An Innovative Partnership

Sometimes an innovative idea makes so much sense that you wonder why it’s not standard. That’s how we feel about the Foundry Partners / Equipment Share partnership.  We have an Equipment Share lot on-site that supplies most of the tools and equipment that we need to build The Lilly Medicine Foundry. It’s the largest on-site Equipment Share Lot in the Midwest and is one of only a few examples of this unique partnership across the nation.  

Equipment Share provides our workers with the opportunity to buy or rent protective gear, tools, and equipment. They have mechanics onsite to maintain the equipment, and they provide a fueling station at a fixed price for unleaded and diesel fuel. They anticipate our needs to make sure we have the equipment we need for the right phase of the build. If you look at the Equipment Share lot right now, you will see earth moving equipment and snowplows. As the seasons and our operations change, so will the equipment within the lot.  

Having the equipment, tools, fuel, and maintenance available on-site saves time and money. On a typical site, a superintendent would order the equipment and wait for it to be delivered. They would pay a freight charge and rent the equipment for the entire day. On our site, there is no waiting or freight charge, and we only pay rental fees for the time the equipment is off the lot. Furthermore, with the tool shed on campus, thousands of workers don’t have to run errands. They stay on-site, at work and out of Lebanon traffic.  

Here’s the real game-changer. Equipment Share outfits their tools and equipment with the latest technology. They provide utilization reports, fuel logs, and can even see the location of a missing tool. “The availability of data analytics helps us plan man-hours and correct discrepancies in pre-planning vs. real time equipment use. If we see we only need two pieces of equipment when we planned for four, we will stop renting the extra two. That’s just one example of how the partnership works,” says General Superintendent Matt Fish who was instrumental in bringing the Equipment Share lot to site.  

While the partnership is paying off in time and money, Equipment Share is also aligned with our commitment to being good construction neighbors. They volunteered with us at the Boone County Battle of the BBQ and we brought their mini excavator and skid steer to Mischief on Meridian.  We knew the partnership was innovative, we are thrilled that they share our mindset to Be Uncommon.