Why are we so excited about Mule?
One of the best things you can do for your company or business is to create a web-site. Even if your web-site never went live, the process of identifying and documenting what your business does, causes you to question everything about your business;
How do you want people to view you and your brand?
Where do you want the business to be in 5 years?
How are you going to get there?
Surprisingly this blog isn’t about web-sites, but it’s about the by-product of us reviewing our web-site (which is still in the early stages of development), and that is ‘What does Mule Internation offer?’.
That was the biggest question that arose from our brain storming. It’s not that we don’t know what we can offer, or what our skills are, or what the range of products will be that will blossom from our inventive core. The challenge is how to illustrate what we do, in a succinct manner, so we can best connect with the clients that have a need for the things that we offer.
Sounds simple really. So……?
When prompted by our web designer to come up with the core benefits that we offer, we instantly identified two key words. ‘Efficiency’ and ‘Security’. (Yawn). Though this is true, unfortunately this tells you diddly squat about our product, services or unique selling points and certainly doesn’t do much to capture the imagination.
When Dyson (deliberate name drop) sell a vacuum cleaner, they don’t need to tell you about all the things you can do with it, because we already know. You can pick up dust, small children’s toys that you can’t be bothered to pick up, de-flea the cat etc. No matter which brand of vacuum you buy, the potential uses are pretty much the same, so Dyson focus their marketing campaign on what makes their unit better, lighter, brighter, easier etc etc.
Similarly when Twyfords sell a bidet…… you get the picture.
So why is a Mule Tray so different? It’s just a ‘removable van drawer’, right? Well, nope. What I love about our core product is that it can be used in so many different ways, in so many different market sectors, that we have only scratched the surface in terms of how it could be used. The patented framework of our system lends itself to accept all manner of creative payloads. Allow me to give you a few examples:
Example 1
A telecoms maintenance company want to repair an underground cable. The fault has already been identified, and the cable exposed, but it is in a water logged ditch. Knowing this in advance, the service team load a Mule project board into the back of the van in about 2 minutes. The project board has been designed with the help of Mule engineers, to house a pre-connected generator and pump set, with hose storage built in. The van pulls up, the drawer is pulled out, a screen lifted to separate the tray from the back of the van, and the pump-set is started. Back at base the quick switching project board can be unloaded in 2 minutes and the van returned to normal duties.
Example 2
A hydraulic equipment company needs to deliver a hydraulic motor and pump to a site. On reaching site they would ordinarily have to wait for a fork-lift driver to come and unload the motor and pump set, which could be a 1 hour wait (esp. at their lunch time!) With the Mule jib option, the load can be safely unloaded from a tray to a pallet truck by a lone engineer. Alternatively, the same could be achieved with a patented Mule tail-lift style tray, the pump can be safely unloaded by one engineer. Once back at the depot, the tail-lift style tray can be removed from the Mule frame, and the van re-loaded with its usual payload.
Example 3
A welder fabricator who normally uses his van to deliver factory made components, is asked to visit a site and carry out some welding work. The welder simply loads a project board into the Mule frame in the back of the van, which houses either argon cylinders, or oxy-acetylene tanks, that are pre-strapped down. The welding rig, torches, tools and consumables are contained on the same board, ready to go. A generator set could be incorporated into the same tray if an electrical supply were not available at the point of use.
Service engineers, Market traders, Police marksmen, DIY enthusiasts, White goods traders and Farmers to name but a few, could all benefit from the versatility of the Mule tray system, and take advantage of our commitment to providing unique quality engineered solutions to the humble van users of the world.
The great thing is, fitting a Mule system to your van doesn’t limit the versatility of it, it greatly enhances it! If you can think of novel ways that the Mule system could be utilised, do let us know. We will be creating a section of the web-site for clever application ideas, and if we post your idea we’ll make sure you get a mention. NB Our product is of no use whatsoever to traffic wardens or clamping units. Of this I am particularly proud.