Speedy Hire, the U.K.’s leading equipment rental company has launched a new site-level consultancy service, Lean Site, developed in partnership with international consultant Renault-Nissan Consulting.
Lean Site is a key advisory service for customers and is part of Speedy’s overall approach to sustainability, called “One Plan.” Lean Site will provide practical advice to contractors on how to streamline onsite processes to increase efficiency and cut costs. The concept of Lean Site has roots in the automotive industry, where Renault and Nissan used the techniques to identify process improvements and ways of eradicating inefficiencies.
Following a Lean-site audit at Speedy’s Multi-Service Centre in Warrington, U.K., Speedy and RNC reorganized workshops and restructured internal processes, resulting in a 58-percent increase in engineer productivity and improvements to maintenance procedures which, in turn, reduced capital expenditure on equipment and enhanced site profitability.
Speedy research shows that on average, customers can see a return on investment of tenfold or more, with significant cost savings driven from the adoption of Lean Site processes, the company said. The initial Lean Site assessment is run as a self-funding initiative, and if the assessment does not double the investment in agreed, self-realizable first-year savings, the customer will not be charged. Contractors can choose from between a one-day and five-day assessment, depending on the scale of the project.
“Each year, construction and demolition waste contributes up to 40 percent of the solid waste produced in the U.K.,” said Lee Woodward, managing director, training and advisory services. “In addition, wasted manpower contributes a significant amount to job costs. Lean Site helps to remove unnecessary materials and manpower waste by losing the ‘fact’ from how things are done, thereby reducing environmental impact and the cost of delivering the job.”
Speedy Hire is based in Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside, U.K.