United We Stand

Operating in a crowded and highly competitive marketplace, United Fork Trucks has not only survived but greatly expanded its operations since the company’s inception in 1992. This has been achieved by adopting a policy of offering a national service, but on a local basis through a network of nine national depots.

"It's no good offering customers a service if you can't respond to urgent requests for machines, or cope with on-site maintenance quickly,” explains managing director Paul Nichol. “We earned our reputation by supplying the right machine at the right price, and being flexible with our customers. We even keep a stock of machines especially for urgent short-term needs, as well as negotiating long term contracts. But where we come up trumps is on service." Nichol says that even the composition of the company’s equipment fleet is driven by the specific needs of its customers. "We have a lot of small 2 tonne trucks because there is a big market for them. In fact, about a third of our business is done in this sector. But we also specialise in the larger machines, and we can currently offer a 42 tonner,” he says. “We are not brand loyal. We prefer to purchase the best from each manufacturer, plus what is requested by our clients. We operate on being the solution to their problems. It's what makes us different." Financial Director, Chris Compson echoes those sentiments. "We have to be flexible and often transfer machines from one depot to another to cope with customer or seasonal demands. The Thetford depot often needs specialist machines to cope with fruit and vegetable pallet stacking; other depots have need of warehouse stackers pre-Christmas. This obviously puts extra demands on our maintenance department as they have to cope with a large, diverse fleet that is constantly changing,” Chris adds. “However, we pride ourselves on having an excellent fleet ready to go at a moment's notice. To ensure this, we have to have top class suppliers such as Pirtek. They give us good service and support throughout the country. But being responsible for the financial wellbeing of the company, I have to keep an eye on the costs as well. The fact that we retain Pirtek as a national supplier speaks for itself."

"With 90 Pirtek Centres to choose between for service, I know our depots can always get a great response time, regardless of where our machines are working,” concludes Brian Best, service manager at UFT Sittingbourne. “Never have we presented Pirtek with a problem they couldn’t handle. We have always had an excellent working relationship with Pirtek Medway and have really benefited from the opening of their new Centre at Sittingbourne."