Premium quality used vehicles by STILL

Photo by STILL

The Hamburg based STILL GmbH, a leading supplier of customized intralogistics solutions worldwide, deals not only in new vehicles. Used trucks throughout Europe are taken back and completely overhauled so they can then be marketed again through its own direct sales system as “Premium” used vehicles. Marco Riewe, Manager of STILL’s Rental and Used Trucks Division, gave an insight into STILL’s used vehicle strategy at the German Logistics Congress which took place in Berlin from 23 to 25 October 2013. In this he explained not only how refurbishing functions and how it improves the rental service, but also why a flourishing used machine market is good for the environment.

The term “Refurbishing” has now gained a firm place in our use of language. It promises the quality-assured overhaul and reconditioning of products so they can be reused and remarketed. The refurbishing market has developed into an industrial sector of considerable importance. Ever more companies – notably Apple and the online mail-order business amazon – offer their customers professionally refurbished and fully overhauled products at prices below those of new trucks. The benefit to the final consumer: he receives a guaranteed level of quality, including a warranty. The topic of refurbishing is also becoming increasingly important in the industrial truck market: Marco Riewe points out that “On average there is one used vehicle for every two new trucks that are sold.” Every year in Europe alone there are up to 25,000 used STILL brand forklifts and warehousing equipments looking for new owners.

Nonetheless, for a long time many industrial truck manufacturers treated the used trucks business very neglectfully: used vehicles were mostly collected and afterwards sold to dealers as a package, often at dumping prices. The motto was: The main aim is getting rid of them.

Photo by STILL

However, STILL already recognized the refurbishing market’s potential at an early stage and acted accordingly: to safeguard high quality, the Hamburg company introduced a used truck classification with levels of Gold, Silver and Bronze as early as 2003. This system, which is uniform throughout Europe, classifies each used truck according to its technology, warranty, visual appearance and vehicle age characteristics, and – for electrical vehicles – the state of the battery. Although the vehicles in all the classification levels are tested according to the FEM, the Silver category for example already has new high-quality paintwork, checking of all the engineering components and a three-month guarantee as well. Vehicles in the Gold class can even boast a six months guarantee, again full new paintwork and a complete engineering overhaul. Anyone who tries to recognize the difference compared to a new machine with the naked eye will need to search with a magnifying glass.

This procedure is leading to a steadily growing demand. Therefore, to relieve the load on the individual branches, a used vehicles refurbishing center was built on an area of around 12,500 m2 in Stuhr near Bremen in 2008. In addition to the refurbishing in the individual branches, up to 1,000 trucks are visually and technically refurbished there by around 45 employees every year, and are made available via a central pool for sale by all the branches. Marco Riewe is not surprised by the large demand for high-quality used trucks: the used vehicle expert explains that “A new machine simply doesn’t make sense for every company.” He mentions startup and small businesses as examples.

To guarantee consistent quality regardless of the refurbishing location, the refurbishing center together with the branches developed fixed standards that must be adhered to when refurbishing all used trucks. According to Riewe: “It is true to say that even with used trucks, our customers will be offered the premium quality for which STILL is renowned.”

Marco Riewe says the advantage of a used forklift compared to a new machine is not only in the price: “The range on offer is large and the vehicles are available immediately. In our refurbishing center alone we have more than 600 trucks in stock at all times. The number of trucks currently available for sale even rises to around 1,000 if the used vehicles in our branches are included.”
And the premium used trucks bring yet another benefit: they protect the environment, because steel manufacture emits around 2.2 kilograms of CO2 per kilogram of steel. If the weight of steel in all the STILL vehicles sold in Germany in 2012 is added together, the result is a saving of around 26,000 tons of CO2 compared to the production of new trucks.

STILL also relies increasingly on high-quality premium used trucks in the rental sector. Under the STILL Lifecycle name, the company offers its customers a rental solution in the form of mixed fleets consisting of new and used trucks. Riewe says “In contrast to purely new equipment offers, this increases competiveness in the fleet business. Our aim in developing the offer was to create a sustainable rental solution in which the entire economic life cycle of STILL premium products is realized.” So quality also brings rewards when refurbishing industrial trucks.

For further information visit www.still.de

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