2023 Review: Takeovers, Trails, Treecycles & TRUST – all to a tee (Part 1)

As we bid farewell to 2023, it’s time to reflect on a landmark year for MVIS.

From sustainability initiatives to community engagement and technological advancements, not to mention a major acquisition, we have had a very significant year.

Looking back on the last 12 months, here we delve into some of the key highlights that defined our year:

 

January – Ashgate Treecycle

Ashgate Hospice, a charity we have supported for many years found an innovative way to raise money for the hospice, as well as recycling used Christmas Trees to help, rather than hinder the environment. Enter ‘Treecycling’ where trees are collected by volunteers and given to local farmers so they can be chipped and recycled.

In January, our team members Jon Larkins and Ben Ashman took the MVIS service van for Treecycling collections in Matlock. Together, they collected 29 trees helping to raise over £400 for Ashgate in tree collections.

 

February – Employee Wellness Takes Centre Stage

On the mission for improved mental health and wellbeing across the sector, National Highways introduced the ‘Journey to Wellbeing’. An initiative devised to get operatives in the sector to be more open and comfortable in discussing their mental health.

Following that lead, we implemented the Mind charity’s ‘Time to Talk’ initiative, with MVIS’ mental health first aiders delivering to the rest of the team on the importance of talking if life is taking its toll for the worse.

we strive to ensure that our teams is happy and healthy, so implementing initiatives that align with National Highways Journey to Wellbeing is something we were proud to undertake.

 

March -Ashgate High Peak Trail

March saw MVIS sponsor the Ashgate Hospice High Peak trail for the 3rd successive year. Taking place on March 12th, the event sees a choice of three trails through the Derbyshire countryside – all to raise money for Ashgate Hospice.

David Storer, Ashgate Hospice Events Organiser commented:

“MVIS are a pleasure to work with. They are always on hand to provide support across all of our fundraising events.

“Anne (Ashman, Group Commercial & Operations Director) and the team have provided VMS units to us for multiple events now, and their appeals have really helped to raise awareness of Ashgate Hospice and the vital end of life care that we provide across North Derbyshire”

 

April – #TRUSTINMVIS Launch

In April, we launched our #TRUSTINMVIS campaign, with the TRUST acronym symbolising the values the company holds dear: Teamwork, Reliability, Understanding Flexibility, Solutions, and Technology.

Anne Ashman, Group Commercial & Operations Director spoke to us about the initiative earlier in the year. Anne told us:

“MVIS is committed to providing the best possible service and support to our customers. With #TRUSTMVIS firmly in place as a publicly available statement of intent, MVIS is confident that we can deliver the most innovative, sustainable, and dependable portable VMS solutions on the market.”

May – Under New Ownership!

In what was perhaps 2023’s most significant landmark, MVIS underwent a change in ownership in May when Quadrant Management, a US-based private equity investor added us to their portfolio of businesses.

The acquisition provides opportunities for collaboration and innovation across a range of industries as well as increase capability in Research & Development to further bring innovation.

After over a decade of driving innovation including being the first to introduce colour VMS signs, the acquisition marks an exciting new chapter and provides the perfect platform to further propel the company.

 

June – Renewed Constructionline Platinum

As we hit the mid-year mark, we achieved the renewal of our Constructionline Platinum certification. This accolade underscores the company’s commitment to maintaining the highest of standards, providing clients with the assurance of quality and reliability in its products and services.

It ensures that our customers know extensive checks into quality, health & safety, environmental impact, social responsibility and adherence to legislations and regulations have all been carried out and rubber-stamped.


MVIS In The Spirit Of Giving

Christmas is famous for the notion of ‘Giving’. With the cost of living ever rising, it is good to help those who are less fortunate than us.

Every year the volunteers at Clay Cross Food Bank graciously give their time to help families at Christmas and have an equal opportunity at the festivities we all take for granted.

Over the course of December, they have been bagging up items from generous patrons to give to families across our local area in Derbyshire.

Over 100 bags have been packaged to give out at the sessions leading up to Christmas, and they expect 25+ families to attend the session to make sure they can celebrate Christmas.

The team at MVIS have this year given items containing tinned meats, tinned fish, biscuits, cakes, and sanitary products. 

The foodbank explained “dried and tinned goods are best, if we don’t give them all out over the Christmas period, then we save them for the new Year, so we can continue to help in early 2024”.

