We had the pleasure of speaking with Rhiannon Crees-Moore, Marketing & Business Development Director at Kaymac Marine & Civil Engineering, who rely on WG Davies to source, maintain and repair vehicles.

Kaymac is a specialist Marine and Civil Engineering Contractor based in Swansea and with satellite offices in Bristol and Kent. The proudly family-owned business has been nurtured by Rhiannon’s father Gareth into one of the largest specialist commercial Diving and Marine Civil engineering contractors in the UK with the clients including the rail industry, water utilities, marine ports and harbours and environmental agencies.

Rhiannon has been with the business for seven years now after graduating from Leeds Metropolitan and then cutting her teeth in the manufacturing industry. She told us “I wanted to get some experience before joining Kaymac, that was something my father encouraged me to do, he wanted me to think about what I really wanted. Happily, when he said that he was looking to take a step back and asked me if I would consider a role within the business, I felt ready for the challenge.” And it was a challenge, Rhiannon explained, “It was tough in the beginning, the business is very specialised and it took me a while to get a feel for it and to understand where we could expand.”

She spoke with passion about the number and quality of the people who work there, which has grown from 34 people to just over 50 working full time since she has been with the company. “People have always been at the heart of the business and we have grown steadily, bringing key people along with us so that we’ve got a brilliant team now. We're taking on graduates and apprentices every year and the people we've got now are really good and highly motivated.”

Kaymac is in the enviable position of not struggling for staff because they are the only company in the UK to run a fully funded commercial diving apprenticeship scheme, with a guaranteed job on completion. Many of their staff have been with them for decades, an example of that is their very first apprentice, Alan Byrne, who started in 1998 aged just 17. Today, 22 years on, Alan is still working for Kaymac as the Dive Superintendent.

The very specialist nature of the business, along with a solid reputation, has kept Kaymac busy despite the challenging environment. “It's still a competitive industry but we've been around for a while”. Rhiannon went on to explain, “We might not be the biggest but we know that if we do it right the first time, our customers will come back to us – our reputation is critical – and we have an excellent safety record.”

With an eye on growing steadily and sustainably, Kaymac choose suppliers who share their values and that is where the fit with WG Davies is so perfect. “WG Davies go above and beyond for us, it's a very personal service, we don't feel like a customer, it is more like we partner with them.”

Kaymac run almost 20 vehicles including vans, tippers, excavators and dumper trucks. “We've got our own workshop here but if we can't fix something, or if it’s under warranty it goes to WG Davies and from day one they have never let us down. They always want to help us and we are really impressed with them”. Rhiannon judges the service they receive by the standards they set for themselves, “Great customer service is based on excellent communication, as well as being honest and transparent. That is what we get from WG Davies, it is the way we operate, just doing what we say we will do and doing it right first time.”

It seems the MAN TGE van is working well for them too, “Over the last few years we have found our existing fleet more difficult to repair and more problematic, so we decided to try some different vehicles. The MAN TGE has been absolutely brilliant; it is a high quality vehicle that is very robust and much easier to maintain and fix than our other vans. On top of that the staff who drive them tell us they are the best.”

Clearly there is a great cultural fit between Kaymac and WG Davies, both are family businesses founded on a desire to deliver excellent customer service and with a deep understanding of the value of the people who work there. It was a pleasure getting to know them a little better and we will enjoy working alongside them as they undoubtedly continue to expand and grow.