As the market focuses increasingly on improving operations to ensure profitability and sustainability, businesses require swift access and reliability from the latest technologically-advanced products and solutions, which will offer the highest quality and efficiency.
As such, Rand-Air – an established leader in the field of air, nitrogen, power, flow (pumps), steam boiler and lighting solutions, and part of the global Atlas Copco Specialty Rental division believes in pursuing constant fleet renewal to ensure customers receive the best fit possible: the right fleet, at the right time and at the right price.
“Continuous fleet renewal is imperative, as this practice enables Rand-Air to retain and effectively manage a constantly updated fleet of equipment – featuring the latest world-class technologies, improved lifespans, efficiencies, reduced environmental impacts and increased user-friendliness. Such a fleet reflects our ethos and tagline of ‘making agility count’ for our customers, by ensuring lower operating costs, efficient production and sustainable profitability. This ultimately contributes to our customers’ business sustainability and, in a greater sense, to an improved economic outlook and business positivity,” says Rand-Air Sales and Marketing Manager Byrone Thorne.
“With 48 years’ experience in providing the best products and solutions to meet customers’ needs, Rand-Air continues to remain aligned with the latest, premium technologies to provide the best fleet for our customers,” Thorne explains.
Rand-Air Fleet Operations Manager Craig Swart agrees: “Accordingly, we offer a ‘360 degree’ complete product offering, with an extensive fleet comprising nitrogen generators, pumps, electric power and diesel powered compressed air and power accessories, air dryers, generators, lighting towers, compressors and more,” he says.
The availability of a cutting-edge fleet is not only critical to a customer’s success, but underpins and demonstrates Rand-Air’s commitment to and investment in customer service which helps them to address their challenges and to be operationally agile.
“To this end, Rand-Air will take key factors into consideration, such as the size, age and reliability of the fleet. These elements are taken into account when it comes to meeting the changing needs of the customers, their desired applications and – importantly – their need for safety, quality, reliability and availability,” Swart explains.
“As we aim to guarantee these elements are all in place, to ensure our customers’ operations to perform at their best, Rand-Air’s fleet has to reflect these commitments,” he emphasises.
To accurately address the requirements of rentals solutions for the market, Rand-air considers demand, customers’ feedback on the most effective or compatible products to be the ‘best fit’ – for example, the best compressors in terms of size, air and pressure. This meticulous strategy is however applied to all product solutions, including pumps, lighting, nitrogen generators, diesel and electric generators and more.
While the ‘best fit’ offer is more effective for short-term rental solutions, longer-term rental solutions may be more customised according to requirements. With more specific factors taken into consideration, such as energy consumption, Rand-Air’s products may feature variable speed drives (VSDs) for enhanced energy efficiency over longer periods, Thorne explains.
“By ensuring we invest according to the industry demand for both short and long-term rental requests and also – equally importantly – divest as and when necessary, we can also fulfil a practical, yet sustainably effective fleet utilisation,” Swart notes.
Notably, Rand-Air has not only been investing in new opportunities, such as nitrogen, steam and pumps solutions recently. The company has also added high-pressure and specialised equipment, such as the robust Atlas Copco DrillAir Y1260 variable high pressure (21 to 35 bar) compressors.
These compressors are appropriate for applications in the mining sector, including mineral exploration drilling, geothermal drilling, construction and blast hole drilling.
Meanwhile, with the industry move to more environmental-friendly, user-friendly (plug-and-play) machines which are cost-efficient and provide reliable uptime for increased productivity, Rand-Air has a concerted focus on driving the introduction and use of more electric-powered equipment.
Products included in Rand-Air’s fleet renewal investment are the Atlas Copco oil-injected electric compressors, as well as oil-free electric compressors – the latter of which, following increased demand, has gained substantial traction in the market, Swart says.
“Nevertheless, demand for diesel-driven equipment remains, as although diesel fuel can prove expensive, these products are more preferred in certain industries; or in operations that are remotely-located and lack easily available and reliable electricity connections,” Thorne points out.
“As each product has its ideal applications and therefore place, a salient fleet renewal investment feature encompasses the inclusion of units designed and manufactured according to the highest specifications – with features such as aftercoolers, shutdown valves, overspeed engines, VSDs; as well as smart-managed connectivity for remote monitoring and analysis capabilities,” Swart explains.
While these all contribute to a conscientiously planned, balanced and encompassing fleet portfolio for customers, Thorne emphasises: “Underpinning this strong portfolio of products, which is paired with dedicated customer service, is the smooth ongoing interaction and collaboration of Rand-Air’s sales, service and operational departments and team members.”
Further providing a competitive edge is the world-class, latest technology of a renewed fleet, which enables Rand-Air’s service technicians to service the fleet faster, thereby freeing up time for repairs during breakdowns, enabling greater proactive and predictive maintenance and resulting in a heightened quality assurance.
In a further reflection of this assurance, Swart highlights that customers can have the confidence, founded on a resilient trust in Rand-Air, to access the fleet they require when necessary and the assistance of a technically-advanced support team providing 24/7 service.
“Rand-Air practices agile fleet renewal for swift, smooth, and user-friendly rental solutions which yield the highest levels of quality and safety for excellent performance. This enables our customers to focus on their core business – with confidence and a far-reaching positivity that will ripple through to the economy as a whole,” Thorne concludes.
