INDUSTRY PEOPLE
Nigel is slowly handing over the reins of the business to
Josh. While still a youthful 59, Nigel is happy to leave the
business in younger hands.
“I went into business age 28. I would encourage any
young person to go into business themselves as young
people have a lot to offer.”
After Nigel left school, he worked in a shipping company
and then a building society “both of which gave me really
good skills for what I went on to do. After that I had a
choice of pushing a fruit barrow or driving trucks. Guess
what I chose?”
“This is the rub: leave school and find out what you really
want to do first, before getting yourself into a narrow
path or paths,” says Josh.
At its core, Southland Truck & Tractor Spares will
dismantle anything with tracks or tyres under it. They
tend to work for trade rather than private clients and
have a strong edge in their field.
The general practice is to obtain a truck or some heavy
equipment for dismantling, and immediately begin to
break it apart. The scrap metal that can’t be used is taken
offsite straight away, and the useable parts are steam-
cleaned and added to the inventory then shelved. Josh
and Nigel feel proud of their ability to recycle, and very
few parts are ever assigned to the non-recyclable bin.
The operation is remarkably clean and tidy. Nigel
comments that they work to a strict schedule and act
fast when a truck or machinery arrives onsite.
“You need to carry a lot to sell a little, is our mantra,”
says Josh as we walk around the parts facility, across the
road from the main office. “But by carrying a lot, we can
reduce the downtime for the client quite quickly, which is
kind of the edge we have.”
“We also tend not to carry multiple examples of the
same part unless it’s a part that commonly wears out,
obviously.
While there are multiple dismantling businesses around
the country, each has its unique demographic. Southland
Truck & Tractor Spares tends to have a niche market in
truck and equipment dismantling, and Nigel explains that
if they had diversified into marine or even car parts, the
demographic would be different again.
“We are very isolated from a business perspective, in
that we’re at the bottom of the South Island, but things
like reputation and maintaining good stock levels help us
stay in the game.”
Southland is rugged and its people are resilient, and Southland Truck and Tractor has weathered the storm of small business since 1981.
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CAM May 2019
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