Building and managing complex, equipment-driven rental projects

Companies that execute industrial projects are increasingly turning to rental models for both goods and services. Especially when needed to plan and execute those projects. The trend reflects a global shift.

Both consumers and businesses like the flexibility that rental, leasing, and subscription-based options offer. The choose this over the “landlock” of direct and permanent ownership. For industrial project companies it can have several benefits. For example, better cash flow, the flexibility to immediately deduct all costs. Furthermore reduced overhead for service and storage, and opportunity to expand the number and types of projects they offer.

This is good news if you’re in the equipment-driven rental business. The challenge is ensuring that you can give these companies precise calculations for costs and revenues across project lifecycles.

You need to continuously align complex requirements and variables. From initial request through project lifecycles. You may need to calculate sub-projects that fall under the umbrella of the uber project. Furthermore planners and project managers must have full visibility into a dizzying amount of information. In the end it needs to be presented so that they can make quick, cost-effective decisions.

The key to managing all this complexity is, of course, the right technology. A rental solution that can draw information from across all areas of your business and gives project managers and planners intuitive automation and quick insight.

Forecasting accurate project quotations. The big picture is built on details

Preparing rental quotes for industrial projects can only be accurate if you can successfully combine multiple types of equipment. For example consumables, transport, and resources. Asa result, a customer may request a quote for a project that calls for:

• Heavy equipment: Aerial work platform, containers, cranes. All with specific requirements for heights and weight.
• Small equipment: Helmets, steel plates, scaffolding, and other items that add up to a daunting bulk of bulk equipment.
• Consumables: Vests, hoses, and other essentials that are usually picked from a container on the job site. You’ll need to make sure your quote has a range for how many consumables will be used.
• Labor: Operators, project managers, drivers, service technicians. All will need to meet certification and pay scale requirements.
• Transport: You may operate your own fleet, or work with a third party for transport. Either way, you’ll be calculating costs for vehicle usage and fuel.

You need to asses all variables before you present a quote. Calculations should be as fine-tuned as possible. This way you can  balance costs, revenue goals, and competitive pricing. You’ll also need to verify availability for everything you’re offering to the customer.

The 5 bullets listed above each can involve coordinating many details. This ranges from diverse areas of your business and third parties. And all those details must be aligned to create a complete landscape of the project. It simply demands rental management software that lets you focus on smart planning, not on chasing down information. Especially when you are building an advanced rental quotation that works for both you and your customer.

Image 1: Picture of an industrial equipment-driven rental projects

From project rental quote to orders: Make this seamless

If you have the right tools, your quotation process will let you define and create important components such as:

Sub-projects

Large equipment-driven rental projects may require branches or sub-projects. These might be specific to a phase, or an area like labor or consumables

Combined fixed-rate and time and materials billing

Yur project quotation may need to include different billing models. Ofcourse this is depending on customer requirements, sub-projects, and other elements. Now you can also clearly outline what is billed and using what approach. In addition, you will have assurance that invoices will map precisely to the quote and package in a customer-friendly format.

Auto-generation of all documentation

After a quote is approved, you should be able to quickly generate rental orders and sales orders. These are sent to customers and appropriate internal and third-party stakeholders. All information used for the quote should transfer immediately to departments. Who can then allocate and schedule equipment, resources, transport, etc., and generate complete work orders and communications.

Protecting rental profitability with real-time insight

The larger benefit that technology brings to forecasting and quote-building is that the landscape you build is a living one. Planners and project managers can use an approved quote as the foundation. As a result, they can use these quotes for monitoring budget and project performance through all project phases. It is crucial to have a solution that registers all elements of a project as an "ecosystem." Especially when you want to manage tight profit margins and customer satisfaction.

• The best rental management software incorporates a continuous feed of information. Consequently, users can compare actual costs to original budget in real time across a project’s lifecycle.
• Planners and project managers can work proactively and assess threats to the budget. When they want, they can go through all angles of the project. As a result they see where costs need to streamline or how performance can improve.
• Progress for projects and sub-projects can flow into the system 24/7 via portals, mobility apps, and IoT devices. Consequently managers can measure risk effectively, including:
  
  
• Increase of duration
• Unfinished tasks
• Problems with equipment
• Extra work
• If they need to request more budget, planners and project managers can efficiently build a case. This shows they’ve rigorously vetted all areas for improvement. Furthermore they can pinpoint where and why they need more funds.

Even the most complicated equipment-driven rental projects can prove a smart investment for a customer. But only if your company has the right tools for serving them. So take advantage of the possibilities!

Image 2: Graphical planning overviews in DynaRent of equipment-driven rental projects for Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations