For a young man, Lachlan Stinson, Managing Director of Superior Cranes, is level-headed and wise beyond his years. Putting the wellbeing of his team and the service they provide to customers first, has stood the business in good stead.
Originally from Wagga Wagga, in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Lachie moved to Brisbane 17 years ago. He worked for Hanchard Cranes for a while before buying a Franna and venturing out into the big wide world of crane hire. He explains more.
“Superior Cranes has an operation in Wagga Wagga and in Brisbane. The Wagga operation is mainly engaged in project work, which is good for the business, and Brisbane tends to operate as a general crane hire business. Next year will see us celebrate our 15th birthday which we are obviously very proud about,” said Lachie.
“Initially we were operating second-hand gear to make ends meet, but we gradually got into our groove and developed relationships with customers and suppliers, especially Liebherr which is now the dominant brand in our fleet. We also run a fleet of Frannas. The Liebherrs have been excellent for us, they are great quality and super reliable cranes backed by after-sales service and support which is fantastic,” he said.
Superior Cranes operates a fleet of 22 cranes, eight in Wagga and 14 in Brisbane and employs a crew of 50. Crane capacities start with a 13-tonne City Crane through to 250t capacity all terrains.
Lachie is proud of the work culture at Superior Cranes and firmly believes ‘Culture eats strategy’.
“We operate with a typical crane crew which includes four supervisors in the Brisbane yard and two in Wagga, a yard manager in each location, operators, riggers and dogmen, allocators and office staff.
“The crew is full of good people. I’m a strong believer that it is better to work with good people rather than those who are outstanding at their work but not good people. We have a good work culture in both yards. Everyone gets along and we frequently socialise together, which helps build friendships and loyalty within the business. We are here for each other and that translates to a ‘can do’ approach when it comes to our customers,” he said.
“We are very family oriented. Some of the team have young families, as I do, and we understand and make allowances when the family has to come first. Obviously, field crews get RDOs (rostered days off)but in the office, we run a flexi-day system so that guys can have a day a month to do whatever they have to do,” he said.
Lachie explains how this culture works when it comes to planning jobs, how site inspections are managed, SWMS (Safe Work Method Statement) planned and lift plans generated.
“Our supervisors conduct the site inspections, as well as the SWMS and lift studies. We have a health and safety officer who manages the compliance-related issues. Because we provide a quality service, and the ‘can do’ work culture of the team, we have strong relationships with our customers and a lot of work is repeat business. We have customers who have been with us for all of the 15 years, but you have to continually provide a good service with it being a very competitive market out there.
I always say to the team, ‘be kind and do your best, because being a good person goes a long way in life’. Although the crews laughed when I first mentioned it, they understand what I mean now,” said Lachie.
He can see a significant difference between his two operations with the Wagga Wagga team working on long-term projects and Brisbane managing general crane hire requirements.
“In Brisbane we are focused on day-to-day general hire work whereas the Wagga yard is very much project-based. We are working on the HumeLink East and HumeLink West power line projects as well as the SecureEnergy project.
“There is also the Inland Rail Project where we are working with Martinus Rail and John Holland. We are also servicing Evolution Gold Mine at Lake Cowal and there is a lot of project work on the largest pulp and paper plant in the southern hemisphere. We are able to move assets between the two yards as demand comes on and off,” said Lachie.
He goes on to elaborate on the relationship with Liebherr and what he and his teams like about the product.
“We are very happy with Liebherr. In our opinion they provide a premium product which is backed by ‘second to none’ after sales service and support. Liebherr are good people. I have a good relationship with Bryce O’Brien and we’ve got a couple of new cranes coming including a 120-tonne and 150-tonne. We also recognise the need to go bigger with capacities and we’re examining our options.
“Adam Damon is our go-to for service and support, and his approach is second to none. I’m in touch with Adam a lot and he is always responsive, but if any of the crew have an issue and call him, he always picks up and has answers pretty much straight away. Liebherr cranes are super reliable and so are their people,” said Lachie.
“Another advantage of having a predominantly Liebherr fleet is the fact that operators can move from crane to crane effortlessly. Even though the capacities might vary, the operating systems are the same or very similar which makes life easier for our operations team,” he said.
With the Brisbane Olympics coming into view and projects ramping up for the Wagga yard, Lachie is planning the company’s near future very carefully.
“The Olympics are under seven years away and there is going to be a hell of a lot of lifting required,” he said. “Obviously, the bigger boys will be positioning themselves for the large stadium and infrastructure projects but there will be plenty of other work and that’s on top of Brisbane being a busy market anyway. For our Wagga yard, the HumeLink West project is about to really kick into gear, so that’s going to suck up a fair bit of labour and machines. I’ve got to be mindful of the impact this will have on the business. We don’t want to be left short in either yard, and we are working through this at the moment. But whatever we do in terms of new cranes, they will be Liebherrs.”