Page 24 - Logistics News June 2016

award

SPAR and Goscor – a great team.

Goscor Lift Truck is SPAR’s
Equipment Supplier of the Year

Leading warehouse equipment supplier Goscor Lift Truck Company (GLTC) has been named
SPAR’s 2015 Equipment Supplier of the Year and according to GLTC MD, Darryl Shafto, this
has to be the most important accolade ever received by the company. “SPAR obviously has
many suppliers with many of them much bigger than we are. It is therefore a monumental

privilege for us to have been singled out in this manner,” he says.

SPAR Group logistics executive, Trevor Currie, Barber adds that operational cost reduction
says the award was well deserved. “It’s not just the has been achieved through focusing on a cluster
quality of the product or of the after-sales support of activities like driver assessment, intrinsic fleet
that makes the difference with Goscor, it’s the management and, of course, the highest levels of
complete package. They are prepared to go the service and maintenance.
extra mile not only to help ensure excellence in
our logistics division but also its cost effectiveness Currie says that one of the most impressive
in the long-term. They are a partner in our characteristics of the Goscor team is its
business in the truest sense of the word.” willingness to listen. “We have a protocol whereby
we measure the performance of our suppliers on a
On the question of value Currie says that quarterly basis. Goscor has consistently achieved
although the capital price on Goscor’s equipment the highest ratings for these service/quality
is usually higher than that of competitors, Goscor assessments. One of the reasons for this is that
has consistently delivered on the promise of they are prepared to listen and to make changes
achieving the lowest total cost of ownership over where necessary. This is a trait that makes all the
the equipment life. “In SPAR’s business this boils difference,” Currie says.
down to the cost of moving a pallet over the
life-time of an individual materials handling SPAR is experimenting with outsourcing
machine and, in this regard, the SPAR-Goscor the entire materials handling equipment (MHE)
partnership has managed to create an enviable workshop management in various DCs to Goscor.
level of efficiency in the warehouse through “We started in Nelspruit and on comparing costs
constant and consistent operational cost found that Goscor did it in a cost-effective manner
reduction,” he says. whilst still achieving the high levels of productivity
required. Based on this, Goscor has now taken
GLTC sales director Patrick Barber says that over in KZN and things are going well there too,”
GLTC’s relationship with SPAR is unique: “The says Shafto.
capital investment for SPAR was higher with
us than it would have been with most of our He says the bottom line is that there is a mutual
competitors. But we learnt quickly that they respect between Goscor and SPAR, “which is a
understood the lifetime-cost concept.” thoroughly professional organisation,” concluded
Shafto. •

22 June 2016 | Logistics News