Customer: Caterpillar

Location: Desford, Leicestershire

Requirement: Caterpillar is the world's leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines and industrial gas turbines. When expansion at the firm's Leicestershire plant meant that staff in the Materials Planning and Buying department had to be re-housed, the company set out to find a quick way to create the high-quality office space required.

The new offices needed to be completely fitted out with all the furniture and fixtures required by the relocating staff. So, as well as a new building, Caterpillar needed to find a reliable supplier of office furniture and equipment, so that staff could move straight in to a fully functional workplace.

Solution: Having chosen Portakabin to provide its new office accommodation, the Caterpillar project team was delighted to learn that Portakabin also offered an extensive range of office furniture for hire. It meant the company was able to hire a complete working environment from a single supplier.

Portakabin supplied a range of L-shaped workstations, operator chairs, cable baskets, desk-mounted screens, cupboards, round tables and meeting tables. All of this was installed by Portakabin staff in the new office building, located a short distance from the main Caterpillar offices.

The 60 staff from Materials Planning and Buying moved their whole operation into the new Portakabin workplace. The complete office facilities were initially hired for a nine-month period, but the contract has since been extended and the new offices are likely to form a long-term solution for Caterpillar's expanding business.

"One of the key factors in our decision to hire the furniture from Portakabin was the one-stop-shop they could provide for both the building and all our interior requirements. It meant we had just one point of contact to deal with for our entire office set-up. Our staff were initially concerned because their working areas were to be reduced. However, Portakabin were very helpful, and brought in samples of the proposed new furniture to make sure we were happy with the quality and size of equipment we were getting.

"The relationship with Portakabin has gone very well. They have been responsive and reliable, and ensured we ended up with just the right furniture for our needs."

Rob Lam, Project Coordinator, Caterpillar