100th Eagle in the fleet
April 22, 2020
GLASGOW-based Eagle Plant Hire has taken delivery of the firm’s 100th Kubota mini-excavator from Molson Young Plant Sales.
The milestone purchase highlights the growth Eagle has experienced since it was founded in 2005. Led by MD Colin Inglis, Eagle last year opened a new depot in Edinburgh to provide a local base for customers on the east coast to access their fleet, which ranges from eight-tonne excavators and six-tonne dumpers through to rollers and small tools.
Colin said the new Edinburgh depot is already “performing well” and has been boosted by several new additions to the team including commercial director John Cummings, who was previously MD of Speedy in Scotland. He has been joined by two former Speedy colleagues, Douglas Smeaton and Iain MacDonald, as sales directors. John’s son Leigh, another ex-Speedy senior employee, has been recruited as operations director.
Despite a fire destroying a large part of Eagle’s Glasgow HQ in May last year, the company has continued to grow.
Colin said, “After the fire, the team were fantastic. Everyone pulled together and did what was needed to do to get us up and running again. Although it wasn’t easy, I do believe that we have come out of it stronger. We are even looking at expanding again within the near future, with the addition of an additional depot in the central belt as well as investigating the potential of a new depot across the border in northern England to meet our customers’ demands.”
The latest addition to the Eagle fleet is a Kubota KX027-4, described as “arguably the most popular three-tonne category excavator on the market today”.
Weighing 2,590Kg, the machine is said to be a “perfect fit” for many with the UK’s current towing laws, while the four-cylinder Kubota diesel engine delivers 175Kw of power output. Additional features include hydraulic hoses, which are routed inside the boom structure to reduce risk of damage.
John Monaghan, director of plant at Eagle said, “The market-leading Kubotas have been a reliable part of our extensive hire fleet for many years. It is important for us that customers like the machines, and we get no complaints with these Kubotas. We have built our business on focusing on our customers – we deliver a quality bit of kit that does the job they need it to, when they need it to. To do that, we need the same level of support from our suppliers and I have always had great service by the team at Molson Young Plant Sales.”
Andy Wilson, Molson Young Plant Sales manager added, “We have worked hard to build a strong relationship with Colin, John and all the great team at Eagle Plant Hire so that they know they can count on us to deliver. This 100th Kubota is a testament to that hard work, without mentioning the range of Bomag rollers and Thwaites Dumpers we have also supplied.”
Written by Gary Moug for Project Plant magazine.
