In the Black: hard work pays off for Stewarton hire firm
WHEN Tom Blackwood bought out his retiring father, Tom Senior, in 2001, Blackwood Plant Hire consisted of a few machines.
Today, the Stewarton-based firm has...
New AB2T training site is ‘as good as it gets’
THE new AB2T training academy in Whitburn has been tipped to play a key role in helping to alleviate plant operator skills shortages in...
Getting to know…Adam Bruce
ADAM Bruce, managing director of AB2000, founded the plant hire company back in 1995. Despite vowing at the time to have a fleet of...
Getting to know… Geoff Smith
KUBOTA is this year celebrating its 25th anniversary as the UK and Ireland’s ‘number one supplier’ of mini-excavators. A whole year of activities to...
Getting to know Alistair Hodge
Alistair Hodge founded Hodge Plant 30 years ago with just one machine. Today the business has a substantial fleet of premium equipment for sale...
Getting to know…Brian McGrane
BRIAN McGrane is area sales manager for southern and central Scotland for Liebherr, where he is tasked with selling a full range of products...
Getting to know…
THERE'S not much Peter Yarwood hasn’t seen in over four decades in the plant industry.
From his early days in the family business to taking...
A passion for heavy lifting
Ahead of International Women in Engineering Day 2018, FLG service centre manager, Jo Stamp, reveals why heavy lifting is the only career for her.
Q)...
No job too big or small
Gary Moug reports on the Glasgow firm making waves in the hydraulic problem-solving industry.
TWO years ago, Annabel Allam and Craig Pottie took the bold...
King of the assists
LIEBHERR has revealed it is at the forefront of the shift to assistance systems that make everyday tasks safer, convenient and more productive.
The T...
Quick off the mark: latest X-Series model treads well-worn path
JCB has expanded its X-Series crawler excavator portfolio with the launch of the 145XR – a second reduced tailswing model. Here, Dan Gilkes gets...
Getting to know…Heath Davies
HEATH Davies is general manager of Mecalac Construction Equipment UK. The firm has added a number of new products to its portfolio over the...
Live, Move and Fight: life in the Army Reserves Plant Division
HAVING started as a private soldier in the Army Reserves in 1994, Dave Hanley, now Capt. Dave Hanley, has managed to turn his beloved...
As good as gold: Taylor & Braithwaite mark 50 years in business
TODAY, Cumbria-based Taylor & Braithwaite services the north of England and Scotland, with a Hyundai excavator dealership for the north of England and crushing...
Getting to know…Will Redman
Will Redman is distributor manager (north) for dumper specialist Thwaites. He is responsible for managing the manufacturer’s supply of products to dealers in the...
High-tech simulator will be just the ticket for training academy
GOLDCAST Academy has revealed to Project Plant that it is in the process of launching a simulator as part of a multi-million-pound project which...
Compressors on track to meet tough rail challenge
COLAS Rail is using Doosan Portable Power’s new generation of compressors to apply shotcrete to the interiors of French train tunnels.
Colas is the...
Big money deals secured at record-breaking Plantworx
ALMOST 350 exhibitors attended Plantworx 2015, with many of the biggest names in the construction equipment industry in top form.
The likes of JCB, Volvo,...
New division will lift Hodge to new heights
PROMOTIONAL FEATURE
HODGE Plant has launched a new Lifting Solutions division to provide customers with quality, versatile and safe solutions for all their lifting requirements.
The...
Getting to know… John McGrath
John McGrath recently retired from his role as senior lecturer in plant mechanics at Glasgow Kelvin College.
John, who’s also chairman of the Glasgow branch...
No fair-weather friend: JCB Finance vows long-term sector commitment
IT goes without saying that a firm's ability to invest in plant equipment and associated products can play a crucial role in the creation...
Charging forward with electric mini
Dan Gilkes tests out the new JCB 19C-1E electric mini excavator.
New blood vital to the SPOA
Jim Houstoun, Past President of the Scottish Plant Owners Association (SPOA), currently involved with training for members, explains why the organisation remains in robust...
Don’t let HAVS take hold of tool operators
By Martin O’Boyle, technical compliance manager at VJ Technology, suppliers of fasteners, tools, fixings and associated products to the UK’s construction and civil engineering...
Andy’s on a Relentless pursuit for success
ANDY Black is fast becoming a huge presence in the Scottish plant industry – and not just because he stands 6ft 7in tall!
A former...
Getting to know… Mark Ormond
Mark Ormond was appointed managing director of Manitou UK last year, having spent the vast bulk of his career in the agriculture sector.
New Doosan machine is helping to take a load off
DUMBARTON-based William Thompson & Son Ltd has purchased the company’s first Doosan wheel loader and crawler excavator for work on a new soil and...
The “next big thing” in demolition raring to go
WHEN the Stanley LaBounty Mobile Demolition Processor (MDP) was launched during Bauma 2013 it came with the boast of being the “next big thing”...
Departure from the norm helps breathe new life into trade body
Outgoing Scottish Plant Owners Association (SPOA) president Callum Mackintosh reflects on his term in office and explains why the journey both challenged and exceeded...
Diversity in construction: how far have we come?
In a recent survey of construction professionals nearly half of the respondents (46%) said they felt their career progression has been limited due to their background.
