Bevan Group gears up for business growth
Leading commercial vehicle bodybuilder Bevan Group has made two key changes to its management team and invested in a new, extended fleet of mobile workshops to serve its growing portfolio of aftercare customers.
Roy Shelton becomes the West Midlands-based company’s first Business Development Manager, while Simon Dryburgh has been recruited to fill his previous position of Aftercare Manager.
As well as Bevan’s market-leading range of dry freight box, curtainside and platform bodies, Roy is focused on selling temperature-controlled bodywork for rigid trucks following the company’s announcement in January that it had entered a strategic partnership with specialist manufacturer Schmitz Cargobull. He is managing several key accounts but is also charged with winning business from operators that have not previously used Bevan’s services.
Simon, meanwhile, has taken up his new position at Bevan’s headquarters in Halesowen, having spent nearly 10 years working as General Manager for one of its main competitors. He began his career 25 years ago as a technical apprentice with Metro Cammell, working on trains, and his CV also includes a 13-year stint with another well-known commercial vehicle bodybuilder.
Alongside its manufacturing operations Bevan has forged a reputation for top-quality repair and maintenance services – unlike many bodybuilders it has a team of mobile technicians offering cover across Britain. As well as maintaining and repairing truck and van bodies of all makes and types, they look after tail-lifts, cranes, shutter doors and other ancillary equipment fitted to customers’ vehicles.
Bevan’s new Nissan NV400 service vans – their striking liveries designed and applied by the company’s own graphics division – are racked out to carry the tools and equipment its technicians need to work on vehicles at customers’ own locations.
“By the end of July we’ll have 20 new vans on the road,” says Simon. “That’s six more than we were running previously, and reflects rapidly growing demand for our aftercare services.
“Even operators who choose to buy their bodies from our competitors often rely on us to maintain them. I’m determined to build on the strong foundations already in place to further improve our response times and parts availability, and develop the ‘cradle to grave’ support packages that will make us the industry’s undisputed number one for aftercare.”
Roy joined Bevan Group in 2010, having just sold his thriving Interlink francise. He began his career in 1985 as a YTS trainee with truck rental giant BRS, and rose over the next 14 years to become Engineering Operations Manager. He has also worked for GeoPost, where he was responsible for a fleet of 3,000 trucks and trailers.
“Although my background is in engineering, my previous role with Bevan included an element of aftercare sales,” explains Roy. “We’re getting a lot of enquiries for our refrigerated bodywork and it’s the opportunity to build this new arm of our business that I find really exciting.”
