THE ‘WRIGHT’ WAY FOR SUNBELT RENTALS

Andy

Having grown up in West Yorkshire, Andy Wright has come a long way since his apprenticeship as a cable jointer having left school at the age of 16. He is a classic example of someone who has been the architect of their own future career path. Andy is proof that if you have determination and are willing to learn skills and gain knowledge along the way, exciting opportunities will arise, and doors will open.

We open our conversation talking about education. It’s a topic close to Andy’s heart, not least because he, like many at that time, left secondary education without a degree despite being a conscientious scholar who enjoyed reading and learning; something he still relishes to this day. Andy says he was fortunate to have opportunities during his early career, and that is why he is such an avid believer in helping the people who work at Sunbelt personally and professionally develop.

“There are more people now who come into the plant industry, including those who join Sunbelt Rentals, having completed degrees, and that’s great. Equally, we also have a lot of very intelligent people who haven’t had the same level of education. Sunbelt employs 4200 people in the UK and we are working hard with initiatives designed to unlock the whole potential of the organisation. We are a people focused business; our people are at the heart of what we do. So, if we have 4200 people all thinking about the business, all trying to improve, all seeking new ideas and initiatives, and feeling secure to do that, then we create a very powerful organisation.”

As he is talking about this, his commitment to this approach is clear to see. Andy reflects on his own education and career path, which leads us on to his early working years.

After a four-year apprenticeship working with high voltage equipment, installing electrical cables into houses, and a couple of years “doing his own thing” Andy decided he wanted a role that combined his technical knowledge with a sales role. In 1989, he joined the generator specialists, Aggreko as a sales engineer, and was based at the Doncaster depot, which at that time was only their fifth in the UK.

“Aggreko was growing very fast at that time, and it was an excellent grounding to be part of a high-growth business. But, above all, Aggreko taught me about the importance of being ‘people focused’ in a business.”

Aggreko encouraged Andy to embark on a business sponsored programme to gain a Certificate in Management Studies. He performed well and really enjoyed the experience, saying that to this day, how much he enjoys reading about management theory with a penchant for textbooks. This led him to applying to do an MBA at Leeds Business School. By this time Andy had “in the real business world” become Depot Manager at Doncaster for Aggreko.

“Leeds Business School was reluctant to accept me because I didn’t have a prior degree. They agreed on the basis of me completing a post-graduate diploma in the first year. (Ironically, the content was the same as the MBA.) So, I combined my role as Depot Manager, with attending the course in the evenings, and at weekends, as well as helping to bring up a young family. It was quite a task juggling it all.”

Andy has a sense of humour. He tells me about how he introduced himself when he joined the course.

“With the surname Wright, I’m always towards the end of an alphabetical list. I quietly listened to everyone talk about their list of degrees and qualifications, feeling slightly inadequate. So, when it came to my turn, I simply introduced myself as a depot manager, who didn’t have a degree but was a very well-balanced person because I had a chip on both shoulders where education was concerned. There was a moment of silence in the room, before laughter erupted. I enjoyed that.”

It was during this time, that Andy realised that while his fellow students had qualifications, most of them did not know anything about how to run a business. Already working in the ‘real world of business’ as a depot manager, Andy’s practical experience came to the fore, giving him the knowledgeable edge during debates and discussions. It gave him a great deal confidence and laid those ‘famous chips’ to rest!

Andy continued to work for Aggreko up to 1995. He left to pursue other opportunities, but re-joined when they “enticed him back” in 2000. Returning to the company, it was not long before he became Managing Director for Northern Europe. This remit covered primarily the UK, as well as Ireland and Scandinavia.

“This opportunity, at the time, was quite a step up for me so the offer was a huge draw. I stayed there for another six years.”

In 2007, Andy joined the Lavendon group (now Loxam) at a time when they were acquiring various businesses in the UK market.

“My role was to continue this acquisition trail and integrate them into one coherent organisation within the group. Then, we had the great crash of 2008! I remember vividly November 2008 when 1000 machines came off hire in just one week, casting great doubt on what the next year would look like. It was a tough time, with a lot of difficult decisions, and significant restructuring. We planned for three different scenarios which we called Evolution, Revolution and Armageddon. They were on the shelf waiting in preparation for what Q1 of 2009 brought with it.”

Lavendon wasn’t alone. Other businesses were suffering too, with the industry in turmoil. Despite revenues falling by around 30%, Andy was proud to have been at the helm, keeping the business profitable, saying that if they hadn’t had the foresight to plan, the outcome would have been quite different.

