Elga Process Water, a UK water treatment equipment supplier, says it has been listening to customers and found that they've been asking for a new style rental service
Elga Process Water's national service director, John Pethers, asked customers whether, given the option, they would prefer to buy or rent their water treatment system.
"A surprising number said they'd prefer to rent," says Pethers, "so we developed this scheme in association with one of our corporate banks".
All-in-Pack is a very simple idea.
The customer simply pays a fixed quarterly payment by direct debit and Elga Process Water provides the water treatment plant and services specified, just as they would if the customer had purchased the plant outright.
"It works in exactly the same way whether the customer wants a single piece of equipment like, say, a Purelab Ultra or a complete pharmaceutical water system" says Pethers.
"In either case we work with the customer to decide the right technical solution and level of service cover, then we supply, deliver, commission and service the equipment".
The right technical solution depends on the raw water quality and the required treated water quality and quantity.
Sometimes reverse osmosis presents the optimum solution, sometimes ion exchange.
"Usually a scheme with higher capital cost gives lower operating costs," says Pethers, "but it's surprising how often the budget dictates that the customer buys the lowest capital cost plant and has to live with operating costs that are higher than they need to be".
All-in-Pack gives Elga Process Water's customers the ability to adopt the right technical solution without capital budget constraints, and with the security of knowing that the plant will be properly maintained by a fully trained technician.
From the finance director's point of view, All-in-Pack means off balance sheet financing, unchanged debt gearing and a reduced tax burden.
In addition budgeting and cash flow management are made simpler because a single fixed quarterly payment covers everything, which frees capital for investment in the customer's core business.
For the supply chain manager, there is only a single supplier to manage and, because it's a long term contract, there is no need for annual re-negotiation.
All-in-Pack has been designed to be flexible.
The customer can upgrade the plant or service level at any time, and the long term agreement provides access to Elga Process Water's unrivalled technical and breakdown support.