Blackwood Plant Hire Limited takes its fleet digital with Hiboo and UK dealer Halomec Ltd.

Journalist, Peter Haddock caught up with MD Paul McCormack at Bauma to find out how they are now using the Hiboo platform to monitor its entire fleet of over 500 units, and just a few months in, it has transformed the business.

Paul: “We’ve now got one login for every single machine in our fleet. It saves so much time for our service team, loader drivers, transport manager, hire desk and the whole team, including me. Gone are the days of juggling 10 different platforms. Now, the team can access real-time data showing the GPS location of equipment, fuel burn, fault codes, idle time, and utilisation, all in one place. Our service engineers can now map out where they need to go, planning their day in the right order. That saves fuel, time, and wasted journeys.”

For Paul, this solution isn’t just about efficiency. It’s about trust, as his team now shares live access with customers, showing both their own and hired in assets working on the same site as they can load up both.

Paul: “It’s definitely brought us closer together with our customers. If we can see a machine sitting and doing nothing for three days, we can ask our customers if they still need it. We’re not just trying to keep them hiring from us, we’re trying to help them run their projects more efficiently. The biggest things for us are machine security, limiting wasted time, and giving customers an open view of what our fleet’s doing for them. And if we can get that right, it means we can deliver a faster service, have smarter fleet deployment, and better customer outcomes, all from one platform.”

It’s great to see how digitalisation is working on the ground and how it is supporting the Blackwood Plant Hire team. And we are looking forward to seeing just what the impact is for the industry in the future.