17 Jun Valuing our customers: Dawsongroup and Gray & Adams
Throughout their history, Gray & Adams have served a diverse range of customers within the UK and created bespoke solutions for each customer’s individual needs. Our customers can range from local businesses to large multi – site groups but our level of service, quality and customer centric values are consistent for each of our valued partners, and we are incredibly proud to be part of the journey to those who have grown over the years.
Long term Gray & Adams customer, Dawsongroup is a fantastic example of growth from a small family run business starting 1935 to the large multinational group they are today. Most well-known for their core business, and what they were founded on, truck and trailer rentals, Dawsongroup Truck & Trailer have stayed true to their people centric values throughout the years.
To discuss the relationship between our businesses, we sat down with John Fletcher, Managing Director Dawsongroup Truck & Trailer.
Dawsongroup have built and grown their business on values of service excellence and innovation, so when choosing partners to work with in their supply chain, Gray & Adams were an obvious choice.
Of the relationship, John tells us,
“I’ve worked with Dawsongroup for over 20 years starting in a regional role before ultimately progressing to MD and the relationship with Gray & Adams was established long before I joined the business. Apart from being a recognisable brand that is synonymous with quality, the reasons that the relationship has been so long standing is because our businesses both put the customer at the forefront. Because we have put our customers at the core of everything we do, it’s important that we choose partners in our supply chain that also do business the same way. The level of customer service we receive from Gray & Adams is second to none, we feel really valued and this echoed throughout the both the sales and aftersales process.”
He goes on,
“Dawsongroup serve many different sectors, therefore every time we go to Gray & Adams for a new order, it can be completely different from the last or something totally bespoke but nothing phases the G&A team no matter what the request!
Commercially, it’s important for us to have trailers in our fleet that can capture the best possible resale value down the line, so the longevity of the trailer is always taken into account when choosing to purchase. We’ve found that Gray & Adams trailers are of a more robust quality and their longevity supersedes other manufacturers which is why they are always a first choice for us. Out of around 1600 trailers that we are currently operating, over half of them are a Gray & Adams which shows that we see them as valued partner in our supply chain.
When discussing the key drivers in the industry going forward, we are always interested in hearing what they innovations and challenges will be from our customers’ perspective. John was happy to provide insight from his point of view.
He told us,
“Businesses are looking at decarbonisation in a more urgent way and this will only increase going forward. New innovations to meet environmental goals are important to us and our customers and we want to do what we can to help our customers reduce their carbon footprint as well as our own.
In terms of what that means for refrigerated transport, new innovations around electric vehicles are something we are very interested in, and we know that Gray & Adams are highly involved in bringing this technology to their customers in the UK.”
He then says,
“On the flipside there are always challenges that we can foresee on the horizon and one of which is the shortage of HGV drivers which will be reflected all over the UK. One way I believe we can mitigate this is ensuring efficiency and doing what we can to enhance vehicle footprint in order to reduce the number of journeys that vehicles are making. This, again, is another example for why we would choose Gray & Adams to work with, as the market leader in temperature controlled double deck trailers, they offer a robust solution with a well-established product with proven benefits.”
To find out more, please visit www.dawsongroup.co.uk