Providing an ‘end to end’ offering is paramount to success in today’s competitive commercial road transport industry, says Simon Bell, Gough Transport Solutions’ (GTS) General Manager Sales and Marketing – revealing that setting up the company’s business model to be as holistic as possible has long been a strategic cornerstone.
“With an expanding product range and dedication to understanding our clients’ needs, we have engineered a diverse range of solutions to innovate and engage with them,” he explains – adding that the strategy has proven to help expand GTS’ market share.
A substantial growth driver for the company over the past 20 years have been its complex Road Rail solutions: With clients including governments, public and private rail operators, GTS’ Engineering team has designed solutions for everything from one tonne Land Cruisers through to 18-tonne, five-axle rigid trucks.
Building on that know-how, the GTS Workshop can now provide fitment, service and manufacturing across a diverse array of hydraulics, tail lifts, winches, cranes, tilt trays, tow bars and air brake jobs – “and that’s just the start”, says Ash Leith, National Manufacturing & Project Manager. “Our technicians look after any of our competitors’ products, as well as the equipment that we manufacture or distribute.”
Another sector of growth has emerged from GTS’s close relationship with crane specialist, Palfinger. Simon reveals that Palfinger is the sister company to GTS in Australia and NZ, and as a dedicated Palfinger Service Agent, GTS installs and services a range of cranes. To add to its end to end offering, GTS set up a Service Area in addition to its Workshop Project department at its Noble Park facility in Victoria. The Service Area is devoted to vehicle off road, service and crane recertification in addition to a range of compressor, hydraulic, tail lift and braking service requirements. Ash says that the Workshop and Service Areas are constantly improving with the help of feedback from its mechanics and clients alike.
“We value the input from our technicians, and always have open ears for suggestions on how to improve the quality of our work. This has led to a great company culture in the workshop – we may be a corporate operation, but we’re a close-knit bunch,” Ash says – adding that the culture is reflected throughout its national network. By having branches in each of the mainland states and agents in Tasmania, Ash says the GTS customers are covered no matter where they’re based, with the additional provision of field service vans in Victoria and Queensland to make on-site visits. “Our fleet of service vans has doubled in the last two years as we continue to find ways to provide a better service for our customers,” Ash reveals – pointing out that GTS is looking at adding more in the next 18 months as part of its growth plan.
“It has always been our opinion that if you focus on looking after the customers, growth will follow. Improving our ‘end to end’ concept makes life easier for our clients in tough times, and the loyalty that comes with it then helps us succeed.”
