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GO NG TO WASTE
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Go on — name a Scottish tipper operator. Did you think of Yuill & Dodds, the Blantyre-based company run by the legendary Jimmy Yuili? Brian
Wea'dierley reports on the famous firm's enduring success.
Just when you think you've got an operator nicely pigeon-holed, they spoil it all by changing. Unfortunately, you can't always dictate what drives that new direction, as Brian Yuill, operations manager at Yuill & Dodds and son of Jimmy Yuillexptains."Over the last seven or eight years, we've changed radically because, if we hadn't, we wouldn't be here," he points out.
The catalyst came in the 1990s, when Y&D took two big hits on bad debts.The first was in 1991/92, when it had to swallow £460,000, then in 1994 it waved goodbye to £240.000 from the construction side.
"That's a struggle to get. back-toback," admits Yuill."'The option was to just shut down —but that's not the way my dad does business. He put his pension back into the company. It was his life's work, and after 50 years in the business he wasn't prepared to throw it away." It clearly wasn't an easy choice, and Yuill says with commendable honesty:"I don't know I'd have taken the same decision."
One of the earliest tactics was to cut back the fleet, which duly happened to the tune of some 30 trucks. Unfortunately, bad news has a way of travelling fast. "When something like that happens," Yuill recalls, "people to whom you owe money start to get itchy feetrYet a decade later,the company is still independent,still owned and run by the Yuill family and is in profit. even though Yuill confesses: "It's not as much as we'd like to see."
Having originally made its name working within the construction industry,Y&D is a very different company from the almost 100% tipper-based concern it once was. "Construction is not as active it used to be." confirms Yuill,"so you've got to diversify. It's just that you've got to convince customers you're doing the right thing."
The diversification has been a logical one. Y&D is still in bulk,but now increasingly in waste. "We'd been in construction and bulk, and we'd done a lot of waste already because of clearing contaminated land,so we built on to that,"Yuill explains."We started one contract with Biffa. which was based on a vehicle and two trailers, then picked up work from Shanks." In short order, it also decided to branch out south of the Border buying Scratchwood-based Herts Transport. which had its own Onyx contract running waste from St Albans to Rugby.
The specialists
Today, Y&D runs 56 specialist trailers,including 23 moving floor and 33 ejectors on waste work. "Over the past two years, we've invested L1.6m on trailers and f13m on new double-drive tractors,"Yuill explains. And running its own moving floors has already had a useful spin-off for Y&D.not least when it comes to being spotted by potential customers: "We started running them under the Yuill & Dodds name with the first one in Norfolk," he recalls."People rang up, saying they'd seen them on the road and were interested in hiring one." Consequently,Y&D created its own separate waste trailer hire division in October 2002."It started life as a stand-alone business for us, but now it's a facility for everyone," says Yuill.
Entering the waste game was an eye-opener,Yuill admits."I was horrified at some of the waste trailers people run," he confesses. "If we ever ran with some of the trailers which I've seen,we'd be off the road! Increasing numbers of tippers are being turned away from landfill sites. Rather than ejectors. I think the future is moving floors."
Horses for courses
Some companies have invested heavily in transfer station sites to offer a full "wheelie-bin-to-landfill" service. "We've looked at transfer stations, as they offer a good margin," he admits."But you then run the risk of it conflicting with your customer base. You've got to strike the right balance." Moreover, he reckons that. as the number of landfill sites reduces, the emphasis will be on recycling. "And with moving floors, that's what we're trying to do—with recycling, there will be more opportunities."
Trailers running on to landfill sites take more than their fair share of punishment and the company has already found that not all moving floors are the same. Y&D runs a mix of Stas and Knapen trailers and.according toYuill, it's a clear case of horses for courses when choosing between the two moving floor designs. "The Stas trailers are never off a hard road. If they're running on to a landfill site. they're far too light and can't be towed from the back. If you do that, they can be damaged and if you're buying a trailer for £45,000 that's a hell of a lot of damage," says Yuill. "But it happens." he adds wistfully."The Knapen is a lot stronger for a moving floor and everything we've asked Henk [Buscop, MD of Knapen] to do, he's done — including fitting a good, strong tow bar. He recognises how trailers have to be built to do this work.The difference is that Stas says:'This is what we make —if you want it different, it's not always easy.' The product's good, but not as adaptable. If you want heavy-duty, then it's Knapen but if you want payload, it's the Stas."
Some landfill transfer stations also served by Y&D don't exactly treat waste trailers with kid gloves."You can have a big drop into the back and you need a hard floor," Yuill explains. "They've got to be designed to take the impactand a loader can put the bucket teeth through the sides." However, despite the rough-andtumble nature of waste haulage, and the fact that over the past month its construction work has shown improvement, Brian Yuill is convinced Y&D changed direction at the right time, and that moving floor trailers are the road ahead, "It's got to come, whether from Heath and Safety or the Landfill Tax." he says. 'And it's my guess that above all else,landfill tax will dictate it." •