A visit to the UK was a huge success recently as the EP team visited our key partners and some potential new dealers to celebrate the growth of EP Equipment in the UK and increased interest in working with our brand. VP Sales and Marketing Bennit Schmieder had made the journey over from Germany to meet with UK Sales Manager Simon Manasseh and Marketing and Community Manager Katie Oakley to take some time to travel the country and meet with our partners at their sites and dine out with some to celebrate growth for both EP Equipment and our dealers in the UK.
With goals including preparing next stage strategy for our longer standing partners, to making the first step in the journey of some of our freshest EP dealers, the trip was a huge success and a key point in the history of EP’s rising popularity in the UK market and a great milestone marker of just how far the UK has come in the lithium-ion revolution. This article will give you an overview of just a few of our current UK dealers from partners with years of EP Equipment experience under their belt to dealers recently making their first EP purchase. If you are based in the UK and want to join our global dealership network read on and find out more about how your dealership can fit in with EP’s philosophy.
With the team meeting together in London and starting the journey out with a lovely meal with some old EP Equipment friends, bright and early August 10th they were ready to hit the road and visit the first dealers Stacatruc and Angus Lift Trucks.
Stacatruc
Unit 10 & 11, Pipers Industrial Estate, Pipers Ln, Thatcham RG19 4NA
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Angus Lift Trucks
Lime Kilns Business Park, Lime Kilns Way Unit 10-12, Hinckley LE10 3EL
Prime examples of businesses at the start of their EP journey new dealers Stacatruc and Angus Lift Trucks were visited first at the start of the dealer visits in the UK.
Stacatruc’s Jason Neil told our team how their partnership with EP came about; “EP are an up and coming brand with exciting products which are budget conscious which is why we chose to work with them and It’s working well so far because it’s supplementing the rest of our range with an affordable alternative that is still good quality. We now have stock of the EFL, JX1 and EPL at our HQ and have had success with both sales and rentals which are split quite evenly. Our relationship with EP is still very early on but has been great so far. We are looking forward to the future.
On from here the team visited some long standing EP partners…
Handling Equipment UK
Coronation Works, Providence St, Lye, Stourbridge DY9 8HN
Handling Equipment UK are in Stourbridge, West Midlands and have been an EP dealer since 2017. With 38 years of industry experience Handling Equipment have been importing pallet trucks since 1995 and EP’s Head of UK Sales Simon Manasseh puts Handling Equipment UK as “Great partners for EP Equipment who have significantly grown the market for EP’s lithium-ion counterbalance trucks in the UK. The team at Handling Equipment provide excellent after sales support to their customers and are very well respected in the industry”. With years of EP Partnership under his belt, Director Andy Williams took the EP team for a fantastic meal in his local pub to talk partnership success and future strategy.
Forktruck Solutions
Milner Way, Ossett WF5 9JE
Next our team met with Simon Penny-Smith, Managing Directors of FTS based in Ossett. FTS are another long standing EP partner and have a huge passion and drive for Lithium-ion material handling equipment. Simon and his team have worked hard over the years to spread the ‘Go Green’ message and have produced some of the highest quality marketing content of any EP Dealer globally. Meeting with Simon meant the team heard the news of his plans to expand FTS with a newly designed HQ and showroom plans to enhance the work FTS does with EP Equipment and further the success they have had over the entirety of the partnership.
SHS
Unit 4 Farm Rd, Buckingham Road Industrial Estate, Brackley NN13 7EA
SHS are located in Brackley, Northamptonshire and have been an EP dealer since 2016. Bradley and Yarl at SHS are EP’s biggest suppliers of class 3 products in the UK with 80% of sales going into the transport industry. As the number 1 supplier of pallet networks in the UK the benefits of EP Equipment are not lost on the team and the opportunity to meet together in person meant that future plans for expansion and collaboration could be mapped out as SHS work with EP for mutual growth together.
PHL
Ford Farm estate, Ford Ln, Upton Grey, Basingstoke RG25 2RP
PHL are located in Basingstoke and have been and have also been anEP dealer since 2016. Director of PHL Dilyan Alexiev is passionate about crafting a greener future for the material handling market and has built PHL, along side business partner Richard Hawkins, by using their mechanical expertise and industry experience to refurbish second hand material handling equipment and give it a new life in the industry. Since the introduction of the partnership between EP and PHL 6 years ago, the team have gone from strength to strength and are now offering the emissions free, lithium-ion range from EP Equipment to their customers looking to purchase new equipment. Meeting with Dilyan and partner Richard Hawkins had saw the team learn about the start of PHL’s office space expansion with plans for a full EP Show room to accomadate increasing stock levels and demonstration demand.
Meeting with long standing partners such as Handling Equipment UK, FTS, SHS and PHL can be a great time for the EP team to reflect on the successful growth of the brand in the last 6 years with partners that have dedicated time and effort into growing their brand with EP Equipment. All 3 of these EP Dealers have very different industry back grounds but each dealer is experiencing impressive annual growth.
South West Forklifts
Hopton Industrial Estate, London Rd, Hopton Rd, Devizes SN10 2EU
Next the EP Team paid a visit to South West Forklifts Limited in Wiltshire with Sales and Marketing VP Bennit and Sales Manager Simon welcoming another new dealer to our global dealership network.
For dealers with roots in used equipment sales, EP is often the perfect solution when looking to grow a business and wanting to offer brand new equipment. EP offers innovative lithium powered material handling equipment at a cost that matches the second hand prices of other brands. After a great meeting and a compulsory group photo with the EP Electric pallet trucks, newly stocked by the South West Forklifts team, EP are looking forward to helping South West grow their business further!
Armill Lift Trucks
3 Crittall Dr, Springwood Industrial Estate, Braintree CM7 2RT
Armill Lift Trucks rounded off the dealer visit as it ended in Essex. Armill and have been an EP dealer since 2020 and they have proven themselves to be a key partner for our UK business saying with Simon commenting; “The team at Armill Lift Trucks are doing a really great job of promoting and selling EP Lithium Ion Forklift Trucks to their customers who are benefitting from all the advantages our trucks give as they move from IC engine trucks to clean, maintenance free lithium ion batteries”.
Armill previously worked as Jungheinrich dealers for 5 years before beginning their partnership with EP and since starting with EP their experience has been positive. Business Owner Gary previously told our team “To me a supplier is more than just someone who sells to you, they support your business when things go wrong, they look at ways to assist your company’s growth at their own cost, to understand that they need us as much as we need them, we have this in our partnership with EP”
Armill Managing Director, David Dadd met with the team for dinner and gin to round off a successful trip for the entire team and our partners.