Mick George invest in 30 new Caterpillar machine fleet through Finning

Mick George, one of the UK’s leading waste, recycling and aggregate specialists, has invested in a new fleet of 30 new Cat machines from 3006 Finning, which will support six of its sites spread across England’s East Midlands and East Anglia regions.

The latest deal will increase the Mick George 395 Caterpillar fleet to 74 active machines by the end of 2015 and marks a significant increase in the number of units purchased in recent years. Supported by five year service and maintenance contracts, the move comes on the back of the successful use of the Just Add Diesel (JAD) solution from Finning, which saw the business purchase a total of 22 JAD supported units in 2013/14.

By putting together a deal which also includes support from Cat Finance, Mick George has been able to package its equipment finance, service and maintenance costs together over a five year period, fixing its plant costs.

Commenting on the latest deal and its focus on a packaged solution from Finning, Jon Stump, finance director of Mick George, said: “We are a business that is growing in all of the markets in which we operate. We have ambitious plans for expansion and due to the diversity of our operations from contracting to waste handling and aggregate processing, we need to have a clear gauge of our variable costs.

“This is why we lock down our equipment maintenance and servicing whenever we can and why, when Finning introduced Just Add Diesel in 2013, we saw a clear opportunity to turn a variable cost, into a fixed cost, whilst also taking advantage of much more fuel efficient new equipment. In this deal we have continued to recognise the value we get from a packaged solution and in some respects, when you compare costs from old to new machinery, the savings in fuel alone simply don’t justify keeping older equipment on the fleet.”

The new fleet includes the highly fuel efficient Cat 972M XE wheeled loader, Cat 730C and Cat 725C articulated trucks, a range of excavators from Cat 312E to Cat 320EL and Cat 366FL, Cat D6T dozers and the first Cat 836K landfill compactor in the UK. Supported by the Finning Finsight engineering team, individual equipment health is monitored no matter where the location, reducing downtime whilst also allowing the team to schedule maintenance at the most convenient time for the business.  

Commenting on the deal, Dave Coney, territory manager for Finning, said: “This is probably the most diverse, cost focused fleet deal we have seen in the UK, for some time. It marks a step change in the way a business like Mick George is approaching the management of assets and how they see equipment solutions moving forward. In 2013/14 Mick George became the largest JAD user in the country and with this deal they have recognised the value JAD has delivered, putting together a similar package that enables them to get a real competitive advantage by fixing costs on very fuel efficient equipment.”