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Free advice to small business from MOS
Page 8
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• by Dominic Perry A government-funded modernisation scheme, which will offer free business advice to small firms wanting to boost their profitability, was launched last week.
The Modernising Operator Scheme (MOS), to be run jointly by the Freight Transport and Road Haulage Associations, will be targeted at around 47,000 English hauliers or own-account firms with 10 vehicles or fewer (CM6-12 Feb).
It is one of the schemes to develop out of the £100m Road Haulage Modernisation Fund (RHMF) announced by the Chancellor Gordon Brown in April 2001. The MOS is backed by £1m of government funding and offers operators advice in four key areas: operations management; fuel efficiency; driver recruitment and retention; and information and communications technology.
The scheme works in two stages—operators who have expressed an interest, either through telephone sales calls or responding to publicity, will receive an initial free visit from an MOS adviser. This will take approximately two to three hours and will allow the adviser to establish what the operator wants from the scheme. They will be asked to choose two of 20 topics spanning the four subject areas and will see a short presentation on them.
If they choose to take things further, they can request a hands-on visit from a specialist such as Transport Energy focusing on a particular advice module. This part of the scheme is not free, although 2,150 of the cost will be paid for by the RHMF.
MOS runs until the end of March 2004 with its operators contracted to make 2000, initial visits in that time.
Mick Jackson, joint project director and the FTA's head of logistics, says that this is not about trying to teach operators how to run their business: 'What we're saying is that, if we can point operators in the right direction to make efficiencies or cost savings in their operations, it goes straight onto their bottom line, 'We have to get away from the 'I'm from the ministry and I'm here to help you' syndrome. We are not there to preach at them, or teach them the blindingly obvious."
• Contact MO 01177115.