Being regarded by customers as more than just a van conversion firm is at the heart of Bri-Stor Systems’ purpose, working in partnership with many of the UK’s leading fleets to deliver vehicles that optimise innovation while maximising fleet efficiency.  Jack Draper, Bri-Stor Systems’ sales manager and Tony Murphy, Murphy Plant fleet manager, discuss how the close collaboration between these two firms is bringing tangible benefits to vehicle operatives within the Murphy Group.

Tony Murphy explains how the relationship began: “We’ve got some big ambitions to improve our fleet performance so towards the back end of 2020 we began the search for a fleet conversion firm that truly grasped our priorities as a business.  I know Bri-Stor Systems has been in the fleet conversion business for a long time so I was keen to meet them.  What stood out to me in the first instance is the scale of the operation and the in-house efficiencies of having manufacturing, production and assembly on one site. Given the impact of COVID on supply chain we saw this as an immediate advantage.  That’s not to say others can’t achieve the same outcomes, but as two family businesses, with shared values, we felt an immediate synergy with Jack and the Bri-Stor Systems’ team.  While the vehicle conversion is the critical element of the partnership, there are very clear and immediate benefits in the use of a shared customer portal, enabling us to access and download information about every single vehicle that passes through Bri-Stor Systems.  Having timely and immediate access to diagrams and vehicle data enables us to access vehicle information in real-time and significantly improves the efficiency in the relationship.”

Fast-forward nine months and the collaboration between Bri-Stor Systems and Murphy Plant is proving to be a successful partnership as Tony continues: “The fleet market and the requirement for fleets to adapt to the carbon agenda is a big opportunity for us, with over a thousand vehicles in our fleet we need to be able to work closely with our vehicle conversion partner to be one step ahead in terms of integrating new technologies and kit innovation into our vehicles.  We’re not the experts, but we do know that Bri-Stor Systems can lead us towards innovations that can improve our efficiency today but with the expertise to guide us towards a more sustainable fleet future.  Our Solar Welfare vehicle is a fantastic illustration of this capability.  By integrating the Clayton Power System, the vehicle becomes entirely self-sufficient in the supply of its own power.  To put that into context, the vehicle’s power system has a 3000-cycle lifespan, in lay man’s terms that means the vehicle can charge from zero to one hundred per cent, 3000 times before any battery degradation is experienced – incredibly powerful technology.  This level of power would enable the vehicle to be jump started using its own power!   Ultimately, our chief goal is to hand over a vehicle to one of our team that is beyond ‘fit for purpose’, it needs to be absolutely first-class.”

With a broad range of Murphy Plant vehicles passing through Bri-Stor Systems’ Staffordshire site, Jack is keen to expand on the importance of innovation in the partnership: “From the get-go Tony was keen to look at our welfare vehicle capability and understand how we can integrate that specialist expertise into the Murphy Plant fleet.   As a specialist sector this is a great opportunity for us to really demonstrate our expertise.  With a team solely dedicated to R&D and innovation, developing bespoke vehicle solutions is right in our wheel-house and as a consequence we have been able to work closely with Tony to develop a bespoke welfare vehicle that is entirely designed to meet the unique needs of Murphy Plant.”

Reflecting on the wider objectives of the Murphy Plant business, Tony concludes with these thoughts: “The people in Murphy Group are our absolute priority so it’s important that we equip our team with the right vehicle for the right job – that’s job one.  The bigger piece is about optimising our fleet to meet the net zero carbon mission and I am confident that our partnership with Bri-Stor Systems will enable us to explore a range of vehicle adaptations that will allow us to play our part in that important target.”