The Australian transport equipment landscape is changing fast. There are many factors at play – an increasing change in the traditional model that saw a preference for owning versus renting, emerging technologies, and a growingly competitive market.
Twenty years ago the US saw a shift in trend where businesses that traditionally had a proclivity towards ownership through capital purchase, started to see the benefits of renting transport equipment. Businesses started to realise the benefit of unlocking their balance sheet to be able to go out and capture high return business growth initiatives, rather than having their equity tied up in depreciating assets.
As the Australian led transport industry matures, more and more operators are waking up to this fact as we start to follow the US’s lead where business embrace rental over ownership says Scully RSV CEO, Andrew McKenzie. As a leading provider of refrigerated transport equipment in Australia, Scully is well-placed to service a wide range of industries.
It has circa 800 trucks and trailers available on short- or long-term rental, from one tonne utes to 14-pallet trucks and a range of linehaul and distribution single and B-double trailers across its national branch network.
It currently has a schedule of new branches across the country opening in the next twelve months and beyond.
The team is considering new market trends and industry demands as it places itself in a strong position to support the sector.
Scully RSV CEO, Andrew McKenzie.“As we look forward, increasingly, we can see a world where the peer-to-peer, or power by the hour concept is really going to open up in the road transport industry,” Andrew says.
“Instead of going out to buy a truck or trailer, people see that the money can be better used to scale up their own business for success and generate a better return. So today we’re positioning ourselves to be able to make sure that we have services and offerings that support that approach.
“A lot of our customers are already starting to talk to us about green vehicles. We’ve got really strong partnerships with the major OEMs and are in constant communication around what technologies are available today and in the future. One of the greatest barriers to entry for emerging technologies is the cost and risks associated for someone to go out and buy technology on the leading edge.
“We are bringing some emerging technologies into our portfolio, and operators can trial it in their fleet and get an opportunity to see and understand whether or not it’s right for their business. Without the option of renting, businesses will have to go out and commit themselves to an asset that might not work for them. So by partnering with us, in conjunction with our OEM partners, we are able to bring that technology more readily in a cost-effective manner to the market. And that’s what a number of our customers are already talking to us about today.”
Scully RSV also has a manufacturing arm. It has been building around 30 refrigerated trucks of varying sizes a month, however, with further investment in capital within its factory, the opportunity exists to accelerate this further.
“We are increasingly opening up the opportunities for our customers to purchase the industry renowned Scully RSV refrigerated truck bodies,” Andrew says. “We have orders in place with the major truck OEMs for the next 18 months. So customers can come in, they can pick their truck, they can pick their body size, and we can very easily deliver them a unit in a lot quicker timeframe than a number of our competitors because we have that supply chain in place.”
Also on the front of mind for Scully’s team is how to harness technologies like big data and Internet of Things (IoT) to use data more creatively and offer insight to its customers. The company is on the threshold of announcing a partnership that will allow its customers to seamlessly conduct pre-start inspections in an open architecture environment.
“We want to ensure that we’ve got the most efficient and safest fleet available to us,” Andrew says. “We will keep all of that information on file and can provide it to the regulator on their behalf when needed. Drivers or operators don’t need any special in-cab devices or any other technology, all they need is a smartphone with internet connection. That’s just one example of how Scully has been able to really push forward and take a leading role in providing better and safer vehicles in the marketplace.”
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