Meet the parts team

Meet the Thwaites Parts Team:

•  70 years expertise
•  Third generation Thwaites team member
•  13,000 dumper parts
•  96% off the shelf for same day delivery, for any dumper manufactured in the last 40 years.

Every business has a best kept secret, a metronomically delivered service that is very often unassuming, yet managed and organised so well, that variance is measured in fractions and satisfaction is as good as guaranteed.

The Thwaites 4-man parts team combine excellence and experience to manage 13,000 parts and a fulfilment pledge that they can pick 96% of spares for any Thwaites Dumper manufactured in the last 40 years. With orders received before 3.30pm being shipped on the same day.

Let’s meet the team who collectively have just under 70 years’ service and hear their story:

Glenn Williams: 25 years – Spares Buyer

“It sometimes seems a little cliché when teams talk about being a family, but the reality is my father worked at Thwaites for 16 years in the 70’s and 80’s, Tim’s father, John Paul’s grandfather and uncle all worked for the business before we did. Thwaites is in our blood; we all share a special family bond.

I joined the Thwaites parts team 25 years ago this month (October), the principles of customer service excellence were the same back in the mid 90’s, but the process was not quite as advanced as it is today.

I believe it’s the personal touch that makes the difference, customers appreciate the fact they can speak to a person who can help them identify and buy the part they need.

With Thwaites rich heritage and history, I enjoy speaking with enthusiasts who have a dumper from the early 60’s or 50’s. The machines of that era are not as advanced as todays so it’s great when we can find a part and supply off the shelf, if that’s not possible we are very often able to manufacture the part to order.

In some cases, we are the Spares Samaritans. We’re here to listen, offer advice and find the best solution to keep the customer’s Thwaites dumper running”.

John-Paul Milling: 9 years – Parts Supervisor.

With just 9 years’ service; JP is the ‘new boy’, however his family has a deep-rooted connection with Thwaites. “My Grandfather was employed just after the war as the works manager, he went on to serve Thwaites until retirement. In addition, two of his sons worked for Thwaites. “My uncle Paul, who became a time served engineer, joined the company at the age of 15 and he too completed unbroken service until retirement.

In total, my family has a combined Thwaites service of 110 years, a record of which we are immensely proud

My role in the parts teams allows for my process driven nature to be fulfilled. It’s my job to ensure the orders our distributors and customer send over, are checked and converted into a picking document, that the team can use to ensure each order is fulfilled in full, every time”.

“In addition, I am then able to raise an invoice that matches the customer’s order. It’s a sense of personal pride that the number of queries that arise are minimal, giving a 98% invoice accuracy rate. Clearly this is good for our customer as the invoice only needs to be touched once, reducing the admin cost to query”.

Steve Golby: 32 years – Spares Manager

“It’s my job to manage the team and ensure we deliver exceptional service to our customers. We have the very best mix of personal customer interaction and data stock analysis. Ensuring we always have the correct part and quantity in stock, and that we keep our customers informed and satisfied at all times.

We are not a ‘service center’ or ‘call center’; we offer a personal touch that delivers real value to our customers. We have a world class stock system, but we still know many of the actual part numbers from memory. There are over 13,000 lines in stock, and we all know exactly where in the store we will find each and every one of them.

We have four great guys that pick, pack, and manage goods inwards and dispatch. The full team consists of ‘Bagger’, Darren, Phil and Aidan”.

It’s the little things that go a long way to differentiate the Thwaites parts team from the rest of the market. After sales is so important during the operating period of our customer’s ownership of a Thwaites dumper, it also ensures the integrity of the dumper, enabling best in class residuals to be achieved when our customer comes to sell”.

Contact the team: allparts@thwaitesdumpers.co.uk

Call: 01926 422 471