PartnerLift holds annual conference

The 13th annual general meeting of Germany-based rental company cooperative PartnerLift took place in the city of Leimen.

The association of small and medium-sized aerial platform, construction machinery, cranes and forklift rental companies, operates more than 150 rental sites throughout Germany with more than 15,000 rental units, a majority of which are platforms.

During the meeting day on the weekend of 18 November, which included an exhibition, more than 200 rental machines were purchased by member companies.

Nearly 100 people from the 107 rental companies discussed topics such as prices and rental conditions, but also new topics such as digitisation of the industry. The increasing consolidation of medium and large companies in Germany in particular was also an issue. Numerous new digital trends were discussed and a future-proof strategy for 2018 was worked out.

“The possibilities of the digital age is far from replacing the experience of the rental companies. However, digitisation has potential that we want to exploit together,” said Johannes Mangold, online marketing manager of PartnerLift, “PartnerLIFT Online Rental, for example, is being used by an increasing number of customers.”

Another focal point of the conference was the quality audit, which all PartnerLift companies voluntarily commit themselves to. This was further developed and the three most successful companies in 2017: Induma-Rent, Josef Siegl and Berning Mietservice were congratulated.

Katrin Büher, the driving force behind the quality audits at PartnerLift, was looking forward to the first 100% rating. “Having had a 99% audit at Siegl in the summer, it was clear to us that it would not take long until the full score is reached”.

Speaker Achim Wiedemann pointed out the importance of strategic planning in companies that wanted to grow into middle-sized businesses.

In addition, the PartnerLift advisory board, which advises on the bulk purchase of rental equipment and all strategic issues was elected for a further two-year term of office.

The association’s cooperation with blood cancer charity DKMS led many partners to register as new potential stem cell donors during the conference. “If we can save a single human life with the help of the newly registered potential donors, the whole annual general meeting of the PartnerLift cooperation community will already have been worthwhile,” said PartnerLift managing director Kai Schliephake.