Crown Equipment’s customer-centric philosophy is shaping the way the company develops its products as well as how it interacts with current and prospective customers.
The company has been bringing innovation to the Australian material handling industry for more than 50 years and is constantly reviewing and refining all of its customer touch points to position itself at the forefront of customer service in the industry. This focus has been driven in parallel with the evolution of its products, which helps provide customers with productivity improvements whilst also ensuring operators receive the latest technology to make their jobs safer and easier.
Managing director Greg Simmonds said Crown’s customer-focused philosophy has always guided its decisions but has become a more crucial element in a world where customers are expecting more.
“At Crown we’ve always had success with building and maintaining strong, productive relationships with businesses, from start-up companies through to global entities,” Mr Simmonds said.
“However, technology is constantly improving and these days there are better ways of holding a mirror up to your own performance when it comes to meeting customers’ needs.
“At our head office in Sydney we have a dedicated team focused on measuring our customer service performance. Our management, as well as the culture throughout the organisation, is focused on acting on what we learn to make us a better fit for our customers.
“Our aim is to be number-one in one specific area: customer service.
“We see this as being just as important as the new technology and commerce platforms we are rolling out to customers, which include e-commerce, semi-automation and other new technology that will have a strong impact on the interaction between humans and increasingly advanced machinery.”
Online and face to face
Crown has adjusted its ratio of online versus face-to-face sales to bring added convenience to customers while providing the right advice where it really counts.
The company entered Australia’s online material handling sales arena in December 2016 with a website dedicated to selling Crown PTH Series hand pallet trucks.
Following a positive reaction from customers and ongoing research into business-to-business buying preferences, Crown is now expanding its e-commerce activities to include other products that are well suited to this streamlined approach.
The company’s increasing use of online sales has enabled its sales force to increase its focus on the areas of material handling that require specialised knowledge and experience to determine best-fit solutions for particular applications.
According to director of sales Craig Kenchington, creating the right balance of online and face-to-face sales is an important part of the company’s customer focus.
“Crown is increasing its online sales presence and the launch of our website selling hand pallet trucks online was an instant hit,” Mr Kenchington said.
“Our practices are backed up by experience as well as industry data showing dramatic changes in business-to-business buyer behaviour, with a large and growing number of customers who prefer to do their own research online for certain products.
“The convenience of being able to buy our robust hand pallet truck, which works well in any environment, straight from our website with competitively priced shipping has proven very attractive to many of our customers.
“They are asking for additional product options so we’ve updated our e-commerce site to include WP Series power pallet trucks and M Series stackers, with more to come.”
However, many customers must deal with warehouse variables including size, shape, ceiling and doorway openings, racking systems, mezzanine levels, power capabilities, fire extinguishing systems and warehouse management systems. Managing these factors requires a trained professional and a company prepared to back its products. Companies that only sell material handling equipment online are at a disadvantage in these situations which can, in turn, put the customer at a disadvantage.
“Finding the right products to perform material handling tasks as efficiently as possible, which fit the physical dimensions of the warehouse and racking system and suit the budgetary requirements of the customer, is a job that requires consultation based on solid expertise,” Mr Kenchington said.
“Now more than ever, the guidance of a genuine material handling professional is essential to meet operational efficiency and compatibility expectations when populating a warehouse with lift trucks and reach trucks.”
Involving a material handling expert in warehouse equipment procurement brings the potential to identify areas of the business that can benefit from existing and upcoming technology, including semi-automation and fleet management. An increasingly important element in running a lift truck fleet is the fitment and compatibility of fleet management systems.
“Crown’s InfoLink fleet management system has become one of the most important factors in the sale of lift trucks to medium and large businesses,” Mr Kenchington said.
“That is because of its potential to reduce impacts – and therefore damage – while providing valuable information on lift truck usage and improve the overall safety culture within a warehouse.
“A material handling professional who visits a site to gain an understanding of a company’s practices is able to make a judgement on how much a company can benefit from its use and make recommendations for its implementation.
“Further to that, these systems initially require fine-tuning onsite to get the full savings and safety benefits they are capable of providing.”
Whilst online sales can add convenience to the purchase of simple products, companies that operate as a ‘one-stop shop’ for material handling needs add another dimension of simplicity for dealing with what can be a complicated task.
“In addition to helping you find the right lift truck for your conditions and setting them up with fleet management systems, Crown personnel are also experts in racking, shelving and accessories and can help develop an empty space into a fully functioning warehouse through dealing with just the one organisation,” Mr Kenchington said.
“We can also train operators with the skills required in a material handling environment, either onsite or through our extensive branch network throughout Australia.
“We believe in the convenience of the products we offer online and our e-commerce activities reflect Crown’s customer-centric approach. It’s an important complement to our sales channels.”
Automatic for customers
Crown’s customer-centric approach is also guiding the roll-out of its semi-automation technology into the Australian lift truck market.
Throughout the Crown global regions, Crown’s technology business development strategy focuses on integrating new technologies into mainstream organisations in a measured fashion. It was created to provide improved operator management, safety and productivity that fully tested semi-automated equipment can offer, while shielding customers from the potential dissolution that can follow the hype and excitement associated with technological advancements.
