Corrimal wins Kennards Hire National Branch of the Year 2012

For the second straight year, the team at Kennards Hire Corrimal (Branch Manager Nathan Venables, David Thomson, David Smith and Jason Tierney) have out-performed more than 130 other outlets in the group to win the National Branch of the Year award for operational and service excellence.

Kennards Hire’s North Perth branch achieved second place, Mittagong branch finished third and Belconnen was fourth when the winners were announced at the company’s national awards night last Thursday night. (August 23).

The award results are calculated from a series of audits and surveys throughout the year of Kennards’ branches, which are in every state and territory. Scores are given in areas such as equipment reliability, customer service, work safety and the neatness and cleanliness of hire centres.

Kennards Hire CEO Allen Besseling said the pursuit of quality in all areas of operations was the main reason for the success of the family-owned company, which is in its 64th year.

“There is fierce competition among the branches to win the awards, and for the Corrimal team to go back-to-back is a fantastic achievement,” he said.

“It’s even more outstanding because, after winning last year, two of the team were promoted to positions in other branches, and new people came in.

“Nathan’s ability to maintain such high standards while developing his team to enhance their career opportunities makes him one of our best young managers.”

Nathan Venables said it was “massive” winning the top award for the second year in a row, but it wasn’t something he set out to do.

“I just believe in turning up day in and day out and doing the job right, because there are a lot of customers who depend on us to get their jobs done,” he said.

Unsure what he wanted to do when he entered the hire industry as a serviceman-driver, Nathan worked his way up to be in line for promotion to area manager.

“I love the job, and it’s a great company to work for,” he said.

Area manager Steve MacDonald said the Illawarra network of branches, which also included Oak Flats (achieving seventh place nationally) and Unanderra, worked as a team, and were always helping each other out to ensure customers received the best possible service.