Full steam ahead at One Stop Hire
17 April 2023
One Stop Hire has made a number of senior management changes reflecting its growth ambitions.
Steve Hitchen has become CEO of the business, with Keiron Power replacing him as MD having previously been Operations Director. Other internal changes include David Chadwick becoming Operations Director and James Brown is Business Director whose remit includes IT and online activities. Darren Smith is Sales & Commercial Director.
“It’s a very smooth transition. Keiron has effectively acted as MD for around a year as I take a more strategic view of the business and its expansion,” Steve told me. “Increasingly my focus will be on people, in terms of recruitment and staff development, as well as networking and promoting the business generally.”
This is hardly surprising considering One Stop Hire’s size. It now operates from 25 locations, including 22 tool hire depots covering north-east and north-west England plus the Midlands, two dedicated training facilities and the head office in Chorley.
“I liken it to running a ship,” said Steve. “The captain doesn’t necessarily drive the vessel but stays on the bridge with his binoculars scanning the horizon for icebergs and looking for good weather or, in our case, new opportunities. So that's what I’ll be doing more of, as well as keeping in close contact with customers, knowing that there is an excellent operations and sales team in place to manage the business on a day-to-day basis.”
One Stop Hire has also been busy – and successful – in its efforts to attract young people into its business. More on that in a future post…
● Read the earlier Q&A interview with Steve Hitchen on the blog here.
