Flannery Plant Hire is the largest provider of operated plant and heavy equipment in the UK, with a turnover of £82 million and five bases nationwide. The driving ambition of the company is to be forward thinking and embrace innovation, making Flannery Plant Hire a standard-setter in the industry on plant specification that continues to raise the bar.
The company was the first to introduce new technologies and safety features such as next generation twin lock hitches, external quick hitch release alarms, 360° cameras, anti-tipping inclinometers and rated capacity indicators. Alongside hybrid plant and the next generation dual view dumpers, the Flannery fleet of over 3,000 assets boasts the latest and most advanced equipment available.
Flannery Plant Hire specify the GKD 2RCi Rated Capacity indicator system on the company’s machines – the 2RCi in addition to height, slew and safe load indication also has a digging depth indicator, which helps to reduce over-digging of trenches and can assist in the placement of lifted items.
Chris Matthew, Flannery Plant Hire’s Strategic Manager, explains why the GKD system is the company’s preferred RCi, he said, “Having looked at a variety of systems it was clear to us that the GKD system has been designed to support the wide variety of applications for excavators on today’s construction site. It is also, in our opinion, the most straight forward system for the operator, ultimately, we want to use an RCI that helps the operators stay safe and work with as much information as possible – but not so much that it becomes a distraction, the GKD system certainly delivers on these criteria.
The colour touch screen is very user friendly and intuitive and the fact that this product allows for real time equipment monitoring is a real bonus. We decided to take the additional slew module because it allows us to pre-set up to five different slew duties.”
Chris added, “As a business we are always looking to offer customers innovative solutions and ensure that our machines are as safe as possible and have the highest safety specification available to hire. The 2RCi from GKD ensures that we are going beyond the expected safety standard for the majority of our customers.
The system’s ability to record data is also very important for us, it allows us to monitor our operator’s performance and highlight any training needs. This ensures we are proactive with our operators and can also help to manage customer expectations onsite.”
Flannery Plant Hire has a team of six Plant Trainers who work with the company’s operators up and down the country. The trainers are all fully qualified CPCS Assessors and they are involved in the training, induction and ongoing development of Flannery’s operators. Chris said “Our trainers have said that the operators are always surprised at the ease of use with the GKD system. Many operators are somewhat cynical about these monitoring systems but the beauty of the GKD system is that it is more than just a monitoring system. Used correctly it can help operators to increase their efficiency with the dig depth indicator and help operators work safely on sites with restricted headroom and space.”
Due to increasing site safety regulations Flannery reported that customers are asking for these types of safety systems more and more. Chris reported, “The majority of our Tier One contractors are aware of the benefits of using this equipment on their machinery.
For machinery that has been ordered in 2018 the GKD system is factory fitted by the excavator manufacturer at our request. If retrofitting the system, at a customer’s request, we employ one of GKD’s authorised dealers to carry out the installation. This is really important to us because as part of the installation the machines weight and radius is calibrated. This means that when they go on to work on a site they have been fully inspected and signed off by the dealer and have a specific lift chart compatible to that machine.”
Flannery see the majority of interest in the GKD RCi’s from customers who work with UK power distributors, where overhead cabling is a concern and of course the rail sector. The company’s machines work mostly on infrastructure projects, urban developments or any enclosed sites where there are overhead lines and existing structures, such as repair or replacement of power networks. Chris said, “For us as a business it is important to lead the industry in plant standards so wherever we can we will talk to customers about how to specify the safest equipment for the job – this certainly includes the GKD system.”
Chris concluded, “We have recently launched a set of Flannery values which describe and identify our company culture and offer a set of long-held principles which drive our decisions and the way we do business. Safety is one of these values, we continuously build on our safety culture, seek new ways to improve our practices and work with the industry to raise the bar. Innovation is another, we innovate by challenging the norms which means our customers work more efficiently and responsibly. The GKD RCI allows us to deliver on both of these values.”
