Adjusting core pillars of any given business for the better is something the team at Auto Transform knows more than a little something about.
So, when Sime Darby Motor Group decided one of its recent acquisitions – Hyster NZ – needed significant changes to improve the brand’s standing in Australasia and specifically, the New Zealand market, Auto Transform was called in to help.  
Auto Transform has over 30 years’ experience improving business fleets, drawing on a wealth of expertise from a team sharing a culture of professional enthusiasm and customer commitment.
In recent times, Auto Transform has undergone something of a self-transformation, which has allowed the company to demonstrate its own core pillars of Safe, Modular, Advanced, Reliable and Transformative improvement.
It was this demonstration, combined with a historical working relationship which saw Auto Transform selected by Sime Darby to ‘SMART-en’ the Hyster mobile technician fleet.
“Our technicians are the true face of our business,” explains Hyster general manager Scott Kelsey. “They are the people we rely on to connect with and stay in touch with our customers.
“It is in our best interests to ensure their vehicles are set up to perform in such a way that the techs can carry out their roles safely, effectively and efficiently.”
The Hyster fleet is extensive, with 23 Volkswagen Crafter vans supplied through Continental Car Services, all running the two-litre Euro 6-compliant engines for reduced emissions and greater fuel efficiency and sporting a raft of safety features driver fatigue warning, blind spot sensor, 360° all-round parking sensors, hill start and side wind assist, ensuring Hyster is doing the right thing by its technicians.    
But it’s a rare van that is completely fit-for-purpose right off the shelf, and this is where Auto Transform was the obvious choice when it came to selecting a fit-out partner.  
“We have a long-standing OEM approval agreement with Volkswagen AG,” says general manager of Auto Transform Daniel Stanners, “which has enabled us to go a few steps further than other suppliers when it comes to transforming Volkswagen vehicles.
“The Hyster fleet didn’t require major chassis work – which we could have done – and as a result, the simplified fit out to get the Crafters transformed to Hyster’s requirements went a good deal faster.”
Daniel is being more than a little humble. Auto Transform’s production line fit out practices represent OEM like efficiencies, allowing greater throughput of volume vehicle fleets.
At each point in the process, there is a quality control measure in place before each vehicle advances down the line, with a final sign-off at the end of the process.
“Prior to this,” explains Daniel, “we would have worked with the client to make sure their requirements were met. This may have included computer aided design modelling or even physical prototype ‘show and tell’ to demonstrate how the various fit out elements come together before we start the full transformation process.”
And the results have been exactly what Hyster and the Sime Darby were looking for: vans which are properly fit-for-purpose, safe, fuel efficient and environmentally-considerate and – perhaps most critically – have met with the approval of the technicians who use them, day in and day out.