By Hugh Patterson
Freelance writer/editor
Hugh Patterson discusses
the state of the materials
handling business with
the leaders of NZ forklift
companies. First up in
this brand-new series
are Nissan/SMV’s Dexter
Hyland from Northern
Forklifts, and Toyota’s
Steve Antunovich from
AB Equipment.
Dexter Hyland
“The trend in the market is towards features which are attractive to the driver, and away from solid aspects of engineering,” says Northern Forklifts' sales director, Dexter Hyland. Dexter has the local agencies for Japan’s Nissan and the large Swedish lift giant SMV, now controlled by Finnish company Kone Cranes.
 He says Nissan and SMV both stand for good engineering and reliability, but many companies don’t have maintenance engineers on site due to the trend towards rental fleets and offsite service contracts. Also more electric machines are being sold due to awareness of fume contamination. “But purchase decisions are now made by bean counters who buy low, bleat about service, then toss the supplier in the bin after three to five years and take another lease on the exact same terms,” he says.
According to Dexter, the second purchase decision-maker is the forklift driver. “The bean counter turns to the back page straight away and says, ‘That’s the price I want.’ If there’s a choice of two at that price, he turns to the driver and says, ‘Which one do you like?’ The driver says, ‘Gee, I like this one because it’s got a great stereo and air-conditioning …’ These are the things that swing a deal.”
He says that Northern Forklifts wants clients who value both sides of a lift truck supplier relationship.
“I see no advantage in doubling your fleet size and halving your profits; it just has to be profitable,” Dexter says. “I have stayed away from the numbers-driven game which is an exercise in egos from the supplier side. The margins are ridiculous. Many salesmen don’t care. Too many do anything to get a deal. They say: ‘What would you like the numbers to be?’ and that’s what it will be. They can’t use a calculator.”
Dexter says that many salesmen are driven by self-interest. “They think, ‘If I get this deal, I’ll get a big bonus.’ Losing the lease in three or five years’ time isn’t a disaster for them because they won’t be there – but it could be for their employer in the long term where they are not selling at a price to bring in replacement stock. We look for deals where we can offer something different in terms of providing a real service – not a veneer of service.”
Northern Forklifts is able to do this, Dexter says, because it is not pushed by management or by commission salesmen to ‘move the iron’. So where should loyalty rank with customers and staff?
“It should rank everywhere. The customers who don’t recognise that a relationship works two ways tend to be the ones that move through the revolving door. People who understand [pay] the rate that allows us to provide the service that we like to provide. Our 10-year rental rate is related to capital cost.”
Maintenance engineers who make purchasing decisions go on whether a machine is well engineered and easy to service, Dexter says. “He’ll pull on overalls and look at tyre ends and the number and accessibility of grease nipples.”
Dexter says short-term self-interest is a trap for New Zealand business. “Cost cuts and tax cuts are not the way to prosperity. They solve nothing for people who are struggling. We pay a few people far too much, and most don’t get enough. We’ve become an unegalitarian society.”
Forklifts often seem invisible in company accounts, he adds. Like computers, telephones and furniture, they tend to be overlooked. “You only get a call when people want you to fix them, and they say ‘Crikey, we spent money on this only last week,’ when you may have last serviced their machine two years ago, and all they let you do then was change the oil. Twenty years ago, no one gave a monkey’s about the environment. It was, ‘Let them choke in a pall of smoke.’ But now fuel economy measures are spinning off from research into environmental improvement, and vice versa.
“What is required on the job as well as in the economy is a change of culture,” Dexter says. “It’s not about short-term interest – it’s about sharing. And it’s not about sending people on courses and expecting them to come back with an entirely new frame of mind. People come back with a nice new mint certificate and still drive like an idiot. If you’ve got a culture of safety, people will fit into it. That’s how people think.”
Steve Antunovich
“The biggest cost factor for a forklift owner is the one who sits on the seat,” says AB Equipment’s CEO, Steve Antunovich, who represents Toyota, BT, Raymond and Kalmar in the New Zealand market.
In much the same vein, he adds, it is the team that sells the trucks that counts for success in a market that appears to be finishing a ‘golden’ period of five to six years when a strong New Zealand dollar favoured capital equipment purchase. The Hellaby Group, of which AB Equipment is a subsidiary, is committed to continuing its status as a total materials handling solutions provider, even in the face of low-priced Chinese brands.
 Steve expects the Chinese brands to be an “irritant”, and that their quality will improve but, in balance, believes that factors other than price cut the deals. “The cost is only one part of the mix. If you haven’t got the technical knowledge, national support service, parts and short-term rental backup, fleet reporting and management, you can’t round out the product. You need to deliver safety, ergonomics and productivity, or the market will not support you.
“We can do all of this, and minimise the overall business risk. We’re not going to win every deal. But there’s a real team effort from our parts, service, sales and rental people in putting proposals together. We really do try to present the best solution. We always get bruised when we lose a deal, for at the end of the day we pay for results, not excuses. We do a post critique … and try to learn from mistakes to do better next time.”
Steve says the current media focus on cost cuts and tax cuts reflects the thinking that it is easier to save a dollar than to make a dollar. “That is why some try to screw you into the ground,” he says, “but not everybody does that. Some look past the up-front cost to the long-term cost. The performance of the machine, and its operator, will show in a lower total cost over the life of the machine.”
What makes bidding for contracts satisfying? “It’s the preparation and the teamwork involved … we have the best people, the best products and the best national infrastructure. Dealing with real products – and with real people – creates a real buzz for us.”
Steve credits his old-fashioned values as the foundation of the way he does business. “For me honesty, loyalty and integrity are the keys to personal and business dealings. AB Equipment started in Christchurch as Andrews and Beaven in 1854. People have known about the company and relied upon it for all that time. We currently employ 260 people and the number of long-serving staff never ceases to amaze me. We recognise staff service from 10 years up and this recognition of values goes hand in hand with our standing in the market.”
As to how much cash will be available to purchasers in the next two years, Steve says he’d be rapt if he could have a crystal ball to get the answer, but says he is very positive. He is keen to promote Toyota’s innovations with ‘green’ initiatives and sustainability at the top of the list. “Ongoing development in battery technologies and rapid charging will make electric forklifts more attractive. Fuel cell forklifts, which Toyota already has in prototype form, use hydrogen with no exhaust emissions, except for water.” AB is seeing some shift to battery-electric forklifts and with diesel prices hitting $1.60, fuel has to be a consideration.
Are there signs that customers and salesmen look to ‘influence’ a deal, or is everything above board? Steve hears rumours in the marketplace, but has no hard evidence. It’s not a New Zealand way of doing things for this descendant of a Croatian immigrant with senior representative honours in basketball and indoor netball and a passion for diving. AB’s support for customer relationships is simple and above board, with overt activities such as rugby luncheons – “We don’t have a corporate box”– in the accepted local way.
For him, life is community. He runs a small farm holding with wife Marianne where they grow feijoas, beans and sunflowers for market. He contributes to society as a marriage celebrant and a Justice of the Peace.
Steve is very proud of his immigrant identity: “Croatia is where my father came from, but New Zealand is where my strengths and differences are able to flourish.”
Hugh Patterson can be contacted via email: hugh@writewords.co.nz
To contact Dexter Hyland, email: sales@northernforklifts.co.nz; or for Steve Antunovich, email: stevea@abequipment.co.nz |
