United Rentals is the world's largest equipment-rental company. It buys ~$22B of cranes, aerial lifts, generators, pumps, trench boxes and storage units from the big equipment makers, then rents them by the day, week or month from ~1,600 branches to the contractors building data centres, power plants, highways and factories — turning a one-time machine purchase into a recurring rental stream.
From OEM purchase to recurring rent
United Rentals buys machines once from makers like Caterpillar, JLG and Genie, then rents them out hundreds of times over their life — converting a capital good into a recurring service delivered through ~1,600 branches.