Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

HR strategyTalent management

Barloworld invests in people & technology to deliver exceptional service

by Personnel Today 12 Nov 2008
by Personnel Today 12 Nov 2008

Over the last few years, Barloworld Handling has invested £Millions in technology and systems in order to deliver some of the best service levels in the industry. 

The company claims however, that although these investments help to optimise efficiency, the real key to excellent service is the continued investment in the staff’s personal development.

As the exclusive UK distribution Partner for Hyster equipment, Barloworld Handling is focused on making sure that the customer receives materials handling solutions that optimise efficiency within their individual business. 

People are instrumental in delivering that service, particularly the field service technicians who have personal contact with the customer, making a difference to the day to day operation throughout a truck’s contract period.

The right selection of staff, company culture and continued training are therefore important factors.

Ian Roberts, National Service Manager of Barloworld explains:

“Regardless of experience, all service engineers attend Barloworld’s comprehensive induction programme which not only provides technical training but also covers the importance of our customer focused culture. 

“New engineers shadow a qualified engineer to receive mandatory practical training and awareness of the customer service practices needed to do the job to Barloworld’s exacting standards”.

Training continues throughout an engineer’s career at Barloworld and a dedicated in-house technical training team delivers roughly 7,000 man days of training per year at various regional Centres of Excellence.

“We take a hands-on approach to training with a 60/40% split in favour of practical sessions in dedicated training areas where we fault find, strip down and rebuild items such as engines or transmissions.  But this is not purely a grease and grime profession anymore.  For example engineers are also fully trained to use the latest diagnostic technology for fault finding.”

Barloworld’s network of over 600 engineers operates across the UK with each engineer based in a specific area, which means many customers receive service from the same engineers for many years, building up strong relationships.

“Barloworld engineers relate well to customers because they are trained to understand their site requirements and the importance of keeping operations running smoothly” says Ian Roberts. “Through great service and communications, our engineers become a part of the team at each site they visit”.

To enhance the efficiency of the engineers and help manage their working day, they are supplied with a PDA or laptop through which they can communicate directly with the control centre and, if necessary, order parts on demand.

To maintain a quick response service, all Barloworld vans are fitted with a web based GPRS tracking system, providing engineer despatchers with real-time details of the van’s location. 

Despatchers can then allocate a job to the closest engineer with the right van stock, helping them to avoid major road congestion and keep customers’ downtime to a minimum.  First time fix is therefore optimised.

Barloworld Handling has also implemented an Apprentice Scheme in order to recruit a fresh breed of skilled engineers for the future. 

After 4 years structured vocational training, supplemented by block release at some of the country’s leading technical Colleges, qualifying apprentices join Barloworld as a fully qualified forklift truck engineer.

“Barloworld operates nationwide and all its engineers receive the same high level of training” Ian Roberts continues.  “Customers can therefore expect to receive a consistently measured and excellent response, wherever they are based”. 

Barloworld Handling is dedicated to providing its customers with a service that exceeds their expectations to maintain smooth running operations, and the emphasis the company applies to training, the infrastructure and in particular the human element, is what sets it apart from its competitors.

Personnel Today
Personnel Today

Personnel Today articles are written by an expert team of award-winning journalists who have been covering HR and L&D for many years. Some of our content is attributed to "Personnel Today" for a number of reasons, including: when numerous authors are associated with writing or editing a piece; or when the author is unknown (particularly for older articles).

previous post
All-women shortlists allowed when political parties recruit candidates
next post
Launch of new style healthcare service

You may also like

What does it mean to be an HR...

22 Sep 2023

AI has positive impact on jobs market, report...

20 Sep 2023

Long-term sickness crisis: how employee data can help

13 Sep 2023

Is your talent management aligned for success? Exploring...

12 Sep 2023

Internal mobility: how to unlock your employees’ potential

5 Sep 2023

Foreign workers’ interest in UK roles doubles

23 Aug 2023

How to avoid fads in HR

18 Aug 2023

Business leaders must face up to new HR...

17 Aug 2023

Senior executives want to make more of HR’s...

31 Jul 2023

What is an ‘employer of record’ and can...

25 Jul 2023

  • Discover the value of CIPD accreditation PROMOTED | See how the CIPD can increase your earning potential...Read more
  • What does it mean to be an HR professional in 2024? (survey) PROMOTED | The world of HR is changing rapidly...Read more
  • The Contractor Management Mastery Pack: Everything you need to manage and pay global contractors PROMOTED | Answers to cross-border...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2023

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2023 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+