The foodbank team heavily rely on local companies assisting at this time of year when the need is higher to help families who have found themselves in a dire situation.

This is a cause the team at MVIS believe in and have been happy to take on and contribute again in 2023.  A massive well done to the team at Clay Cross Food Bank.


Investing in Our Most Valuable Assets

Here at MVIS we pride ourselves on investing in one of our most valuable assets… our staff.

Many of our staff members have had time and effort put into them to ensure they have the best qualifications. This is both to benefit our customers, MVIS as a company and to benefit the team member in their future endeavours. We always showcase our own certifications such as our ISO, FORS and Constructionline Platinum.

But our staff also have their own certifications to ensure customers that all onsite staff are qualified to the required standard. This is no different for our newest member of staff, Connor Dickson. Our Northern Hub Supervisor. Connor joined us from another company within ITS TM, but only had in-house training. We have fast- tracked him through external training for:

  • First Aid 3-day course
  • Fire Marshall
  • Manual Handling
  • Working at Height
  • Handheld Tools
  • Abrasive Wheels
  • IOSH Managing Safely
  • CSCS & 1 days Health & Safety

Giving him the skills and qualifications to work on the High-Speed network, using his HE Passport, and allowing him to deliver an excellent service to our TM lower speed schemes in the North region. Delivering nothing less than the Platinum Level Service that our customers have come to expect from MVIS.

Well done Connor on this great achievement!


MVIS takes on MR & MRS

MVIS Staff have been taking part in the ‘Journey to Wellbeing’ over the past year now. This is an initiative started by the team at National Highways.

With Long working hours, exposure to noise and pollution, traffic-related risks, and the pressure to meet deadlines, mental health in the highways sector is an issue on going for many years, this initiative started by National Highways is bringing workplaces together.

This month MVIS participated in MR & MRS, randomly pairing people in the company to see how well they know each other.

This idea gets staff members conversing and learning more about each other by simulating “married life” between two members of staff.

After four rounds of questions such as ‘who is the better driver?’ or ‘who has the best dress sense?’. Augustine and Juliette came out on top as the winners of the first MVIS MR and MRS.


MVIS returns to Highways UK

We are exhibiting at Highways UK and we’re now only one week away. Highways UK is the sector’s must-attend event, it offers companies the opportunity to showcase their latest products or solutions, as well as explore other innovations in the market, and network with others in the industry.

If you are attending, make sure that you stop by Stand 312 in Hall 3 & 3A to say. Our dedicated Management and Sales team will be at the event to field any questions that you will need answering.

We will also be debuting our newest solution for people visiting our stand. Our brand-new Solar Barrier with a built-in ANPR Camera, perfect for programming. Also being showcased is our amazing HD Compact, Compact CCTV, and our Environmental Sensor.


MVIS renews its Achilles

A man deploying a Solar IP adhering to all of Achilles safety rules.

We have a wide array of certifications in our business. These certificates alert customers of our dedication to Health and Safety, Corporate Social Responsibility and Legislation and

 Regulations compliance, as well as being a badge of honour for the team at MVIS.

The Achilles Audit serves to independently verify that our management systems comply with the standards that have been agreed by buying organisations within the Chemicals & Allied Industries Community.

This means that we have hit the standard of buying organisations and our certification is a showcase of our operational excellence, our expertise, and our competency.

90% of suppliers state that the Achilles audit has added value to their organisation.

This also means that our certification ensures that our customers are assured we are compliant with Health and Safety Standards and that people can #TRUSTINMVIS.


MVIS Renews Their FORS Bronze.

MVIS have renewed our FORS Bronze accreditation, we are proud of our many accomplishments, these are what put the Trust in #TRUSTINMVIS.

A well accredited company is a reliable one, and that is just the case for MVIS. We have now been reaccredited with our FORS Bronze. This comes with many benefits towards any company.

A list of MVIS accreditations with no background.

Our FORS Bronze Accreditation is important to alerting people that we care for the safety of our staff, and that they are trained and competent to perform their deliveries that ensure you receive our platinum level service when delivering our VMS and other units.

FORS Bronze confirms we employ good company practice and comply with the requirements laid out by the FORS Standard.


Streamlining Sales and Hire.

After Quadrants recent acquisition of MVIS Ltd, Bartco UK and Bartco Australia, the decision has been taken for the UK companies MVIS Ltd and Bartco UK to be combined. Giving a simpler uniformed sale and hire process to all our customers, old and new. Further embedding our platinum level service.

