Andar Engineering is a leading South Canterbury engineering company specialising in general engineering, plant maintenance, fabrication, sheet metal work and precision machining. With a move to a new workshop and retail site they had a range of surplus machines that needed selling and removal from their former premises within a short period of time.
The Challenge
Andar had a wide range of equipment including an Ecoca CNC Teach Lathe, Pinnacle Vertical Machining Centre, Gorinati 3.5m Lathe, Large Profile Cutter, Hydraulic Finger Folder, DYE 12mm Guillotine, TOS Lathe, Stanko Milling Machines, Punch and Shears, Welder Generators, Welders, Plate Rolls, workbenches and a large quantity of unused steel in sizes they were unlikely to use. Being a large and expensive premises, time was an issue with minimising the ongoing rental cost a priority.
The Process
Skylarc cleaned machinery where possible to present the assets to the highest standard. All machinery was described, photographed and tested to maximise buyer confidence and financial return as a result. Video footage of high value machinery was recorded where possible. The auction consisted of 356 lots with a setup time of two half weeks. The auction ran online for ten days. Buyer collections ran for two weeks and operated by a strict appointment schedule to ensure a controlled number of people onsite for security and health and safety.
Marketing
A comprehensive plan to sell all assets via an online Trade Me event was produced backed by a detailed marketing plan incorporating email outs to paid engineering mailing lists, Skylarc’s own and industry mailing lists and a targeted Facebook campaign. A landing page featuring information about the auction was published in all marketing and this linked onto the auction once it was listed on Trade Me.
The Result
The auction consisted of 356 lots ranging from individual hand tools to a very large line borer weighing in excess of 12 tons. Removal was controlled and all assets were removed from the building in a timely manner. Over 100,000 people saw the online marketing and we had over 11,000 visits to the auction landing page during the auction period. Total turnover was ahead of Skylarc’s own internal estimates and machines were shipped throughout New Zealand including a Ecoca CNC lathe transported to the North Island, showing that comprehensive freight options increase the return to the vendor by enabling buyers who couldn’t otherwise organise transport to bid.