Jürgen Küspert, Managing Director, BBI: “It is our duty to support rental companies to become more sustainable’’

The European Green Deal is the hot topic of the moment in the machinery world, and rental industry makes no exception. ERA Convention 2022 in Riga that took place in June was the perfect opportunity for us to ask Jürgen Küspert, Managing Director, BBI to share his thoughts on the new EU regulations and on the challenges that he is already dealing with regarding the implementation.

Florentina Chiriță: How prepared do you think the European rental industry is to implement the EU Green Deal regulations by 2030?

Advertisement

Jürgen Küspert: 2030 is 8 years away, but time is running very fast. Major rental companies have already started to prepare for the Green Deal, but at the moment not all of the medium size and smaller ones have. Those who have not started yet must do so as soon as possible. It is our job as an association to inform them what needs to be done and to create more awareness about this process. It is our duty to support the companies to become more sustainable.

Florentina Chiriță: How do you help the members of your association with the implementation of the Green Deal?

Jürgen Küspert: We inform them about the EU regulations and the national regulations. We have recently organized an online conference on the topic of sustainability that showed us how complicated things can be for small and medium sized rental companies in the industry. In order to support them, we will create a working group that will allow us to find for them the best practices for achieving sustainability.

Everyone is having a hard time acknowledging the Green Deal regulations – which is actually the easiest part of the process. The hard part will be the hard work that rental companies need to do daily, for many years. The goal is clear and correct, but right now the regulations are not clear enough. We know where we have to go to, but we also need to take the right steps to reach our goals, as there is no alternative. 

This is not the ideal moment for our industry. We have a lot of problems in the supply chain, the prices are going up, etc. It's impossible for dealer companies to plan something, as they do not know when they will get their machines. They do not know what prices the machines will have and how to handle this problem. We are in a very delicate position as an association - we must tell the companies “We know that you have problems with your supply chain, financial problems, and difficulties to find employees, but we have to ask you to become sustainable as soon as possible.”

Florentina Chiriță: What do you think the biggest challenge would be in this long process for the European contractors? How do you think the Green Deal regulations will transform the European rental industry in the long run?

Jürgen Küspert: Financing rental machines in the future will be a big challenge for the entire market, for sure. This is actually an important topic of our next rental conference that we will organize in September this year - “How to finance rental models in the future”. I cannot predict how the Green Deal will change the industry, but it could be an advantage for major companies.

Florentina Chiriță: The implementation of the EU Green Deal might encourage contractors to buy less equipment and rent more, and this will be a great benefit for the rental industry. What is our opinion on this theory?

Jürgen Küspert: First of all, we have to make the difference between the big contractors and the small ones.  The construction scene in Germany has a total of 80.000 companies, from which more than 79.100 are the small ones with 5-20 employees maximum and different mindsets than those of the big companies. The big construction companies will rent more, but I am not sure that the same thing will happen with the smaller ones – they will continue to buy new equipment in the future as well. We will see changes in the structure of the construction industry maybe forced by the Green Deal. Sometimes, rental companies make the mistake of thinking out of the industry, but we really need to see things from our customers’ point of view. At the end of the day the rental companies have to not only take a look at the things that might be possible but also consider the demands of their customers. So basically, the question is: What is needed and what does the customer want?

Florentina Chiriță: Do you think that the current political conflict in Ukraine will affect the implementation of this process?

Jürgen Küspert: Absolutely. One reason why it will affect dramatically is that we need money for everything. The industry is also facing a human resources crisis, thousands of employees are needed at the moment, everyone is searching for skilled people. We need to be realistic: we have ideas and plans, but we will have lots of problems with finding the resources to fulfill our business plans: drivers, people on the construction sites, mechanics, engines, raw materials.

Florentina Chiriță: How are BBI’s members dealing with the lack of components/equipment (shortage of supplies in general)?

Jürgen Küspert: The rental industry has the best chances in the crisis. We will face a crisis in the construction industry in the second half of 2022 because now we are dealing with shortages and cancellations of projects. Customers still want to make things happen, they need machines, and they want to rent them, which is good for the industry. Most of the small and medium sized rental companies in Germany are very well organized, they have structure, and I am very optimistic that they will handle this situation very well. There is a strong competition in Germany, so they are forced to stay organized and competitive.

Florentina Chiriță: How do you think the European rental industry will look like in 2 years from now?

Jürgen Küspert: The European rental industry – the German one in particular – will be stronger after the crisis. We will absolutely overcome this situation. Digitalization will help us handle our activities better. Our association is currently running a project called “Best Practice Digitalization” where small and medium-size companies present their ideas and discuss solutions. Secondly – I see so many young people joining the industry, we have a group of entrepreneurs in their 20’s and 30’s, and I am very optimistic that in 2 years from now, they will become even greater professionals. The young, educated, and very skilled professionals are the ones that make this industry so great.