The National Co-operative Traffic Managers' Association Conference reported by John Darker

11th May 1973, Page 54

11th May 1973

Page 54

Page 54, 11th May 1973 — The National Co-operative Traffic Managers' Association Conference reported by John Darker

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Keywords :

Vehicle maintenance costs taking flight!

• "Maintenance costs on a multi-shifted 32-tonner over a 10-year life are likely to be from 1 to 1.8 times the purchase price of the vehicle. The maintenance costs of a commercial airliner are reckoned to be three times the first cost of the aircraft over a I5-year life. Road transport costs are approaching those of our colleagues in aviation."

So said Mr J. Bellwood, north-eastern regional transport manager of Shell-Mex and BP Ltd, at Scarborough on Monday when — with other Shell-Mex colleagues — he addressed the National Co-operative Traffic Managers' Association.

On Sunday, delegates heard a marathon, three-hour lecture on "Operating costs and budgetary control", by Mr P. J. Paxton, chief executive officer, Cambridge and District Co-operative Society. In a later session, the gathering split up into specialist discussion groups to ventilate aspects of the subject from the transport manager's viewpoint.

Mr Paxton stressed the considerable proportion of the total expenses of retail co-operative societies now reflected in road transport operating costs. Management controls to keep costs within bounds could not be discussed sensibly without a well-designed management structure involving clearly defined management accountability of executives. The revolution in retailing epitomized by supermarkets and sophisticated systems of distribution meant a new approach to cost apportionment. Somehow, transport costs had to be "miraculously dispersed" over multifarious departments and functions.

He believed that transport departments should only be responsible for their own costs, which they influence, and should not have to bother with apportioning administrative on-costs, which could be absorbed centrally. Each department would concern itself with maximization of gross profit rather than waste time on arbitrary apportionment of overheads.

Job descriptions Mr J. L. Binnie (Royal Arsenal) said his group agreed "management by the seat of your pants" was outmoded and budgetary techniques could help transport efficiency. All grades of managers should have written job descriptions and all managers should be aware of the specified responsibilities of their colleagues, including the chief executive. Generally, his group wanted to be aware of transport-related matters — new plans involving an increase or reduction in transport, accessibility of premises, etc.

Mr D. Fortune (Greenock) said co-operative transport managers were sometimes told their costs compared unfavourably with those of hired transport_ One society which opted for hired transport found the vehicles cost 1 an hour more to hire than when the operation was performed internally.

Mr A. B. S. Payne (Coventry) said budgets could be thrown out of phase by unforeseen factors such as the non-delivery of vehicles or the need to serve new rounds at short notice. If the "mix of chimneys and hedges" altered, transport costs could inflate alarmingly. Other departments needed to liaise better with the transport function and not hand in a vehicle at a moment's notice when a vehicle round was terminated.

Although Mr S. W. Shaw's group accepted there was a case to be made for user departments to be charged for transport on a standard tariff based on time or mileage, it was necessary to be cautious in this approach. Mr Shaw said users expected service at all times and often failed to realize the cost of operations at weekends or holiday times.

Would a user, asked Mr Shaw, want to be saddled with irrecoverable accident costs or the cost of a reconditioned engine if these arose from a short-period hire? If a standard tariff applied it must be based on total fleet costs.

Foreman's role "The role of the foreman" was the subject of Mr J. Bellwood's talk, given during a session devoted to planned fleet maintenance. He reminded delegates that vehicle maintenance costs were 15 per cent of total costs a few years ago but were now about 25 per cent; the maintenance foreman was a key man in containing costs and maximizing vehicle serviceability.

The foreman's responsibilities were arduous in modern conditions. New vehicles, as a recent ETA survey had shown, could have on average six faults per vehicle, any one of which could cause a component to fail. One new vehicle examined had 25 defects.

Mr Bellwood wished that manufacturers would pay more attention to ease of vehicle • maintenance in their design offices.

Speaking of his own company's experience, Mr Bellwood suggested that the foreman had to exploit the manufacturer's guarantee period to the full, ensuring that new vehicles in their first months of service were properly consolidated — all fixings and bolted-on assemblies needed to be tightened.

The foreman deserved sympathy for the number of modifications he might have to contend with; one tractive unit operated by Shell-Mex required no less than 57 modifications. It was the foreman's job to devise the best techniques for dismantling and re-assembly to minimize labour time.

The personal qualities of the foreman were also important. While in theory he should not be concerned with the supply of spare parts, in practice his persuasive powers could sometimes make all the difference in getting scarce parts.

With power-assisted controls on vehicles, workshop equipment to diagnose faults was called for. It was the job of the foreman to make a case to management for the purchase of essential equipment, not, of course, gimmick items which would not be used for long.

Depending on the size of the depot, the foreman might wish to make a case for the employment of specialist or semi-specialists in certain trades. It might well pay to have expert fitters for electrical repairs, fuel injectors, and tyres. Mr Bellwood thought that vehicle testers, if employed, should report to the foreman and not to the depot chargehand.

The foreman was entitled to a good "data service" — access to vehicle history and cost data. He should be able to highlight expensive repetitive repairs with a new fleet before such costs had been fully analysed by the accounting staff. Repair jobs taking a long time possibly could be speeded up if new methods were devised by the foreman. Yet another aspect required his consideration: that of keeping a check on the quality of work, and its cost, put out to sub-contractors, Selection technique Mr Bellwood confessed that very few of his company's foremen fulfilled all the desirable criteria he had mentioned. Shell-Mex and BP had given much thought to the selection of foremen and had devised a case-study selection technique. Applicants for a foreman's vacancy were given a folder of documents, some of vital importance and some of ephemeral significance. A mythical fleet, with a given staffing, was part of the exercise.

The prospective foreman would be given about 40 minutes to read through this budget of information. When he was formally interviewed he would be asked if he had made any sense of the file. Some apprehension had been felt by Shell-Mex and BP engineering executives when the case study method was first applied but Mr Bellwood was persuaded that the technique was on the right lines. It undoubtedly told a prospective foreman the sort of problems he would have to deal with — and the necessary paperwork that would inevitably be involved.

The National Co-operative Traffic Managers' Association Conference reported by John Darker

Page 54

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