Andy was then given the Middle East as an additional responsibility, which he recalls as being “a real jewel in the Lavendon crown”, much smaller in terms of revenue, but much higher in margin. The region continued to grow even though the rest of the world was in financial meltdown. However, the Middle East operation suddenly “hit a brick wall in 2009”.

“It was more project based, so once these started to end, many western contractors and investors moved away from the business, and didn’t come back. The business in the Middle East started to decline. I was asked to take it on to see if I could turn it around. So, in May 2010, my wife and I went on a sabbatical for six months to the Middle East so that I could immerse myself into their business culture to gain a better understanding of some of the challenges.”

At the time, Andy was also looking after the UK and with the time and working week differences, knew that it was going to be difficult combining the running of two businesses. The new international business development opportunity appealed to him, even though it was smaller than the UK, so he opted to concentrate on the Middle East.

“I remember at the time saying that I could either do two average jobs or one good one. I thought the Middle East would be good experience, and that it would be a new personal challenge. My wife and I ended up moving out there, living in Dubai, for the best part of six years. The business gained momentum and we expanded into India. There was a lot of opportunity for travel, so I spent time in India, Indonesia, South Korea, parts of Africa, and a whole range of countries. It was a fascinating time, going to different places, understanding different ways of working and meeting different people.”

I ask Andy what brought him back to the UK? He tells me that he always had a plan. I’m not surprised to hear this.

“It wasn’t unusual for people to go out to Dubai on a whim, knowing they could work hard and play hard too. The problem was many didn’t have a plan and would come back broke. We went there with a financial objective that we wanted to achieve, and yes, had a good time but we also knew that ultimately, we wanted to come back to be with our family, who were grown up by then. We returned to the UK at the end of 2015. At that time, I had no real intention of getting back into the corporate world because I had other plans.”

Those plans were put ‘on hold’ when in early 2016 Speedy offered Andy the position of Southern MD, which soon extended to Managing Director for the UK and Ireland. A couple of years on, this led to a conversation with Ashtead Group with Andy taking on the role of COO of A-Plant in February 2019.

“It was too good to turn down! Ashtead has been one of the most successful businesses on the London Stock Exchange for the last 15 years, and of course, Sunbelt Rentals - as part of the Ashtead Group - is a phenomenally successful business in the United States and in Canada. I knew I had to take the plunge because it would probably be the last career move I ever made, so I accepted.”

Andy enjoyed his time at Speedy and explains that it was also a tough decision to leave because there are some good people there, but the right one, nonetheless. His progression at A-Plant in the UK was swift. New additional responsibility for Andy and the CFO arose when the CEO role at A-Plant became vacant. Andy evidently impressed ‘the powers that be’ at Ashtead Group. In February 2020, little more than a year on, he was promoted to CEO of A-Plant. A month later, and an exciting new strategy was launched for the business during the major annual conference in Manchester, just a couple of weeks before lockdown was announced.

“When I took over in 2019 with joint responsibility for the UK rental business, we conducted a strategic review of the entire Ashtead organisation. We did it internally, rather than using consultants, and spent six months thoroughly analysing everything we did, working with team leaders across the business and listening to customers. We asked them what was good, what was bad, where the issues were, and what we could do better. We spent six months building up a plan which we called Project Unify.”

Andy explains that at the time, A-Plant comprised a collection of silos, with 26 different businesses and a variety of specialist brands operating as separate entities. He said it felt disjointed, and confusing in the marketplace. Project Unify has brought all the brands together, trading as one - Sunbelt Rentals UK - forming the basis for the business strategy.

“It was a powerful initiative which resulted in our rebrand to Sunbelt Rentals in 2020, unveiled at our conference in Manchester. It means all our businesses in Ashtead Group now share the Sunbelt Rentals brand as part of our strategy, which has been developed to enhance the customer experience. These businesses all have their expertise and specialisms in their individual markets, and by unifying the brand, our customers can now benefit from these services as part of one package. It makes it easy for customers to do business with us.”

But, the Covid-19 pandemic was taking hold at the time. On 23 March 2020, lockdown commenced, and Sunbelt Rentals was called upon to get involved in providing the NHS Covid Testing Centres.

“We felt privileged to be able to support the UK at a time of crisis. Of course, we could never have envisaged the pandemic, and the project was a test for us too. It actually brought our Unified strategy to life as we had to combine all our products and services to be able to deliver the project. Within days of launching our initiative, we were putting it into practice. It forced us to work together, and to get to know our colleagues. We ended up providing over 500 Covid testing centres, which accounted for around 85% of the national solution.”

