After almost 8 years in one company, supporting equipment dealers in providing asset finance, Jelena Harris started with DLL on April 1st, 2020. She could never have imagined she would be onboarding in a completely remote setting. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic many countries were in full lock down and the Materials Handling sector encountered challenging and uncertain times. Whereas now, just 1 year later, the sector is growing rapidly again. However, although growth forecasts are impressive with some industry experts reporting the global market will reach $127.26 billion in 2025 at a CAGR of 8.3%, the industry is facing supply chain issues putting pressure on customer loyalty. Jelena Harris takes us into the world of Materials Handling and equipment finance in times of the Covid-19 crisis.
“Onboarding with a new company during an unprecedented pandemic is far from ideal. No face-to-face meetings, no ‘finding your way around in the office’, and no normal way of building relationships,” Jelena Harris starts. “DLL instantly adapted to the many remote working challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, we remained ‘open for business’ across our entire global network, with almost 100% of our employees working from home and delivering support to partners and customers during their most critical time of need.”
From an onboarding perspective Jelena got great support from her peers, who served as buddies during the first few months. “Although there was no social encountering, I felt part of the family from the very beginning.”
How did the pandemic impact the Materials Handling industry?
“When Covid-19 hit, the sector and my customers were overwhelmed by the major uncertainties and some even panicked. As for everybody else, this was an unprecedented situation that they had never experienced before. Some companies furloughed sales staff for 3 months right after the first wave. But when work picked up again the limited staff that remained in the workplace, had to wear different hats to solve the issues at hand (e.g., sales, administration, customer service etc.)."
"Employees got frustrated and exhausted and did not have any time to meet with other business partners, including their financial solutions provider. After the first lockdown many manufacturers started bringing people back on board. During the second and in the meantime the third wave we have seen less panic and more focus and mind space to discuss business needs. However, from staff issues, the sector ran into another issue. Manufacturers had and are still having longer production times because of big delays in the production and delivery of spare parts.”
Did the need for financial solutions change?
“We’ve seen a rise in Commercial Finance solutions allowing our dealer partners to pre order new trucks without the stress of having to pay for them in one lumpsum.
In addition, transparent communications with regards to credit requirements and turnaround times have never been more important. A big thank you to my colleagues in our risk department who have been so customer and service oriented. I have never experienced this kind of optimal collaboration between Sales and Risk in my career so far.
At the same time, dealers were being faced with high demands for used equipment because new equipment was not available, and customers didn’t want to spend too much on machines because of the uncertainty. As a result, the need for used equipment finance increased simultaneously and is there ever since.”
How do you see the Materials Handling market evolving?
“The COVID-19 pandemic forced us all to enter a fully digital world. Online groceries, online shopping – in fact, online retailing - has hugely impacted warehousing and its logistics operations. The demand for materials handling equipment went sky-high and the sector is growing rapidly. Like for any other industry today, sustainability is key going forward. Sustainability in the broadest sense of the word. The Materials Handling sector is looking into technological innovations such as electric vehicles and lithium batteries and tries to join forces to make it work. But also the ethical side of the business is in scope; in fact, it is being perceived as decisive in many sales situations."
"Customers increasingly choose to deal with companies that have the same values and same way of doing business. Service levels, and a personal click, have never been more important. A significant development, since we are living in a digital era, but it truly speaks to the Materials Handling industry. The convenience and on demand- functionalities of digital tooling are welcomed, but in the meanwhile the personal touch and human service levels are incredibly important.”
If you would like to know more on how DLL’s equipment financing solutions can help strengthen and grow your Materials Handling business, learn more here.