A campaign by Briggs Equipment, the sole distributor of Yale Materials Handling products in Great Britain, has helped a leading builders' merchant improve productivity and reduce damage costs.

Travis Perkins operates nine businesses, including home improvement retailer Wickes, from more than 1,260 outlets across the UK, and operates more than 2,500 trucks. In 2009, Briggs undertook research which found that forklifts were not receiving the proper care and attention needed to increase safety and productivity whilst reducing damage costs. Impressed by Briggs' research, Travis Perkins adopted Briggs' 'We Can Handle It' campaign through its distribution centres.

Briggs presented Travis Perkins with a health & safety check pack which included damage sheets and posters to highlight costs in everyday situations, and daily check charts to encourage a check ethos.

Leigh Edgley, Briggs Equipment's national account manager, says: "To get operators engaged in the campaign Travis Perkins ran a competition to create a slogan for its new internal campaign. From an impressive number of entries, the winning slogan was from Mark Sunnucks from Travis Perkins' Hemel Hempstead branch. His slogan, 'A daily check should be routine, to highlight faults on your machine' has earned him a £500 holiday voucher and Briggs Equipment merchandise."

Since adopting the campaign, Travis Perkins has seen a noticeable difference in the behaviour of its drivers towards their trucks, which are now being treated with more care.

"We consider the 'We Can Handle It' campaign a big success as it has encouraged operators to keep the trucks in better condition and report damages more effectively," comments Graham Bellman, group transport manager, Travis Perkins. Not only has the campaign helped to increase best practice and productivity, it also demonstrates the partnership approach between Briggs and its customers.

Continues Leigh: "Due to the success of the 'We Can Handle It' campaign, we are already talking to Travis Perkins about running the campaign again."