The whole Quadrant global group is to be uniformed and work much closer using the strong skills across the global entities. We believe that this is the right move for MVIS Ltd and Bartco AU and are excited about the prospect moving forward.

Our newly promoted Head of Global R&D David Chamberlain has already started working closely on development of new products for the UK market. With our MVIS R&D manager Tom Hooton and new promoted Global Group CEO Pat Musgrave, to deliver the new products the market requires and to help MVIS move forward into the next generation of ITS products.

Tom and Pat are sharing the knowledge the UK has acquired over the last 11 years of working in the UK ITS market with Bartco Au and the products that have been developed here for the highspeed network, an area Australia is currently heavily investing in.

The acquisition by New York based Quadrant has given the global companies a further opportunity to combine the knowledge and skills of the staff who already work within the companies, along with the experience the new owners also bring to the group.

 

Anne Ashman MVIS Commercial & Operations Director said:

“These are exciting times. The changes that have already started to be implemented have had a positive impact on the staff and company. Meetings are being held with the global team and we are all working to the same goal, sharing our knowledge, and playing to our strengths. To have this opportunity for UK and Australian companies to work even more closely together and share our knowledge to promote the companies to new levels is a great opportunity for us all”.

 

Pat Musgrave Group CEO Commented:

“Taking control of the global group has given me the opportunity to look at an improved pricing structure for our customers across hire and sales in both the UK and Australia. Working closer with the R&D department is allowing me to look at new products and markets to provide the already high quality ITS products both Bartco AU and MVIS Ltd have become known for along with new products that will propel the group companies into the next generation”.


New look MVIS website

MVIS is delighted to announce we’ve completely overhauled, refreshed and updated our website to make it easier for customers and partners to get the information they need.

The old site served us well for many years but at MVIS we’re always moving forwards and it no longer reflected the high degree of innovation our products and solutions offer nor the passion for customer service on which we’ve built our business.

Designed and developed with our Marketing Partners at FIG, the new site is cleaner, bolder, easier to navigate and will get you to where you want to be in fewer clicks.

We’ve fine-tuned our logo to look more progressive and turned up the brightness across our branding. The overall website design (which has significantly less black!) now reflects the positivity and determination with which we approach every project we are involved in and our overarching strategy to help making the UK’s roads and major events run as smoothly and safely as possible.

Said FIG designer Emma Dixon:

FIG has worked with MVIS for many years watching as it’s grown into a leading UK supplier – so we wanted the new site to do it justice. The use of bold colours, videos, intuitive navigation and the increased emphasis on the service MVIS provides, really differentiates it from its competitors.”

We really hope you’ll find our new site interesting, easier to use and more relevant to your needs.

We’d really love to know what you think. Take a look at the new site at www.m-vis.co.uk and email your comments to sales@m-vis.co.uk.


Contact

Office Address

Mobile Visual Information Systems.

Units 6-8, Brookfield Way,

Brookfield Industrial Estate,

Tansley,

Matlock, Derbyshire.

DE4 5ND


MVIS’ Christmas Opening Hours

MVIS will be closed over the Christmas period for the following dates:

Monday, 26th December
Tuesday, 27th December
Monday, 2nd December

For MVIS’ 24/7 Emergency Service, please call 01629 580570.

We would like to say a big thank you to all our customers for their support throughout 2016, and we look forward to working with you again in 2017.

Happy New Year!


20% off Highways UK tickets with MVIS

We’ll be off to the new Highways UK event later this month, which is taking place on 25 – 26 November at Excel, London and can offer our customers a great offer on tickets.

Highways UK is a major new event bringing together those responsible for planning, developing, managing and maintaining the UK’s road network. The event is predicated on the profound changes resulting from the recent formation of Highways England, the new government-owned strategic highways company.

Any MVIS customer who books tickets to this exciting event can enjoy 20% off the full ticket price, simply by clicking here >

Attendees can choose full day tickets, or even select specific modules that they want to attend in order to suit their requirements.

Combining a high-level conference, industry and innovation briefings and a major exhibition over two days, Highways UK is the place to discover how your organisation can profit from this exciting new era for the UK’s highways sector.

Don’t miss out – book here today and save 20%!

Don’t forget to come and say hello to the MVIS team, who will be there on both days on Stand D42. We look forward to seeing you there.