The start of a new year is upon us, allowing us to take a moment and look back at everything we’ve accomplished over the last year as well as evaluating which areas we can improve both as individuals and as a company. Over the course of 2018, we’ve accomplished a great deal of the goals we set in place at the beginning of the year and would like to thank each of our customers for their continued support in helping build a better North America.
One of the primary objectives LGH laid out in the beginning of the year was to take a look at ourselves and evaluate where we could improve to best fit the needs of our customers. Through targeted market analysis, we were able to determine areas of the country that were regularly renting through their stock of select gear and have decreased freight costs by increasing our rental fleet with the addition of more than 2,000 pieces of equipment. We have also adjusted the pricing structures on some of our most popular rental items, employing a revised Strategic Pricing Model to better suit the budgetary needs of our customers.
Over the course of 2018, as of 12/29/18, LGH had tested, inspected and delivered 178,108 pieces of rental lifting and rigging gear to jobsites across the country and Canada. All of this equipment was processed within our 23 rental locations spread throughout North America. LGH has also brought back more than 125,000 pieces that were re-inspected and certified for delivery over that same period, which comes out to an average of 13,179 pieces of equipment per rental center being tested, inspected and recertified for the next project. Tracking these totals provided further insight into what equipment needed to be supplemented to better process the needs of our valued customers.
With the increase in our rental fleet, new procedures for tracking equipment locations, maintenance, inspections and certifications became our next priority. This led to the introduction of a new program utilizing RFID scanners and software to provide a detailed history for every serialized piece of equipment in our rental fleet. Beginning with initial testing at one location, we now have more than 23,000 pieces of equipment that have been tagged in just a few short months.
LGH has also continued to invest heavily in technology based on market conditions to allow for quicker turnaround times on rented and returned gear for our customers. We also completed construction of a new training facility inside our Bridgeview rental center that further increases the level of training provided to the equipment technicians and rental representative across North America.
As each of these changes were being implemented, LGH focused on developing new, long-term national partnerships with some of our existing customers as well as continuing to engage new customers domestically and into Canada. Realizing a need existed, we reallocated internal resources to better reach into areas with local renter centers as well as providing additional support to our local representatives from our corporate headquarters in Bridgeview, IL.
As we begin 2019, we are looking forward to growing with the needs of our dedicated customers. We will continue developing new ways to streamline our processes to ensure that the level of service you receive when renting with LGH not only exceed your expectations, but also uphold the values of dedication, safety and partnership that define the LGH name.