To fulfil this meant significant investment in fleet and products. Initially the contracts were for 4 to 6 sites over a four-to-six-week period, but obviously that changed beyond all comprehension as the pandemic escalated with sites staying operational for over two years. All 500 plus of them were demobilised between April and June 2022, a significant logistical feat in such a short timeframe.

“Having invested so heavily in these sites, we always knew that one of the challenges was to fill the gap in revenue once they disappeared. We created a plan, and we are now poised to fill all that revenue on an ongoing basis, and we’ve done that in the last six months. Our teams have done an incredible job in winning new customers, extending markets and winning even greater share of markets we already have existing contracts with.”

Sunbelt Rentals appears to be going from strength to strength, with strategic rebranding and re-organisation playing a pivotal role. So how easy has been to implement change on such a large scale?

“Change is always difficult but it’s much easier if you include people in the process. We included over 2000 of our colleagues and customers over a six-month period, looking at the business, giving us their ideas. We weren’t just paying lip service to people; it was a genuinely inclusive and collaborative process and we listened. I think people value that. As a result of their involvement, they also understood the reasons for change and as a team, we built our vision, mission and shared values. That mission is based on us delivering a world class service, with everyone understanding what our shared values are, what we believe in and stand for, as well as what defines our behaviour towards our customers and colleagues.

He adds, “Rebranding a business is not easy. There are so many emotions attached to brands, especially from an internal perspective, but by including and involving our people, and letting them speak out and communicate their opinions, we worked as a team to deliver this.”

With 26 specialist businesses within the group, one of the concerns about rebranding was that they could lose their identity, their expertise and become a generalist organisation.

“These expert specialist businesses still operate in their own right, but rebranding has allowed us to combine these resources to provide a total 360 solution for our customers. We have got strong engagement and it’s working well.”

Andy explains why they chose Sunbelt Rentals for the UK rebrand, recalling how he had to pitch the idea to Ashtead Group’s CEO.

“Ashtead Group through investment and acquisition has grown Sunbelt Rentals to be the most valuable rental brand in the world, so why would we not be called that? I had to convince our Group CEO that we would live up to the brand values in the same way as they do in the States and Canada.”

He reflects on the official rebrand announcement at the A-Plant Conference in 2020. The event started out as A-Plant, and while everyone was in the conference, the area outside was completely rebranded to Sunbelt Rentals. Andy changed his shirt from A-Plant to Sunbelt Rentals and went back on stage saying: “You’re now part of business that is the Apple, the Microsoft, the Google or Tesla of our industry. It’s now time to step up and be world class.”

“Being world class is based on attitude. I remember saying at the conference, ‘when you get up in the morning, you can decide to be world class, so when the phone rings, we want the phone answered in a great way and for you to give great service to our customers.’ And our people have embraced this; they really have taken on board our ‘world class’ mindset, and our values, and they are seeing the benefits. And so are our customers.”

In tandem with this, is Sunbelt Rentals’ initiative to improve operational excellence called the OpX programme. This has led to the introduction of lean management techniques raising the quality and standards across all Sunbelt locations.

“We are constantly trying to raise the bar. We want to set new standards and our depots are proving to be really proactive in doing this. As a result, we are delivering a better service than we were two years ago. We know this because we have our own internal system to measure customer satisfaction, and we can see that our OpX programme is driving improvement throughout the business.”

It is not surprising to learn that Sunbelt Rentals has been the recipient of a multitude of industry awards, especially over the last couple of years, including European Rental Association Large Business of the Year. Sunbelt Rentals’ apprentices have also won accolades, including Apprentice of the Year awards. A female powered access engineer was among the winners. Andy talks with pride about the success of Sunbelt Rentals’ apprentices saying there has been a lot of work around equality and diversity.

Sustainability and eco-friendly initiatives also form a key part of Sunbelt Rentals’ strategy. In the last 2.5 years, there has been over £100 million of capital investment in reduced, or zeroemission products.

“We believe it is the right thing to do, and we are absolutely focused on our sustainable agenda. And we have got to do this really well. It’s not always easy because manufacturers are bringing products to market, and not always talking or collaborating with others, with some focusing on electric, others on hydrogen and HVO. We’re fortunate to have a good financial platform to build from (and it’s still a big decision for us) but many smaller businesses aren’t in this position. Many follow our lead because they are hoping we get it right, and it is important to us that we lead by example.”

