started implementing safety steps right away, such as checking the temperatures of our people and isolating anyone at even a semblance of any symptom. There were a couple of cases in our company, but they were isolated immediately thereby greatly limiting our number of cases to a mere few.
When dealing with customers, our service department would call and inform them that our people are all tested and there is nothing to worry about. We told customers to isolate their machines that needed work and we would come and do the service. All our employees in showrooms were given masks and we even distributed masks printed with the Kanoo Group logo in April 2020 to everyone. It was made mandatory to enter our premises only with masks and whenever possible we had our people work from home.
Please describe your network, the services that you provide and the level of efficiency
Kanoo Machinery’s facilities include full back-up support and repair services for all its brands and their models with trained, qualified and certified personnel, such as for Bobcat backhoe loaders.
that customers obtain from you – and what are the factors that go behind this.
Kanoo Machinery has seven branches in the UAE. We have full–fledged branches in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and separate parts counters with mobile service vans stationed in Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah, Fujairah, Al Ain and Abu Dhabi. And we have another base and parts centre in the Mussafah Industrial Area. An advantage for our customers is that our parts counters are open 8am-6pm on all days except Fridays. Service is also available on all these days.
Also, our staff is technically qualified. Our mechanics have ICI certifications, our supervisors are diploma holders and most of our salespeople are qualified engineers. All of them are also trained and certified by the manufacturers either locally or in their plants. In fact, because of our long association with many manufacturers, we have in our teams master trainers who can train other trainers. Thus, we are very advanced in terms of overall certifications. Some of our master trainers are also sought by training centers such as DP World to train their own trainers. They visit the customers and train their workshop managers and are authorized to do that.
We also have the set up to remotely monitor the machines we supply, and this is something we use ourselves in our rental division. We remotely monitor our entire rental fleet of 400–500 units using a monitoring device embedded in the machines, which enables us to view all its parameters. If the engine temperature rises we get an alarm; if the hydraulic pressure falls we get an alarm; if a customer is trying to take our rented machine outside the geofenced area we get an alarm – basically, we remotely monitor the units and ensure smooth running and near 100% uptime for customers who have rented from us.
PICKERS AND MOVERS
WITH SPIDER PLUS BRINGING PICK-AND-CARRY CRANES INTO ITS RENTAL FLEET, THE UAE NOW HAS A DEDICATED, EFFICIENT AND SAFE SOLUTION FOR MOVING AND PLACING MATERIAL ON SITES
It’s a challenge all contractors have faced at or another – such as just shoving hooks onto a But Duffy now feels it’s the time when all that will various stages of a project: there is material telehandler or forklift, or dangling a sling off such start changing with Spider Plus’ latest offerings. to be moved from one place to another on machines to suspend a load from them, which you “We’ve brought over some mini pick-and-carry the job-site and there’s either too little fire then carry around the job-site. There is frequently the cranes from GGR in the UK. They are very small, easy to power you can throw at it, such as making thought that ‘I’ll just use a forklift and hang something use, easy to manage and have not just lifting but also workers carry it by hand, or go in for an from it or a telehandler and hang something from transportation functions - hence the nomenclature overkill by using the heavy machines to that’, which may work technically but is not the safest ‘pick-and-carry’. They provide a lot of flexibility on do a light job. or most efficient thing to do. It’s not something that job-sites not just for smaller installations, whether
Now, however, with the new pick-and- should be done in this day and age. But that mindset they be for glass or MEP materials, but also if you are carry cranes being made available by is gradually changing and there are products available transporting things outside or within the buildings. Dubai-based rental company Spider Plus, in the region now, such as our pick-and-carry cranes, Think of them as a crane with the capabilities and there is a safe and efficient solution to this to help in bringing about that change,” Duffy says. same ease-of-use as a forklift” Duffy says. problem that is less wasteful than using the heavy “The introduction of better equipment like the pick- “We’ve started with a limited number in our rental earthmovers to lift and carry things around and way and-carry cranes is also going to help further with HSE fleet to introduce them to the market here, and we faster than having workers do the moving manually. improvements, because in all fairness to people that intend to bring more in once the market has seen Spider Plus executive manager Joe Duffy feels the sling loads from telehandlers and carry them around, them and discovered the benefits of their diverse time is right for the region to adopt the use of such they haven’t necessarily had access to an adequate utility down the line.” equipment to improve both safety and efficiency. pick-and-carry machine. And when there are plenty Describing the models available with Spider Plus he
“There are some things that should not be done of telehandlers in the market, you tend to make do explains that the cranes are manufactured in Europe on a job-site but everyone has done it at some time with what you have.” and Spider Plus obtains them through the GGR Group
in the UK after they are duly tested and certified. The units that have been brought in by Spider Plus now are the G20 model, a 2t-capacity pick-and-carry crane that can lift up 2t of weight and drive off with it to wherever it needs to go. The model also has a reasonably high reach and can go up to 5.3m in height, while the operating radius can extend to 3.5m. There is a hydraulically extending boom with a manual additional extension if extra height is needed and the G20 can also operate at a smaller half a metre radius . Duffy adds that the G20 is also quite quick when it comes to the ‘carry’ part of its duties and can transport the load it has picked up at reasonable speeds around the job-site. Two speed modes are available and while an operator has to walk behind the unit to control and steer it, the operator’s walks will be quite brisk. The ground contact is provided by rubber wheels and stopping power comes from electromagnetic brakes, which makes the G20 inherently safe. When it is not moving the wheels are clamped, preventing movement and ensuring stability under load. Safety is also enhanced with a built in Safe Load Indicator (SLI) system, making the pick-and-carry crane as safe as any other crane but with more flexibility.
Elaborating on the uses the machine can be put to Duffy explains: “They are very useful for both construction and maintenance applications and a number of other uses, for example in factories, warehouses and even airports. Suppose you need to do maintenance on heavy vehicles or machinery, you can use the G20 to pick an engine out of a truck and drive off with it to the engine workshop without too much struggle, as opposed to a typical engine crane where you have to pump it up and then push it along.
“Also you don’t need to worry about clearing a large space around the work area, because the G20 does not need to be set up. It works at full capacity at any point in time so you can pick up, say, a piece of glass you need to install from outside a structure, can go through the doorway, do the installation and then drive off again. The unit can be utilised for winches as well, so you can use them within buildings in the same manner that you use a spider crane when installing facades or transferring materials up and down.
“You can change water pumps or MEP or HVAC units up on a roof. Equally, they are great if you need to install steel beams within a tower or if you are having to do construction inside a mall or even inside a villa - they are very much a jack of all trades. Another feature of the machines is that they are fully electric and emission free, making them environmentally friendly, and perfect for closed spaces or confined areas.”
Though the G20 units have only recently joined the Spider Plus rental fleet, they have already done a few minor projects, such as lifting and placing jobs where they saved customers from the need to get a permit to bring in a mobile crane on the side of a road. And Spider Plus has also previously sold some units to the Dubai airport where it is part of the airport’s maintenance fleet, Duffy reveals.
The Case 1107EXD compactor is an 11t machine that provides 32t of compaction force. It drives both the drum and rear tyres hydrostatically and also offers an airconditioned cab.
