Although its name suggest otherwise, 2rent offers more services than just the rental of industrial equipment. Astrid Hinderks visited the Velsen-Noord offive in the Netherlands and exchanged thoughts with Marketing & Sales Manager Jaap van Dongen and Cor Riemsdijk, Branch Manager of the Velsen-Noord office.

The office in Velsen-Noord focuses on deliveries to the offshore industry. "We are strategically located, close to the port of Ijmuiden and within reasonable distance from Den Helder, where a lot of offshore related industries are located, and also the Royal Dutch Navy. We also serve other industries, such a Corus where we have an on-site rental office. But the majority of the business of this location, about 60%, is offshore related", says Van Riemsdijk. "Usually a client notifies us about two weeks in advance, giving us sufficient time to sort alt the equipment and stow it in the container. But of course we receive requests for emergency deliveries as welt. As we have a large stock of specialized equipment and tools, we can usually immediately take the requested item of the shelves and drive to the port to deliver it. We are very flexibile.

With approximately 275,000 pieces of equipment and tools, it's difficult to name a piece of equipment that 2rent doesn't have on stock. "We can deliver every tool or piece of equipment that the industry calis for. And in the rare case that we don't have a certain piece, we have our partners to rely on. Of course we sometimes face limitations when delivering for offshore locations. Take for instance an generating set, it's no problem for us to deliver an generating set offshore. But it is very difficult, if not impossibie, to send a maintenance crew to a platform if the generating set should fail. Due to these limitations we always have to carefully consider which equipment can be delivered offshore", Van Riemsdijk explains.

In addition to the toois and the machines, 2rent can also supply the consumables to go with the equipment. Van Riemsdijk elaborates: "Nothing is more frustrating and expensive for a client than to be en his offshore platform with the latest state-of-the-art welding equipment hut without, for instance, electrodes. Time is money, especially in the offshore industry, and these situations are simply unacceptabie. That's exactly why we don't just deliver the requested equipment, hut also the related products such as personal protection and consumabies for welding equipment and handtoois. All our personnel have a technical background and they easily can identify themselves with customer needs."

2rent is not only a supplier of equipment hut they also offer a full range of services to assist the customer. "Traditionally large companies bought all their equipment. But owned equipment comes with a lot of 'hidden' costs, that are often overlooked. Not only the maintenance of equipment is time-consuming and expensive, the testing and certification of certain equipment is also an ongoing burden", Van Dongen explains. "Equipment management is not the core business of our elienis and they often don't have the full insight in the degree of capacity utilization and the total costs. We also see cases where elients are not always aware of the latest developments and innovations.

Our consultants are wel equipped to make a thorough analysis of any specific situation. This can result in several improvements of the clients situation such as an internal rental shop, contracting the maintenance and certification or the employment of an equipment planner. Nowadays we see that more and more companies are only buying a basic set of tools and equipment and the rest is rented.

2rent is not only a supplier of equipment but they also offer a full range of services to assist the customer. "Traditionally large companies bought all their equipment. But owned equipment comes with a lot of 'hidden' costs, that are often overlooked. Not only the maintenance of equipment is time-consuming and expensive, the testing and certification of certain equipment is also an ongoing burden", Van Dongen explains. "Equipment management is not the core business of our elienis and they often don't have the full insight in the degree of capacity utilization and the total costs. We also see cases where elients are not
always aware of the latest developments and innovations. Our consultants are wel equipped to make a thorough analysis of any specific situation. This can result in several improvements of the clients situation such as an internal rental shop, contracting the maintenance and certification or the employment of an equipment planner. Nowadays we see that more and more companies are only buying a basic set of tools and equipment and the rest is rented.
 

The explosion proof directive ATEX is more and more often applicabie. In response to this development, 2rent has expanded its rental programme with a wide product range of ATEX approved explosion proof electrical and lighting components. For the execution of projects and the rental of Ex equipment, 2rent elosely cooperates with the weli respected and experienced distributor Cooper/CEAG.

"Apart from renting explosion proof equipment we offer training for the client's personnel. We can do this on-site, at the client's premises. For this purpose we have a mobile training facility where we can teach everything about the applicable ruies and regulations for working in explosion proof environments. We can also take care of the entire project planning, execution and certification".

Van Riemsdijk says. "The maintenance of Ex equipment requires very skilled and certified peopie. We have several in-house experts giving us the flexibility to test and certify equipment within a very short time-span. Especially in the offshore industry it is crucial to deliver on time".

The offshore industry is very demanding, and not without reason. There is no comparison between the harsh offshore environment and the onshore factory floor. Tools and equipment that might be perfectly suited for a certain job onshore, can be completely useless when applied for the same job offshore. 2rent is always looking for opportunities to innovate. A recent novel development is the introduction of new Ex distribution boxes. Space is limited on offshore installations so the dimension of equipment is an important issue. 2rent has developed new Ex distribution boxes, which are suitable for offshore use, but can also be applied on petrochemical sites. The new design is significantly smaller and more efficient than the traditional distribution boxes.

Van Riemsdijk: "Last year we achieved outstanding results, mainly due to the fact that several clients carried out maintenance works simultaneously. We will probably not meet last year's results as they were extraordinary. This year we see that the demand is stabilizing. But for the near future we expect to see growth aqain."
Van Dongen further elaborates: "Our strength has been our strategy to aim at different market segments. When we started, we were very strong in the petro-chemical industry. Recently we have seen significant growth in the shipbuilding industry and in the offshore industry. We are determined to keep growing in these markets but we will also explore other markets."

During the past years the company has been expanding rapidiy with new rental locations in the Netherlands, Germany, France and Beigium. 2rent aims for an even better coverage in the Netherlands and is currently investigating new office locations. "We want to be there where the industry is, so if the industry moves we have to make a move as well. We are continuously looking for new business opportunities", Van Riemsdijk concludes.