Perkins rental industry commitment continues to grow

Perkins engines power a rapidly growing number of machines destined for the global rental industry. While it’s true that most of them are purchased by Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), it’s the rental companies and their end-user customers who must ultimately be satisfied with their performance.

Understanding the unique challenges faced by the industry is an important element of Perkins rental-focused programmes. As a result, members of the dedicated Perkins rental team are active participants in industry events like the recent European Rental Association (ERA) convention in Riga, Latvia.

2022 European Rental Association (ERA) convention

Perkins was proud to be a Gold sponsor of the 2022 ERA convention, the first held since 2019, which attracted more than 340 delegates from 26 different countries.

Having this many industry professionals together in one location presented Corey Berry, Perkins global rental sales manager and Dave Stollery, Perkins’ rental business development manager with a unique opportunity to develop new relationships and strengthen existing ones.

In addition, many participants attending the convention reported record sales and profits for 2021 and forecast even better results for 2022.

Sustainability was a major topic

The convention theme, ‘Rental in Transition’ included a major focus on sustainability, highlighting its importance for European and other rental companies.

The discussions at the conventions followed on from the ERA’s recent publication of a Sustainable Supplier Framework that provides a more general set of goals applicable to rental businesses. The introductory statement explains the recommended industry approach:

The rental industry is committed to responsible business practices and high standards of sustainability.

The ERA Sustainable Supplier Framework aims to set the industry best practice guidelines and raise common practices across the industry in sustainability assessments of suppliers. The goals are to reduce the administrative burden from supplier assessments for rental companies and suppliers and provide rental company customers with a better understanding of how rental companies approach sustainable supply chains.

The framework helps rental companies to define minimum sustainability requirements and aspirations for all suppliers to rental companies, in the areas of:

•   Human rights and working conditions
•   Health and safety
•   Responsible sourcing of components and raw materials
•   Environmental performance
•   Business ethics
•   Product sustainability performance

Perkins rental team members had many useful discussions with convention attendees on the topic, taking the opportunity to outline Perkins’ activities to help the industry achieve its sustainability goals.

In face-to-face meetings, the Perkins rental team spoke on designing ever more efficient, power-dense engines including the latest EU Stage V engine range. They explained how the engines can run on many renewable and low-carbon intensity fuels such as 100% hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) and biodiesel up to B20, all of which can help rental companies reduce their C02 emissions. Finally, they took convention attendees through the support available to the global fleet of installed Perkins engines with products and services to maximise efficiency and uptime.

Other convention takeaways

Sustainability, of course, wasn’t the only focus of the event. In particular, the various conversations demonstrated the value of the Perkins Rental Support Programme (PRSP) as a tool to build strong relationships within the industry and among its end-user customers.

The PRSP was developed specifically to help the industry manage the Stage V transition smoothly. The idea was to link everyone from the Perkins global organisation to the OEM, the rental business and even the end user into a seamless network. The programme’s focus is on achieving maximum uptime which translates directly to profitability in the rental industry.

The value of the in-depth support it provides was immediately recognised by OEMs. Today the PRSP is used in some form by virtually every major rental company in the world.

Among the rental team’s industry insights that were reinforced at the ERA convention, is the fact that in addition to uptime there are three other key measures the rental industry tracks intensively. They are:

• Return to ready - a measurement of how long it takes to turn a piece of returned equipment around in the shop before it’s placed back into the rental fleet.
• Fleet maintenance cost - which is self-explanatory.
• Downtime - a measure of how often a machine on rental is not available to the end user.

All three are positively impacted by the PRSP. By giving rental businesses direct access to Perkins engineering expertise and the Perkins distributor and dealer network, the PRSP helps ensure that everyone wins.

OEM’s sell equipment. Perkins sells power solutions. Perkins’ distributors and dealers sell parts and service. Rental businesses generate profits. And, end users get efficient, reliable equipment on their job sites.

Perkins’ dedication to the industry and the value delivered by the PRSP saw the ERA Technical Committee select Perkins as one of two finalists for their Technical Committee Award 2022.

Commitments confirmed

The ERA convention provided a golden opportunity for the Perkins rental team to communicate the company’s commitment to the rental industry, to sustainability and to ongoing technological improvements, to a unique gathering of industry leaders while gaining new insights into the industry and its needs.

Insights that will help Perkins continue to provide the products, programmes and comprehensive support the industry needs to make their businesses more sustainable and profitable.