FleetBusiness.com

<SCRIPT language='JavaScript1.1' SRC="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/N3466.158265.FLEETBUSINESS/B5740913.3;abr=!ie;sz=728x90;ord=[timestamp]?"> </SCRIPT> <NOSCRIPT> <A HREF="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/N3466.158265.FLEETBUSINESS/B5740913.3;abr=!ie4;abr=!ie5;sz=728x90;ord=[timestamp]?"> <IMG SRC="http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/N3466.158265.FLEETBUSINESS/B5740913.3;abr=!ie4;abr=!ie5;sz=728x90;ord=[timestamp]?" BORDER=0 WIDTH=728 HEIGHT=90 ALT="Advertisement"></A> </NOSCRIPT>

HOME \| ABOUT US \| FOR ADVERTISERS \| SUBSCRIPTIONS \| JOB BOARD \| INDUSTRY LINKS NEW PRODUCTS \| REPORTS \| GREEN NEWS \| REMARKETING \| DIGITAL EDITIONS CONTACT US \| EVENTS CALENDAR \| 2012 FLEET GUIDES \| 2012 FLEET INCENTIVES \| ELECTRIC COMPANY
FOLLOW US ON:
DEPARTMENTS Features News Names & Places Events Best Practices First Drives Rearview Mirror
ISSUES Fact Book 2012 April / May 2012 December 2011 / January 2012	Feature Article May 2, 2011 MORE THAN A NUMBER: JIM PATTISON LEASE CELEBRATES 50 YEARS IN FLEET Fifty years ago, Jim Pattison bet on the burgeoning fleet business in Canada. As a result, Jim Pattison has grown with and helped to ensure the growth and effectiveness of fleets across the country offering a timely range of management programs and products to fleet operators. CAF talks to Jim Pattison about that process. Jim Pattison with a 1930s Austin Seven. CAF: What, in your view, are the main reasons for Jim Pattison’s success over the past 50 years? JP: The success of our company is due in large part to our unwavering focus on our customers business and their unique fleet needs. We empower our people with the flexibility to make real-time decisions that quickly solve problems, and keep our customers’ fleets on the road. CAF: In 1961, Fleet and Commercial leasing in Canada was in it’s somewhat “awkward” adolescence. What were a few of the primary motivators back then that got Jim Pattison to enter what has become today’s much more sophisticated “fleet management” business? JP: The primary motivator to offer leasing solutions 50 years ago was our focus on customer needs. At the time, we were offering to solve an immediate need for financing which remains in today’s marketplace. Our focus remains squarely on customer needs, and we have anticipated and expanded our solutions over the years to accommodate the ever-growing technical needs of our customers. CAF: Over the past 50 years Jim Pattison Lease established offices in seven major centres in Canada to meet an expanding market. What region(s) or business activities do you expect will produce greatest growth in the next 50? JP: The growth we have enjoyed and forecast is not surprisingly, economically based. Over the last year, as conditions improved we have seen tremendous growth in the Prairies as our oil and commodity related customers expanded fleets. British Columbia has enjoyed significant real estate appreciation so customers in related lines of business, HVAC, plumbing, electrical haven’t slowed at all. However, we see significant growth taking place in central and eastern Canada. As the economy continues to pick up there will be tremendous opportunity in telecommunications, healthcare, financial services and high tech manufacturing. Our target market is small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) that support these lines of industry. It’s a great aspect of this business, such diversity in the customer base in a country with such fantastic regional opportunities. CAF: In anticipation of even more ever rapidly applied technologies to managing individual fleets, GPS, more computer controlled engines, transmissions, more precise risk control and monitoring, etc., what would you forecast as a next major shift in vehicle management? JP: We believe that there will continue to be innovations around delivery of information and online tools to help manage fleets. These innovations will help companies manage and control costs, risks, maintenance, administrative functions, and down time. Our customers have found that they can rely on our tools and functional support in all of these areas.

May 2, 2011
MORE THAN A NUMBER: JIM PATTISON LEASE CELEBRATES 50 YEARS IN FLEET

Fifty years ago, Jim Pattison bet on the burgeoning fleet business in Canada. As a result, Jim Pattison has grown with and helped to ensure the growth and effectiveness of fleets across the country offering a timely range of management programs and products to fleet operators. CAF talks to Jim Pattison about that process.

Jim Pattison with a 1930s Austin Seven.

CAF: What, in your view, are the main reasons for Jim Pattison’s success over the past 50 years?

JP: The success of our company is due in large part to our unwavering focus on our customers business and their unique fleet needs. We empower our people with the flexibility to make real-time decisions that quickly solve problems, and keep our customers’ fleets on the road.

CAF: In 1961, Fleet and Commercial leasing in Canada was in it’s somewhat “awkward” adolescence. What were a few of the primary motivators back then that got Jim Pattison to enter what has become today’s much more sophisticated “fleet management” business?

JP: The primary motivator to offer leasing solutions 50 years ago was our focus on customer needs. At the time, we were offering to solve an immediate need for financing which remains in today’s marketplace. Our focus remains squarely on customer needs, and we have anticipated and expanded our solutions over the years to accommodate the ever-growing technical needs of our customers.

CAF: Over the past 50 years Jim Pattison Lease established offices in seven major centres in Canada to meet an expanding market. What region(s) or business activities do you expect will produce greatest growth in the next 50?

JP: The growth we have enjoyed and forecast is not surprisingly, economically based. Over the last year, as conditions improved we have seen tremendous growth in the Prairies as our oil and commodity related customers expanded fleets. British Columbia has enjoyed significant real estate appreciation so customers in related lines of business, HVAC, plumbing, electrical haven’t slowed at all. However, we see significant growth taking place in central and eastern Canada. As the economy continues to pick up there will be tremendous opportunity in telecommunications, healthcare, financial services and high tech manufacturing. Our target market is small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) that support these lines of industry.

It’s a great aspect of this business, such diversity in the customer base in a country with such fantastic regional opportunities.

CAF: In anticipation of even more ever rapidly applied technologies to managing individual fleets, GPS, more computer controlled engines, transmissions, more precise risk control and monitoring, etc., what would you forecast as a next major shift in vehicle management?

JP: We believe that there will continue to be innovations around delivery of information and online tools to help manage fleets. These innovations will help companies manage and control costs, risks, maintenance, administrative functions, and down time. Our customers have found that they can rely on our tools and functional support in all of these areas.