Barloworld has secured a contract to manage the fleet of Grafton Merchanting GB.

Barloworld Handling has secured a five-year contract with the fourth-largest builders' merchant in the UK, to help streamline the maintenance and fleet management of about 500 pieces of materials handling equipment.

Barloworld will share with Toyota responsibility for managing the fleet of Grafton Merchanting GB (GMGB), which is spread out over about 350 sites stretching from Shetland Islands to Cornwall. Toyota is servicing existing Toyota assets, previously supplied under a maintenance contract, while Barloworld handles the other brands.

Barloworld's team of engineers will maintain forklifts, warehouse equipment, skid steers and attachments from a variety of manufacturers, including Yale, Caterpillar, Jungheinrich and Linde. The fleet was previously maintained by over 40 different suppliers.

Phil Alexander, head of transport at GMGB, explains: "As our company has grown through acquisition, so has our mechanical handling fleet; we've inherited an assortment of different trucks and service providers.

"One of our priorities this year is to introduce greater control over our mechanical handling assets. Appointing Barloworld is key to ensuring consistent quality of service, fast response times and strict cost control."

Barloworld secured the contract following a competitive tender. GMGB was attracted to its large national footprint, all-makes and -types servicing capability and proven track record, having supplied equipment to Selco, a division of Grafton Group.

To ensure the smooth transfer of responsibility, Barloworld's sales solutions support team dealt with the project management, implementation and roll-out of the new contract to ensure all Barloworld regional service teams understood the dynamics of the GMGB fleet.

Barloworld field service engineers are currently conducting a comprehensive national appraisal of GMGB's materials handling assets, recording serial numbers and reporting on the age, condition, service status, mast type and associated attachments.

The information on the precise equipment used by each branch will be used to advise on appropriate servicing plans and to prepare end-of-life replacement schedules. The appraisal also includes a detailed tyre audit, for Barloworld engineers to forecast the time for replacement tyres.

"This agreement is far more than a service contract," Alexander says. "We appointed Barloworld as we are confident they will work in partnership with us to improve the way we manage and service our materials handling equipment. I am certain that together, we'll have a positive impact on fleet uptime and reducing running costs."

The value of the contract is confidential.

GMGB operates nearly 1,000 pieces of materials handling equipment, spread between outlets of Buildbase, Plumbase, Jackson Building Centres and other group businesses. It trades from over 400 locations, employs approximately 7,500 staff and has a turnover in excess of GBP1 billion (USD1.5 billion).