Built to Last

A strong partnership is the key to Doosan Daewoo's £1m national account

Transport is our biggest cost after labour. You cannot underestimate the importance of keeping transport costs under control."

Steve Haigh is the Transport Manager at Deborah Service Limited, a UK-wide supplier of scaffolding services, multi-discipline contracting, the hire & sale of access equipment plus specialist skills, such as asbestos removal.

He's also the first ever customer to sign up to a nationwide deal with Doosan Daewoo. 'If ever you could describe a national account, we're it. We're like a plumbing or builder's centre - although you may only see a small individual depot of ours, nationally, there's dozens of them. From Truro in the south to Invergordon in Rosshire - much further north and your feet are wet." Three years ago the company underwent a major transformation, a management buy-out from the Rentokil group, Initial. Then, 'Deborah' was an uncomfortable fit in portfolio of the largest business services company in the world, today, they're masters of their own destiny. "The MBO did us all a great favour, "says Steve. "Once it went through all the shackles were off and we've gone full circle to when we were first founded as a private company."

With the MBO, there's a new found sense of ownership in the company, and at the first opportunity, Steve has thrown out the fleet of Toyotas and brought in over 20 new Daewoo trucks, Over the next 18 months almost another 30 will be added to the fleet. For Steve, the decision wasn't brave, just good business sense. "I had no preconceived ideas as to who we were going to use. We had a shopping list, and knew that we needed 30 new trucks. We were drawn to the Daewoo - we saw a truck and thought it looked like a fair old piece of metal, well put together and not pretentious or fancy / don't want piping on the cab because operators tend to drop things on it. / don't want a truck that's built for a flat RDC. We want something that's extremely well put together; basic, without a lot of downtime, with an engine that we know. We saw the Daewoo and thought it's got to be worth a second look. I eventually went to our FD and told him that / thought Toyota was going to get it, but I'm going to be proposing Daewoo. We now have trucks that have increased capacity, better reach, that the drivers like and use less fuel. One of our guys says they're the best trucks he's worked with in over 30 years."

The new truck fleet isn't the only thing that's changed since the MBO. "We're now a healthier company than we've been for many years," said Haigh. "We're strong, viable, with a good management team actively looking for business. It's taken us 2 to 3 years to get to where we are now, actively looking at new ideas. We bought Ford cars for 20 years, we bought Leyland Daf wagons for 20 years - we don't buy them any more. Daewoo is part of the re-evaluation of all suppliers, not to re-invent the wheel, but to do the job right, efficiently and cost-effectively We value good suppliers that are with us at the ground level. We want them as partners, friends if possible."