Spartan Forklifts & Hanson and Beards: A Partnership Built on Reliability and Support

“I needed someone who would quickly look at ergonomic scenarios and just help us to get the right equipment for the task that we were doing,” said Charlotte Hanson, HR Director at Hanson and Beards. “Some of the key challenges that the business was looking to overcome were reliable equipment at affordable costs — for which Spartan’s helped along the journey to where we are now.”

Spartan Forklifts supported Hanson and Beards by adapting equipment and using every variation available on the market to ensure products could be moved efficiently and safely, with reliable service and support at all times.

“Initially we were with another company and we were looking for somebody that would provide a really quick turnaround in terms of support, and we did secure that with Spartan,” Hanson explained. “Day to day we are a manufacturing firm so downtime is incredibly costly. We have found that we can make contact and they are invariably on site the same day to give us support. So there just isn’t that downtime that would be a problem for us.”

Hanson added that Spartan also helps keep her role manageable: “I have a very, very varied busy role, and I’ve found that I can just ask them where we’re up to with things and they’ll give me a full list of where we are. They’ll just make sure that they’re there for us periodically whenever we need them.”

According to Jason Rathbone, Area Sales Manager at Spartan Forklifts, the Toyota trucks provided as part of the partnership bring important built-in safeguards. “The Toyota trucks come as standard with a great level of safety features on board,” he said. “That can be from weighing scales to fault level devices to overload warning systems — everything that you need on a truck to enable safe and proper use. It’s vital that we’ve got that safety, we’ve got that predictability. We’ve always got them covered in terms of whatever they need doing servicing wise. We need to make sure that is taken care of and taken seriously.”

Charlotte Hanson reinforced that commitment: “We’re not a business that loves to just stand still. We want to innovate. We want to promote safe use, and health and safety is key for us.”

For Jason, the strength of the relationship comes down to Spartan’s approach. “The mainstay of the partnership between Spartan Fork Trucks and Hanson and Beards is that level of understanding — that we go above and beyond to understand what the customer’s requirements are, look at some of the challenges that they’re facing, and offer solutions. Not just the right solution but a cost-effective one as well.”

“I would say that I have noticed improvements in operations since we started working,” Charlotte Hanson concluded. “I think as we’ve grown as a company, they’ve also grown alongside us in terms of professionalism, responses, and they’re really very responsive to feedback as well. If you need to just go back to them on something, they’ll take the action, and that’s all you can ask for really.”

Watch the full video to see how Spartan helps keep Hanson and Beards Ltd moving.