{"id":53081,"date":"2020-01-10T16:28:07","date_gmt":"2020-01-10T03:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vinz.co.nz\/?p=53081"},"modified":"2020-01-10T16:29:04","modified_gmt":"2020-01-10T03:29:04","slug":"making-driving-safer-murray-coombes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vinz.co.nz\/news\/making-driving-safer-murray-coombes\/","title":{"rendered":"Making Driving Safer – Murray Coombes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Murray Coombes, Site Services Manager<\/strong><\/p>\n

VINZ Hamilton has been open for just 20 months. It\u2019s one of the jewels in VINZ\u2019 crown, and no one is prouder or more enthusiastic about the facility than Site Services Manager, Murray Coombes. Murray has worked in the industry for over 20 years: VINZ Hamilton is the best inspection site he\u2019s seen.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve made a big, big investment here, he says. \u201cHuge,\u201d he adds, in case you\u2019d missed the point. \u201cIt\u2019s been a massive improvement for the company, our staff and our customers. It\u2019s just wonderful. And we have an even bigger, better site in Palmerston Site. That\u2019s two in twelve months that\u2019s a tremendous achievement.\u201d<\/p>\n

The most visible evidence of the investment is in the technologies and systems for testing truck brakes. \u201cYou have to test brakes with the axles loaded to 60 percent of the rated capacity, Murray explains. \u201cWe used to apply strapping to the truck axles and pull down it to simulate the required load. Now we have rollers that lift the truck to apply the appropriate pressure. That\u2019s safer, more reliable and far more efficient.\u201d<\/p>\n

VINZ Hamilton sits at the heart of the transport industry in the North Island. \u201cA large proportion of our work is CoF B (truck) inspections They keep is really busy. Hamilton is an industrial hub. It\u2019s part of the golden triangle. All the major workshops in town use us and there are two brand new truck workshops just around the corner.<\/p>\n

The value VINZ provides isn\u2019t just in delivering inspections. It\u2019s in understanding how fleets operate and delivering advice and information to help them be safer and more efficient. \u201cWe provide advice and feedback,\u201d he explains. \u201cWe might say, \u201cWe recommend you replace your tyres soon. And there\u2019s some rust here, you want to keep an eye on that.\u2019 In other words, we give them a vehicle safety maintenance plan. That\u2019s particularly important for truck owners. They know they have some work to do, so the schedule it for when they have some down time. That helps the business: the trucking industry is a busy industry. Vehicles need to be on the road as much of the time as possible, because if the wheels aren\u2019t going around you\u2019re not making any money.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murray\u2019s priority is not the inspections themselves, it\u2019s looking after the people who carry them out. \u201cExcellent service all starts with the staff,\u201d he says. \u201cIf staff enjoy being here and want to come to work each day, their attitude flows through to the customer. Happy staff means happy customers. Happy customers come back. It\u2019s a virtuous cycle. That\u2019s our philosophy.\u201d<\/p>\n

So how does he keep staff happy? \u201cKeeping staff happy is all about treating people well,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s not necessarily all about how much you pay them. That matters, but primarily it\u2019s about culture. We have a very good culture here.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we offer, what we\u2019re very strong on here is a work-home lifestyle balance. It\u2019s about trying to get everybody home at a reasonable hour \u2013 we all leave at the same time –\u2013 working only half a day on Saturdays and having every second weekend off. We have twelve trained staff so, if someone wants a holiday, they can get their holiday.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then there are the little extras that let people, know they\u2019re valued: \u201cWe shout breakfast on Saturday. We put on a lunch once a month to thank everybody. We treat people like people, not like numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The other part in making people happy is keeping them interested and motivated. \u201cWe have a variety of jobs — warrants, crash inspections, rental cars, taxis, shuttles and other passenger service vehicles, pre-purchase, forklifts. We have offsites — compliance shops where the site strips the car and we have people carrying out inspections there, after the vehicles have been stripped. It takes some juggling to get people with the right authorities to carry out a constantly changing schedule of inspections,\u2019 says Murray, \u201cbut variety at work is a good thing. It keeps people interested and on their toes. That\u2019s another way of keeping them happy. It gives them something to look forward to. And learning new skills and new inspection regimes takes training. That keeps them motivated.<\/p>\n

The flip side of the business is, of course, keeping customers happy. \u201cPeople get WoFs once a year,\u201d so you need to do a good job, but there aren\u2019t many opportunities to build a relationship. But we deal with some customers all the time, and you develop good relationships with customers you see regularly. We have regular compliance customers who work for car dealers. And others with large mechanical workshops. They\u2019re in every day with different vehicles from different fleets. We also get contractors and small truck owners. They\u2019re only in every six months, so it\u2019s a slightly different relationship. We have less time to get to know and understand them. That\u2019s another reason why we need the very best inspectors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Murray Coombes, Site Services Manager VINZ Hamilton has been open for just 20 months. It\u2019s one of the jewels in VINZ\u2019 crown, and no one is prouder or more enthusiastic about the facility than Site Services Manager, Murray Coombes. Murray has worked in the industry for over 20 years: VINZ Hamilton is the best inspection […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":53086,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_expiration-date-status":"","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[]},"categories":[1],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n