Under the management changes, 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.
Shelton joined Bevan Group in 2010, after selling his Interlink francise. In his new role, his focus is 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.
‘Although my background is in engineering, my previous role with Bevan included an element of aftercare sales,’ Shelton said. ‘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.’
Dryburgh, 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.
In addition, Bevan has invested in a new, extended fleet of mobile workshops which, as well as maintaining and repairing truck and van bodies of all makes and types, will look after tail-lifts, cranes, shutter doors and other ancillary equipment fitted to customers’ vehicles.
The company’s new Nissan NV400 service vans 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,’ said Dryburgh. ‘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.’
