Making sure work can continue at Solar festival

The Solar festival in Roermond took place during the weekend of 4 to 7 August. After a two-year hiatus due to covid, more than 30,000 people attended this 16th edition. Boels Rental has been a partner of the festival at the Maasplassen recreational area since its very first edition. It’s high time to meet with Production Manager Guido van Lent.

During the set-up for Solar, the orange machines are constantly on the move. It’s hot in the run-up to the opening. And the shifting sand doesn’t make the work any easier. The final touches are being added at several different locations at the same time. The main stage is taking shape, the colossal ‘Middendorp’ area in the shape of a turtle is proving to be a real eye-catcher.

The 22 forklift trucks are in constant use during the construction phase. “Yes we can’t spare a minute without them at the moment. On Thursday everything has to be ready when the first visitors start arriving at the campsite.” That impression also rings true when we visit the festival’s machine shop. Apart from the forklift trucks, the fleet consists of 25 site carriers and 13 aerial work platforms in a range of designs. The machine shop is fairly empty, apart from the rotary telehandler, which is taking a break now that the heaviest items have been set up.

Making sure work can continue

Boels Regional Mechanic Jan Bevers has just arrived in his service van. An auger is leaking oil. Jan quickly fixes the leak. Bevers is the go-to guy for repairs. A number of forklift trucks have been having a rough time of it over the past few days. Production Manager Guido van Lent can rely on Jan’s knowledge and expertise here. “We have his direct number, which is very convenient. Yesterday we had a some bad luck with two broken forklifts. One was fixed within an hour, the other had to be replaced. Then we contacted Project Manager Dennis Dubbelman at Boels, who made sure I had a new forklift truck within a few hours. That’s the convenience Boels service is known for – something we’ve relied on and been fans of for years. Keeping promises is crucial in our business.”

One-stop solution

Guido is especially impressed with the ‘one-stop solution’ principle from Boels. “They anticipate your needs, deliver swiftly, have a lot of different equipment in stock, and if they don’t have something, it gets arranged for you one way or the other.” The Solar organisation works with its various suppliers on a three-year contract basis. Price and quality are decisive factors, but the level of service and collaboration also play an important role, Guido explains. The organisation can rely on one point of contact with Dennis Dubbelman and his colleague Linsey van de Ruit. They are the link between Solar and the entire Boels organisation. “I can write back and forth with Dennis. If I have any questions, he’s always one step ahead of me. It’s a nice feeling that makes you know that things are going to be just fine. As I mentioned, trust is everything. Especially in the construction phase when I’m involved on so many fronts at the same time.”

Boels supplied:

Orange is the new green

One new feature was the installation of the 26 hybrid lighting towers placed throughout the site, at the campsite and in the outlying areas. Sustainability is becoming an increasingly important topic in the events sector. “We are constantly working on it, although there are still plenty of steps that need to be taken. It’s not really green to connect an electric Gator to a diesel generator”, says Guido. The Solar organisation is consciously focusing on a green future. “Yes, here we are looking at connecting to fixed (green) electricity, bio oil and solar panels, among other things. It’s nice that we can also turn to Boels for more and more ‘green solutions’. “Yes, that’s right”, Dennis adds. In addition to the hybrid towers and battery-powered site carriers, we have also used our brand new stage V Manitou forklift trucks at Solar.”