With their appointment as UK distributors for Metso mobile crushers, McHale Plant Sales’ sphere of operations has expanded significantly, far beyond their responsibility for the Ireland and Northern Ireland markets to include England, Scotland and Wales.
Machinery Movers took time out to visited their new Tamworth base to view its facilities and meet members of their team.
For those of us accustomed to thinking of McHale Plant Sales in a Birdhill and Rathcoole-based context, the thought of visiting their ‘second front’ was one we thought should be explored.
Sparked in part by an ‘open door’ invitation to customers voiced by their Business Development Director, Darragh O’Driscoll in a recent Q&A style interview published in a Scottish-based plant magazine, Machinery Movers took time out to visit the new McHale Plant Sales UK headquarters recently established in the Staffordshire city of Tamworth.
Situated on the Lichfield Road Industrial Estate on the outskirts of Tamworth, their impressive new premises is perfectly located close to Birmingham and within comfortable reach of airports for easy commuting.
On-site, facilities include a spacious fully stocked spare parts store shelved with fast moving components and larger pallet-size replacements, awaiting same-day or overnight delivery to customers ‘anywhere from Land’s End to John O’Groats’.
Also housed inside the attractive ‘looks like new’ facility is a machine maintenance and repair workshop, offices and meeting rooms, all surrounded on the outside by a generous expanse of open space for customer parking and new equipment display.
Perfectly Positioned
Home to numerous ‘big name’ organisations, the Lichfield Road estate is a perfectly positioned development situated to the north-east of Birmingham and close to roads and motorway network fanning out to all points on the UK map.
More than a bijou location, the Lichfield Road estate is a ‘distributional epicentre’ as evidenced by the presence there of globally known brands that have chosen it as their home.
Progress on all fronts
In the almost 12 months since their appointment was announced, and eight months since it took material effect, McHale reports significant progress on all fronts – described by Darragh O’Driscoll as ‘a highly-active period of preparation and achievement’.
On the sales front, the company is making what O’Driscoll says is ‘positive and steady progress’. Through what he calls ‘a combination of sales and long-term rental’, O’Driscoll said: “sales are gathering momentum with a mix of jaw, cone and impact units already supplied to customers in locations as widely spread as London, Cornwall, North Wales and Yorkshire, all from a standing start”.
On the recruitment side, appointments have been made in sales, parts, technical and other customer-facing roles. Key front-of house newcomers include Andrew Stones as Area Sales Manager – an experienced Metso representative who joins McHale with a reservoir of knowledge and experience gained while previously representing Metso in overseas markets.
Other new Tamworth-based team members are Parts Stores Manager, Nathan Kemp and two mobile Field Service Engineers: Leicester-based electrical specialist, Ricky Bayley, and mechanical services specialists Jordi Barber (Durham) with the appointment of a third engineer imminent.
Scottish Presence
Alongside its Midlands base, the McHale philosophy of ‘being close to its customers’ is also seen in its opening of an additional parts and after-sales depot in Edinburgh, its purpose being ‘to better service Metso’s extensive Scottish customer base’. Overseeing operations at the Edinburgh east-side depot is Louise Hunter – a Metso-savvy Scots woman familiar with their equipment and well-known amongst Metso’s UK user base.
“With the provision of mobile technical service units, backed by a streamlined parts delivery service and with further personnel appointments planned, we foresees these important ‘points of difference’ being the key elements that will underpin our UK growth” Darragh O’Driscoll said.
With significant progress achieved across key headings – and further unit sales and machine placements under negotiation – O’Driscoll is confident that full year performance will be “even better than expected”. In this context “the company will continue to place its focus on the importance of parts and technical support through team development and a number of additional appointments”.
Summarising their position, O’Driscoll confirmed to Machinery Movers: “with these important measures in place, we can move forward with confidence, wholly aware of the challenge that lies ahead and of the work that needs to be done, our key task being to tell the Metso story and promote the many advantages their crushers bring to the market.”
Added to this optimistic outlook is a factor observed by Field Service Engineer, Ricky Bayley who noted: “the number of Metso owners who are now coming forward to introduce themselves to us and tell us about the role that Metso has in their businesses”.
