Porter Press Extra: Fast & Evans Company

By: Cameron Officer, Photography by: Cameron Officer, Video by: Cameron Officer

Date: 30.05.2017

Fast Group’s latest addition to their Hyundai fleet—the R290LC-9 Hyundai R290LC-9 excavator

Fast & Evans owner/manager, Jess Evans Hyundai R290LC-9 excavator

Fast Group’s latest addition to their Hyundai fleet—the R290LC-9

Fast & Evans owner/manager, Jess Evans

Deals on Wheels checks out the latest Hyundai R290LC-9 excavator purchased by the Fast & Evans company

To help with the production goals, Fast Group has recently purchased another big yellow and black machine from Porter Equipment—a new Hyundai R290LC-9 excavator. It’s safe to say these guys know their Hyundais, with more than 10 of them in the fleet. Operations manager, Graeme Benge, tells me that the way Porter Equipment ensures all its front-line machinery going into the tough forest environment ticks every possible health and safety box, is a big bonus for Fast Group.

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"As a company, we have really pushed ahead with our internal health and safety policies. We’ve gained a reputation in the industry for having excellent processes and we’re really proud of that," Graeme says.

"Changing the level of safety our guys in the field work to has been a big priority. It’s something that we’ve committed to as a company, but to have a supplier such as Porter Equipment back us all the way is hugely beneficial, too. To that end, we know that when we order a new machine, it will arrive fit-for-purpose for the forest."

Porter Equipment has a long-standing partnership with New Zealand engineering firm PFS—the ‘go-to’ forest guarding supplier for its Hyundai equipment. Completely scalable to suit a variety of differently-sized machines and finished to an officially accredited standard, PFS’ guarding packages build on the already-robust integrated framing inside every Hyundai excavator cab, adding further strength to the robust reinforced panels, anti-slip materials, and other standard safety equipment.

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At the coalface, Fast & Evans manager/owner Jess Evans is a man of few words (his summation of the Log Max processing head back in the day amounted to: "Yep, it’s pretty good."). But actions probably speak louder than words anyway. The fact he is reinvesting in more Hyundai equipment speaks volumes.

"They’re bloody good machines. Our guys like them and they do the hours for us, which is what counts when you get down to it," he says. Graeme says that Fast Group prides itself on a revolving machine renewal programme, designed to bring the entire fleet up to scratch.

"The nature of our business is that machines get a tough time of it. We work in a tough environment, but we need our gear to work consistently regardless of that. That’s why Fast Group’s owners have been forthright in updating our heavy equipment when required.

"The newer the gear, the better the result. And also, with newer gear, the better the distributor backup," Graeme says. "We trust both Porter Equipment and the product they’re backing to give us the best possible machinery for field work, and that’s why, as a company, we’re repeat customers of theirs. And we’ll continue to be so for the foreseeable future, too."