The strategy has resulted in a semi-automated product suite consisting of Crown’s Auto Positioning System (APS) and Auto Fence operator-assistance for VNA equipment. These will be offered alongside Crown’s award-winning Quick Pick Remote (QPR) order picking technology, which has already proven to provide significant case picking productivity in applications where material flow optimisation is understood.
However, according to Crown Pacific Rim director of technology and business development Chris Ansell, the company’s approach is not about ‘technology for the sake of it’. Instead, Crown will be assessing interested customers’ businesses for the best solutions to their current and future material handling needs.
“Our aim has always been to provide customers with an equitable return on investment from every one of our products, whether it be a hand pallet truck or a turret stock picker,” Mr Ansell said.
“Some companies advertise their automated material handling products as ‘must-haves’ for businesses, without explaining that they are not necessarily the silver bullet they are searching for to provide optimal warehouse efficiency.
“Therefore our approach in discussing automation with our customers will be to first find out where they stand with material flows.
“In many cases we have been able to advise customers on how to extract more performance and efficiency from non-automated lift trucks, instead of taking on the commitment of an automated solution.
“Once we’ve established that automation is the right path to increased productivity for a particular customer, we will work with them to come up with the best solution for their needs.
Currently Crown has designated the MPC 3000 Series and GPC 3000 Series pallet transporters and the TSP Series turret lift trucks for production with integrated semi-automation technology.
People power
While Crown has invested considerably in semi-automated equipment, the company expects humans to remain an important part of material handling well into the future.
“At Crown we’ve always believed that higher levels of productivity can be achieved through attention to design, ergonomics and user interfaces,” Mr Ansell said.
“Automated products currently make up less than two per cent of the global market but we’re expecting that to grow steadily over the next decades and our future offerings will accommodate this trend with thoroughly developed equipment.
“However, none of our projections suggest that humans will be removed from the equation in material handling.”
Number-one in customer service
Crown built its reputation through great customer service and its increased focus on its customer-centric culture is what the company’s management believe will allow it to be seen as number-one.
“At Crown we don’t take any form of interaction with customers for granted,” Mr Simmonds said.
“More than ever, being able to listen to customers properly, find the best solution which makes them the most profit, while supplying and maintaining it as effectively as possible, is crucial for our mutual success.
“Working with Crown is a collaboration which, to us, begins as soon as we answer an enquiry.
“We have always used customer feedback to improve our operations but it’s now a systematic part of our procedures, management and culture. It’s become both a science and an art here at Crown.
“We know that customers are expecting and demanding more. We’ve got the technology, infrastructure, products and experience to deliver this, as well as the passion and drive to serve customers better than the rest.”
For more information call 131 604 or visit www.crown.com.
Cleaning up
Crown Equipment has joined forces with Australian industrial cleaning machinery supplier Conquest Equipment Technologies to expand its equipment range.
The partnership means Crown can now supply heavy-duty cleaning equipment along with racking, shelving and other infrastructure that is part and parcel of a complete warehouse fit-out.
Crown Equipment’s general manager for warehouse solutions Brett Stewart said the partnership with Conquest was born from a combination of customer feedback and the company’s focus on increasing its capability as a ‘one-stop shop’ for warehouse solutions.
“The idea of getting involved with a commercial cleaning equipment supplier came about because Crown sales staff were frequently being asked if we could supply industrial sweepers and other types of cleaning equipment,” Mr Stewart said.
“We looked at a number of industrial cleaning equipment suppliers and we chose to work with a reputable, family-run company with Australia-wide support.
“Conquest is a natural fit for Australia’s number-one electric lift truck company.”
Through Conquest, Crown can now supply Australia’s most advanced range of commercial cleaning products with floor sweepers, floor scrubbers and street sweepers for industrial, retail, corporate, and healthcare applications.
The comprehensive range includes walk-behind and ride-on sweepers and floor scrubbers as well as a range of street sweepers and commercial floor-stripping machines.
Mr Stewart said Conquest shares similar business values with Crown such as focusing on the customer.
“Crown and Conquest are utilising similar synergies – our customers are the same as their customers when it comes to us meeting their needs and finding solutions.”
Mr Stewart says the partnership is a complimentary business model that will position well with Crown and perfectly benefit customers.
“For our customers it means dealing with one salesperson rather than numerous companies for warehousing needs and that has to make things easier.”
Conquest Equipment Technologies’ managing director Michael Mathews said Conquest always finishes with the right solution and believes the Crown alliance is 100 per cent the right way to go.
“We’ve been dealing with Crown for a number of years now and we’re excited to work with a market leader with a good reputation. Like us, customer service and support is always Crown’s number-one priority.”
In global terms, Conquest is a successful Australian business that has been operating for more than 40 years at a national level, competing against big international companies in the broader marketplace.
Crown Equipment’s national sales team members are trained with the knowledge needed to provide expert advice on Conquest equipment in addition to Crown’s lift truck and Warehouse Solutions ranges.
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[Caption/image:]
Crown Equipment has joined forces with Australian industrial cleaning machinery supplier Conquest Equipment Technologies. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/864qfh3i7g2wzkh/AADMkjbigzw_9mWCG9UxD58Ra?dl=0
[PQ if needed:] “The comprehensive range includes walk-behind and ride-on sweepers and floor scrubbers as well as a range of street sweepers and commercial floor-stripping machines.”
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Customer first – from MHD magazine
