English
Right combination, right time
Winter 2013
As a Doosan customer, there's a good possibility your first exposure to the brand happened as a result of doing business with a rental branch location. Perhaps you needed an excavator equipped with a hydraulic breaker, or you specified a 2-yard wheel loader and a Doosan machine was delivered to your jobsite.
That market presence will continue to grow through a partnership between Doosan and Neff Rental, one of the largest renters of earthmoving equipment in the country. With an expansive geographic footprint, Doosan excavators, wheel loaders and other Doosan equipment are stocked in Neff Rental's network of 68 locations throughout the United States.
According to Steve Michaels, VP of fleet management at Neff Corporation, this heavy equipment relationship is designed to provide Neff Rental's application-driven customers with more solutions to their specific project needs.
"We have a significant investment in all three lines — Doosan Heavy, Bobcat and Portable Power — with multiple models and sizes in each group. Neff Rental and Doosan provide the right combination of specifications, attachments and accessories for our customers to customize their equipment," Michaels says.
Strategic alliance values relationships
Michaels is quick to point out that taking care of contractors in a competitive rental industry for a variety of earthmoving applications, as well as general and niche construction markets, means aligning with manufacturers whose products can help them successfully facilitate business.
"Customers are looking for reliability, dependability and outstanding service from their trusted rental company. They depend on us to provide a solution to their needs with a product that fills that need," Michaels says.
The alliance between Doosan and Neff Rental demonstrates how rental companies can collaborate with selected manufacturers to deliver a valuable service to end-users.
"The rental business is really a service business," Michaels says. "It's taking a commodity or product, and turning it into a whole service from the time the order is taken, finding the right solution to delivery, to pickup, to billing, to maintenance," he says, "and all those services are provided by the rental company with the manufacturer's product. So it's kind of a joint marketing or a joint service process."
After years of purchasing other brands of heavy equipment for earthmoving and construction applications, the Doosan brand has gained credibility and market share among Neff Rental management. Based on past history with Bobcat® compact equipment, Michaels lists several good reasons to have confidence in meeting their customers' demands.
"Having a relationship with Bobcat Company absolutely propelled the product," Michaels says. "Their past product support programs and market share all lent credibility. So, it opened the door to explore Doosan."
Application-driven customers
Michaels explains that the Doosan heavy equipment focus has allowed Neff Rental to build a very full and diverse product offering that strengthens its inventory. "It's allowing us to streamline vendors and provide significant volume to leverage our competitiveness in the marketplace," Michaels says.
To those product advantages, Michaels observes that Neff Rental brings a strong customer service reputation. "Given the support and training from Doosan, along with the customized programs for complete ownership, we are extremely confident that the Doosan product, along with Neff support, will prove to be a solid investment in our fleet," Michaels says.
The partnership is built from a foundation of equipment that includes three full product lines that perform very specific applications, yet provide versatility. Michaels points to the Doosan wheel excavators as an example. "When you need a wheel excavator, it's either a highway road job or it's a general construction job. So, it really has two different uses," Michaels says.
Customers often specify these excavators for certain types of road projects and other specialized excavating on jobsites where existing pavement may require the use of rubber tires. Additionally, wheel machines are advantageous for transporting a machine between jobsites — eliminating the need for trailering.
Excavators and even wheel loaders can easily be customized to a project. "In today's world, attachments such as hydraulic breakers, grapples, clamps and buckets, and having easy access to switch these attachments with coupling systems all provide the necessary tools to satisfy a diverse application-driven customer group," Michaels says. "It's about tailoring the machine with accessories and attachments that allow the product to be like a Swiss Army knife," he adds.
Beyond product, Doosan has provided Neff Rental staff with tools such as application, technical and diagnostic training to complement the product knowledge. Doosan instruction also focused on market applications and attachments. "We learned the different types of attachments that can adapt the machines to different industries," Michaels says.
Rental trends look positive
Michaels and his colleagues at Neff Rental are bullish about the growing demand for rental transactions going forward. "In general, the secular trend that everybody talks about in the industry as the economy slowly recovers and projects are on an uptick is the shift we see from traditional ownership to rental," he says.
As customers evaluate their purchasing and rental choices, Michaels and his colleagues remain confident that the Doosan and Neff Rental partnership represents a viable option.
"Doosan offers reliable equipment with solid factory support. Add that to Neff's strong customer relations, service capabilities and customization to our customers, and you have a win-win," Michaels concludes.
