City of Kalgoorlie Boulder’s Manager of Roads and Transport Murray Percasky explains why getting your crew involved in procurement decisions can save you time and money in the long term.
Procurement of heavy machinery can be a big investment for fleet departments and City of Kalgoorlie Boulder’s Manager of Roads and Transport, Murray Percasky, argues it shouldn’t be done in solitary.
“In my position as a procurer of fleet and plant equipment and also a manager of the workforce that uses the equipment, it is extremely important for me that I discuss the purchase of various pieces of plant with the guys that use it to make sure that they are going to be extremely happy with what they are going to use,” said Percasky.
“It’s important that we match the procurement with the end users.”
Breaking in a backhoe
Percasky involves his crews heavily in the procurement process, especially when procuring more specialised plant items like backhoes, loaders and graders as these are evolving all the time.
Kalgoorlie Boulder changed their backhoe selection after trialling a particular machine on the recommendation of the operators and Percasky’s experience of other machines from the brand in his fleet.
“We went through the process of talking to the operators about it before I went out for quotation on the machine,” he said, adding that he now had the confidence he could provide the creature comforts sought by his crew.
After testing the machine and speaking to his operators to get their feedback, Percasky took the decision to invest in the backhoe preferred by his operators.
“We had it delivered into the yard and about two hours later after the salesman had done his delivery induction, the two main operators with the crew came up to me and said ‘thank you so much for buying such a sensational piece of gear’.
Doing your homework
Heavy plant equipment is purchased typically on an eight-year rotation so, typically, there have been a number of innovations by the manufacturers in that time. Percasky shares the new equipment specs with his operators to get their thoughts on the new innovations and find out what they like the sound of.
“They all want the Rolls Royces, of course,” he said. “If they want something very specialised, I’ll often write that into the quote and get the manufacturers to supply that as an option.
“If we can afford the quote when it comes in – and it will definitely be a bonus to the boys, and improve the output and reduce maintenance and down time to the machine – it is certainly worth consideration.”
Whole of life cost is an important factor to consider, according to Percasky. How has the brand performed for him in the past? Has it required a lot of time in the workshop? Do operators like working with it? Can you get manufacturer support if you need it?
“It’s a thing that builds up with many years of experience of doing this job,” says Percasky, “knowing the machinery that is not likely to be in the workshops through your experience of the brands you’ve had in the past – knowing which ones create trouble and which ones don’t.”
Making the grade
Having a history with certain brands has aided Percasky when making the case to Council for a more expensive machine.
He runs two same brand graders in his fleet so when purchasing a replacement for one of the graders he was able to present comprehensive workshop data detailing how much time the machines have spent out of commission, what parts it has required, the depreciation and the percentage of the trading price compared with the purchase price of the machine.
“With a grader or a backhoe, it’s the machine that leads the crew and if it gets parked up in the workshop, the crew gets held up. You’ve got six or eight guys waiting on that one machine. That time soon starts to mount up.”
By getting the buy in of operators prior to purchase, they are more likely to be happy with the purchase and take care of the machine as they feel invested in it. The result could be an extra 10-20 per cent on the trade in price down the line.
“Consult with your guys, buy the gear they want as long as it fits within your financial parameters, you know they’ll look after it so therefore you know your trade in rate at the other end is going to be better.
“It works best when it’s a one person machine. If you’ve got one person on that machine for the time you own it, they’ll look after it a lot more. If the machine is shared it tends to get less attention in terms of maintenance.”
Editors Note: IPWEA recommends procurement decisions are based on a best value weighted analysis involving whole of life cost, mechanical assessment, operators assessment, warranty and service support.