Case Study – Ardent Hire – Developing innovative solutions

Having become aware of Suffolk Chamber’s role in assisting the promotion of a ‘Local’ and ‘Regional’ businesses, Ardent Hire Solutions are pleased to have the opportunity to provide an explanation as to how the company has developed innovative solutions to the Plant Hire marketplace; always focusing on safety.

Ardent is an important company in the UK’s plant hire sector. The company has a fleet of over 5,500 telehandlers, excavators, dumpers, rollers and roto-telehandlers at 11 locations across the UK. With major depots at Ipswich, Cambridge and Eastern England, the company is ideally suited to providing high quality services at Sizewell C.

The company prides itself on offering a local, friendly and personable service along with a hire fleet that has an average age of less than 2 years.

Ardent is certified to several standards including ISO9001, ISO14001, OHSAS18001 and SSIP. The company has been a Gold Member of the Supply Chain Sustainability School for several years and recently started offering ‘carbon neutral’ hires as part of a collaborative partnership with a leading carbon developer.

EDF Energy start each meeting with a safety message. Targeted productivity levels are always important, but of little consequence if anyone gets hurt. Ardent has developed a unique series of techniques which enable Managers to improve safety whilst reducing operating costs through the application of ‘Site Manager’. With over 1,200 users of the system, several leading contractors have experienced significant bottom line benefits whilst significantly improving site safety. As an example, one customer needed to find a way of getting its operators to comply with wearing their seatbelts. Following the implementation of Site Manager, compliance improved by 86% in just a few short weeks. By adopting a ‘data-driven’ approach, the system helped an Ardent customer improve productivity to the equivalent of £300k. Site Manager includes an analytics module that enables users to trend improvements in their equipment and safety performance and the savings they are making.

Ardent is able to provide a suite of training and self-service videos through its online platform, Ardent TV, where users can familiarise themselves with equipment and address simple problems without the need for field service. This saves cost and downtime and helps ensure that projects remain on track.

Recently Ardent introduced a digital platform, Ardent InSite, providing users with online access to all aspects of their hires including equipment on hire, status of service calls, invoices, proof of deliveries and collections, access to lifting certificates and other key information.

The major focus on health and safety by the company is headed up by Tony Vozniak, Head of SHEQ,

who brings with him over 20 years of experience in compliance, risk management, improvement and innovation in health & wellbeing, safety, environment, quality & corporate responsibility within high risk industries. Tony’s qualifications include a MSc in Civil Engineering, a PHD in Environmental Management and various NEBOSH safety qualifications. Tony is also a Fellow of the Institute of Occupational Safety & Health (IOSH). Tony’s experience includes working on engineering design work in the nuclear and defence sectors. He also completed various projects in the nuclear sector including an engineering assessment of the UK’s nuclear power stations for earthquake resilience and resistance.

 

Ardent is delighted to be working with the Suffolk Chamber of Commerce in promoting local business to Sizewell ‘C’. We are also pleased to provide any additional information.