He adds: “We are leading in the area of clean energy with an 800 strong fleet of battery storage units, with a high take-up from customers who are benefiting, not just in terms of zero-carbon and zero noise, but also saving on traditional fuel costs.”

Andy also explains how the role of the generator on sites is changing, saying “the generator is only there to top up the battery; it is the battery that drives the work.”

He is keen to add: “I fear that green strategy can be a commercial marketing gimmick for some companies, and we’re not into ‘green washing’ that’s for sure.

We genuinely want to make a difference, and play our part in protecting the planet, and do the right thing. As the market leader, we aim to inspire others to do the same. They’ll have to do it if they want to compete with us.”

Andy says, ‘’We are a business with a vision, but we are also a business with a purpose’’ and he also talks about their ‘green agenda’ being part of Sunbelt Rentals’ purpose. Central to this purpose is the desire to transform people’s lives, which Andy says can be summarised through 4 C’s, these being: ‘’our colleagues, our customers, the communities that we work in and in terms of the climate for future generations to come.”

He explains how they are helping colleagues be the best they can be through investing in their development; providing opportunities to help people increase their self-esteem and boost their confidence through being successful, alongside wellbeing programmes and mental health support.

“We are passionate about Sunbelt Rentals’ sense of purpose in helping to transform lives. We have a number of internal initiatives to support this. And for our customers, we aim to transform their lives by supporting them in achieving their objectives, by delivering great service with low or zero-emission products to meet carbon reduction goals.”

This sense of purpose extends to community work and charitable support, including involvement with the ‘Weapons Down Gloves Up’ programme, working alongside the ex-World Champion Boxer, Tony Bellew. The programme helps to take young people off the street, educate them, and provide them full-time employment at the end of it.

‘’We have an excellent retention rate, with more than 90% of them still in employment after a year.”

He adds: “It’s a great national programme that companies can get involved with. The young people we work with are taken to a boxing gym, train with a boxer for four weeks, before entering an educational programme. They then get an SCS card, and they are then offered a job at the end of it.”

Sunbelt Rentals has also appointed Social Ambassadors within the business to champion such causes. Every employee has two volunteering days available to them for causes they are passionate about, so they can volunteer for local community projects or participate in charity work and events, with Andy saying this compassion “is fundamental to who we are as a business”.

We talk about recruitment, which Andy says is different now to years ago with the younger generation “choosing you, rather than you choosing them”.

“They want to work for a company that aligns with their own values, so our commitment to reducing carbon emissions through investment in ‘green’ products and our support for eco-friendly initiatives, plays a big part in this respect. We are always being innovative in the green space and it’s a key focus for our business. Looking at the broader picture, we want to lead in ESG, and we believe we are doing that as a business.”

Sunbelt Rentals played a prominent role at COP26 in Glasgow and the G7 summit, providing all the infrastructure for both these carbon neutral events. This extended to the provision of electric bikes and EV charging solutions to support 230 Jaguar iPaces for the police to drive visitors around in.

We also talk about ‘safety’ as another core value of the business with Andy summing up this by saying, “if the work can’t be done safely, it won’t be done”. The business hosts annual Hall of Fame Awards of which one category is the Value Award for Safety. In 2022, this was presented to an engineer who refused to carry out a repair on a customer site because he didn’t believe it could be done safely.

“Until it was made safe, he refused to do it, which wasn’t an easy thing to do because he was under pressure to get the machine working again. We have celebrated him because that was the right answer. At Sunbelt, we give everyone the power to do this, without fear of getting into trouble. Safety is, and always will be, a top priority.”

Following the rebranding, Sunbelt Rentals launched the concept of their 360 Solutions to give customers total support with their projects. Sunbelt has adopted a strapline aptly named, ‘Leave the How to Us’ with an accompanying video. https://www.sunbeltrentals.co.uk/ about-us/leave-the-how-to-us/

The key message is that Sunbelt wants to ‘empower customers to do what they do best, and the leave their problems to them’. It’s certainly effective with a message that resonates in a powerful way.

“We are unique because of the breadth of product and services we offer and combining them, allows us to provide our customers with a total solution. It is proving very powerful. The NHS test centres are a good example of this. We can build a whole compound for a customer if they need it, from the design phase, utilising BIM models, virtual reality capture or drone technology, through to accommodation, lighting power, charging, trackway, fencing and so on, and then to provide project management during installation and operation set-up with ongoing site facilities management if required. Our 360 Solutions are proving successful for our business, and through this approach we have shown customers how they can reduce costs, increase quality and safety