INTERVIEW
Essex Rental Corp. CEO
NicholasMatthews
talked to
D.Ann Shiffler
about the retooling of the
company and the overall
state of themarket.
is of themost concern. To get a lot of
these projects funded is a challenge and
itwill continue tobe a challenge for our
industry.
WHAT IS THE PLAN FOR ESSEX RENTAL
CORP. GOING FORWARD, SHORT TERMAND
LONG TERM?
Inone of our previous earnings calls,
we laidout four key initiatives thatwe
are focusedon, that are really long-term
oriented, in terms of changing thewaywe
dobusiness.We remain focusedon the
long-term goals and strategic initiatives
inplace, including reshapingour asset
portfolio and repositioning the fleet,
improvingutilization, enhancingquality
and improving customer relationships –
becomingmore customer centric. In the
short term, our focus is to serve our
customers better.
We are askingour customers for
their input. The one thing for us
is thatwe are trying to take a fresh
approach toERC.We are looking at
what the companyhas donewell and
at the business practices that havenot
beenwell receivedbyour customers.
Wewant toopen thedoor tohave frank
feedbackofwhatwe’vedonewell and
whatwe candobetter sowe can improve
as anorganization.
WHAT DISTINGUISHES ESSEX RENTAL CORP.
IN THEMARKETPLACE?
I thinkERChas a strong asset
portfolio. TheCoastCrane
andEssexCrane brands have a
diverseportfolio that provides
G
rowingup inOhio,Nicholas
Matthewsworked after
school andonweekends
for his family’s construction company.
He especially remembers bustingup
concrete onhot, summer days. After
earning abusiness degree fromGrove
CityCollege inPennsylvania, hewent
towork in the rail industry. For almost
20 years heworkedhisway through the
management ranks at Trinity Industries
inDallas, and later FreightCarAmerica
andGATX in theChicago area. In2012
hewas recruited to step into thenewly
createdpositionof chief operationofficer
of EssexRental Corp (ERC). InMarchof
this year hewas promoted topresident
andCEO, replacingRonSchad, founding
president andCEOof ERC.
Whilehewas not a veteranof the
crane industry, the rail business and
crane business sharemanyof the same
customers in such fields as petrochemical
and chemical, power, agriculture and
heavy industry. The two industries have a
lot of synergy, andMatthews’ operations
andmanagement expertisewas deemed
right formakingERC a stronger
competitor in themarkets it serves.
Duringhis first year at the company,
Matthews spent time studying the crane
business, andhe thoroughly assessed
every aspect of the operations of ERC’s
subsidiaries EssexCraneRental Corp.
andCoastCraneCompany.We caught
upwithMatthews in early September to
talk about his newposition andwhat the
future looks like for ERC.
YOU’VE BEEN IN THENEW JOBA FEW
MONTHS,WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE
CHALLENGES IN THE CRANE RENTAL
SECTOR AT THE PRESENT TIME?
I think the largest challenges are related
to government and state funding
of projects. There’s ahugeneed for
infrastructure, roadbuilding andbridges
in this country. I think that’s an area that
>24
Moving
Essex
forward
NicholasMatthews, president and
CEO of Essex Rental Corp., said
the company is changing theway
it does business by focusing on
four initiatives: reshaping its asset
portfolio and repositioning the fleet;
improving utilization; enhancing quality;
and improving customer relationships.
23
OCTOBER 2014
ACT
our customers various rental and sales
offerings to service their needs.We
alsohave a strong service team that can
maintainour own fleet andprovide
service for our customers’ equipment.
Our service team and customers are
supportedby a large stockofOEM
parts.We continue to try to improve the
offerings sowe can tobe full service for
our customers.
WILL YOU CONTINUE TOOPERATE AS ESSEX
CRANE AND COAST CRANE?
Yes.We aredefinitelyworking tohave
one company approachunder theERC
