A facility fit for the future

Moving to a new site always involves a mixture of nerves and excitement, but excitement seems to be the overarching theme at Rygor Reading’s official opening weekend.

The £2m development was completed in just six months, so it’s been a quick turnaround to move 52 staff into the site at the start of January.

However, the Mercedes-Benz dealer’s latest site is located less than a mile from its former premises, so it’s not been a massive shift for staff or customers to get used to. If anything, the site is more accessible in Worton Grange Industrial Park, just off junction 11 of the M4. Aftersales director Sean Joyce explains: “We’re so close that it hasn’t impacted customers – in fact, it’s even easier to get here.”

It was important for Rygor to stay in Reading. Joyce says: “Our customer base in Reading has always been super loyal. The intention for building this site was to add to that customer base by being a bit more retail friendly.” As well as having an impressive new front-ofhouse, back-of-house operations are already up and running smoothly, and the new space means overall efficiency has improved.

Joyce says the new site was “born out of Mercedes-Benz standards and needing more space for our facility, which has been full for quite a long time”. The 44,000sq ft location has allowed facilities to double in size, giving the truck and van workshops their own dedicated areas.

Extensive facilities

“In terms of the workshop, we’ve doubled the length of the pits and doubled the amount of pits that we’ve got in the truck workshop. There’s an ATF lane, tacho facilities

Rygor’s new facility in Reading boasts a showroom and forecourt, workshops and parts warehouse all under one roof. Trinity Francis digs into the detail and hard standing areas,” he explains. The van workshop has an MoT lane and Bodyguard and Fastlign system on entry to detect the condition of the vehicle and assess if it requires bodywork repairs or wheel alignment. A blank canvas meant the team purpose-built from scratch shaker plates, brake-rollers, tacho rollers, all to ATF standard. There are also two long truck pits, with the potential to put a truck MoT lane in too. Separating the workshops means HGV and LCV equipment availability is maximised and more vehicles can be repaired at the same time, with room to expand operations still further.

In between the two workshops is a parts warehouse with dedicated counters for truck and van technicians. Parts manager Andy Chaloner says: “It was great to be able to design it and get involved from the start. Part stock availability is pretty significant here now in comparison to the site we had before.” The warehouse has rows of racks as far as the eye can see, as well as a mezzanine floor to spread out onto. There’s also a customer parts desk accessible from the front of the building.

Truck and van customers have separate entrances for the workshops. The truck side is fitted with a shower room in case drivers need to stay for a long period of time or just want to freshen up while they wait. As van customers are more likely to stay and wait for their vehicles, there’s a customer kitchen area and desk space for people to work, which is already getting good use.

Staff facilities have also expanded, including an on-site gym and communal canteen area. Kate RuberryShoemack, head of people and communications explains: “When we build new sites now, we build them as far as possible with wellness areas or quiet areas for staff just to have that moment to breathe.” As the workshop has now been split, it was a priority to create communal spaces for colleagues to catch up.

Keep it clean

Sustainability was a key consideration when designing the site. Where possible, the team is moving towards paperless operations. In the sales suite this means there are screens to show customers the specification of new vehicles and display any necessary amendments to stock orders. For staff, digital notice boards are dotted around communal areas to keep everyone updated. Outside, there are EV fast-chargers for customers’ vans and trucks to future-proof the site and accommodate their current electrified models.

The new yard is over twice the size of the previous one so there’s plenty of room to move around and ample space to hold and display stock. Joyce says: “We didn’t really have the facilities to display vehicles or demo from Reading before, but being able to add that function will be key for our sales team. To make the site more accessible for commercial customers, we will look to expand on our shift patterns as we go along, offering night shifts and weekends, as we get settled into the site.” ■