One could easily write a book about the long and interesting histories leading up to what is now RSC Equipment Rental. In a very brief nutshell, for those who don't know, what is now RSC came into being when Atlas Copco acquired Prime Equipment in the 1990s and later purchased Rental Service Corp. They were two separate companies, later were combined into one, with management from both sides working together. Atlas Copco sold it to a private equity firm, which eventually took it public.
But you'd have to go way back to understand the roots of this venerable rental company. RSC grew out of what was once Acme Rents, founded by industry pioneer Bill Grasse, who played a role in the founding of this very magazine 51 years ago. And Prime dates back to the 1960s, to Rent-It/Kenko and Dugan Hill and it later was bought by Grace Corp. and then went through several different ownership groups as Prime.
What relevance all of this history has on what is now RSC I'm not really sure, but what matters most is that now we're looking at a company with some of the most sophisticated systems in this industry, and this month's cover story admittedly only scratches the surface. And while the current management is fairly new to the rental industry and brought in an emphasis on efficiencies honed through years of competing in manufacturing, I also got the feeling, while visiting with CEO Erik Olsson in Scottsdale and visiting RSC's Gilbert, Ariz., branch, that the 60 or 70 years of Acme/RSC and the 35 or 40 years of Grace/Prime all had something to do with contributing to the solid company culture of RSC as it is today.
Olsson himself acknowledges this history, and while he and predecessor Freek Nijdam, both former Atlas Copco executives, had to, in many ways, wipe the slate clean and introduce new ways of doing things, they also learned from the wisdom and experience of rental veterans such as Tom Bennett, who sat in that CEO's seat for so long. It's all part of how the rental industry evolves over time.
I have visited Prime and RSC in the past and always considered them great rental companies, but it is even more impressive to see the way RSC operates today. Its customer service-oriented online systems enable customers to see their accounts, order equipment, pay online and many of the things you would expect from an up-to-date 21st century company. It keeps its equipment serviced according to manufacturers' specifications at near 100-percent currency. It has dramatically lowered the time it takes to deliver equipment to the customer and to pick up equipment offrent, and it has lowered turnaround time in the shop.
Even more impressive were programs I am not at liberty to comment on because they are still in development. What this tells me is that the company culture is far from satisfied that it has everything in order and can sit back and make money. As far as RSC has come in recent years, its vision for where it wants to go in the coming years extends much further. To me, that's the sign of a company that will accomplish great things.
It's unfortunate that Wall Street doesn't recognize a jewel in its midst, but that's the fickle nature of that particular beast that also tends to panic during the current crisis. While economists debate whether our economy is headed towards recession, is already in one, or is simply in a cooling-off mode, some seem intent on hysteria. Of course that thinking can change next week, and certainly can change between the time I write this and the time it gets printed and into your hands.
But what isn't likely to change is the intelligent, thoughtful, insightful way RSC does business, just as owners and managers of thousands of other rental companies need to simply concentrate on what they can control, and that's the efficiency with which they do business. You can't control what the investors on Wall Street think — much less understand it. You can't control the housing slowdown or the credit crunch or whether or not we're headed towards a recession, or whether or not we talk ourselves into one. What you can control is how you do business and how you serve your customers.
A recent survey RER did with its readers shows that most of you still expect solid business conditions in 2008, albeit at a slower rate of growth than during the boom of the past few years. Customers are busy, there is still demand for rental equipment and the excellent services only you can provide. And the one thing you can control is continuous improvement of those services.
