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project by lain Sherriff
WHAT is it that in 15 years takes a man out of the driving seat of a tipper and puts him into the driving seat in the boardroom? If Ralph Hilton, managing director of Hilton Transport Services, London, S.E.7. can be taken as an example, it is the ability—and courage to turn every situation to advantage. Ralph Hilton is disinclined to talk about the past; "that's yesterday", he says. "It's tomorrow, next year or next century we want to think about." Too old at 45 is nonsense in Ralph Hilton's estimation; and he personally displays the energy and drive of a man half of his age.
From one vehicle in 1954, HTS now owns 728. "It will probably be more before you get into print", he told me when I visited him recently.
At a time when many operators are worried about the future, he is enthusing over the prospects. He has vehicles on Contract A, C-hiring and 460 on A licence with a radius of 300 miles. "The Transport Act 1968 was the best thing which could have happened to us," he says.
What has it meant in practical terms? Already 245 vehicles not exceeding 30cwt unladen are free from carriers' licence restrictions. When operators' licencing is introduced a further 305 vehicles not exceeding 16 tons gross weight will be freed from carriers' conditions. This will leave 178 vehicles up to 32 tons g.t.w. on wide licence conditions.
Plated for 38 tone All Hilton vehicles up to 28 tons gross are Fords; above that there is a variety. Here again I found another example of using what appears to be an adverse situation to advantage. One of the HTS vehicles—a Magirus Deutz 200D 16FS—was plated by the manufacturer at 38 tons. When it was submitted for plating, it failed to reach the required braking efficiency. It was returned to the workshop and one week later was plated by the Ministry of Transport at 38 tons.
Mike Cole, the works director, put in a lot of work on the machine, and according to Ralph Hilton "It's the only 38-ton-plated Magirus in the UK. The rest have been down-plated to 36 tons."
Of course, the vehicle cannot be used at more than 32 tons—yet. However, as soon as the MoT increases the maximum legal weight, HTS will be ready with at least one vehicle.
This is indicative of all Ralph Hilton's operations. How often do you hear the remark: "We've only been here for a year and already we've outgrown the accommodation"? Eighteen months ago Mr. Hilton realized that his premises at Vauxhall would soon become inadequate. He saw his immediate requirements as two acres. He took a long view—a gamble if you like—and purchased 10.2 acres. Furthermore, he chose an area close to one of his larger customers, Sainsbury, at Charlton.
Of course, an area covering 10.2 acres would house a fleet six times the size of the present HTS fleet. But this firm is more than a haulage contractors. The company offers storage, distribution, groupage and container hire.
The covered storage space at Charlton will aggregate to 320,000 sq.ft.. 60.000 of which will be used for groupage. At the moment HTS offers a groupage service for export only. The company hopes to branch into import traffic when the development is complete. Already application has been made to HM Customs and Excise for customs sufferance, and indications are that it will receive favourable consideration.
Before the end of 1969 HTS will have opened a depot at Southampton. This unit will be engaged in the carriage and groupage of containers for deep-sea traffic. Operationally the Southampton depot will differ from the depots at Manchester, Wandsworth, Croydon, West Thurrock and Vauxhall. These depots are engaged mainly in distribution in surrounding counties, although traffic does go into the Clyde Coast area.
Diversification To ensure that he has adequate facilities to cope with transatlantic container traffic, Ralph Hilton is off to USA in September to study the American system and arrange agencies. In the meantime his container traffic is spread over some of the largest container shippers in the UK. Names like United States Lines, Manchester Liners, CTI, Gentransco, ACT and OCL all figure largely in the traffics.
The company, realizing the potential for container traffic within Great Britain, supplies containers all of which are refrigerated by either a Thermo King or Polarstream unit. This is a field which Ralph Hilton visualizes will expand, but the same could be said of any field which he enters.
Whether this expansion would take place without him being involved is a matter for conjecture. One can be sure that his drive helps it along.
Diversification of resources must be planned and success cannot be left to chance. Nothing has been left to chance at Hilton's new depot at Charlton, and this is understandable. Ralph Hilton put it this way: "I won't get much change from £500,000. You don't take chances with that kind of money." Planning in the short term at HTS means for at least a year ahead. Middle-distance planning is for 10 to 15 years and the distant future means after the year 2000 AD. An example from each of these periods will illustrate the point.
In the short term HTS plans its Ministry of Transport vehicle inspection in the most meticulous manner. When a vehicle is put into service the engineer makes out an application for plating and tasting and files it in a file dated for the day on which application should be made. When the application is sent to Swansea then a photostat copy is made of the form and placed in another file. This file is marked with the last date on which the vehicle can be used without testing. After thevehicie is tested, the photostat is moved to the next date for a test application, 15 test periods later.
When it is decided to dispose of a vehicle the photostat is removed—but not until the vehicle has been scrapped. In this way HTS ensures that vehicles which should be plated and tested are submitted or are retained in the garage. In view of the recent news that tests were falling behind at some test stations I was curious about the Hilton fleet. Apparently there are no problems. When Mike Cole is making test bookings he does so in bulk. A block booking is made for a particular week, and all the vehicles in the booking are in the same "plate class". This avoids the necessity of having to send a specific vehicle at a specific time. Any one of the vehicles booked can be sent to the test station at a time allocated by the Ministry of Transport.
Still on the short term, although it has some bearing on middle-distance planning. HTS does not sell its old vehicles; they are scrapped and cannibalized. The usable parts are put into stock "not on charge", the remainder is broken up. "Why should I sell old vehicles to other people who can come in against me?" explains Ralph Hilton. "They would buy my vehicles second-hand and then cut my rate."
In his plans for the middle distance, Ralph Hilton is arranging to have two men specified as transport managers at each of his six depots. One will be responsible for operation, the other for servicing and repairs. Charlton will he the main workshop, fully equipped as for a Ministry test station. The workshops at Vauxhall, Thurrock and Manchester will be used for maintenance and repair but all vehicles are taken into Charlton for a pre-test inspection and are overhauled.
Already 100 vehicles have been submitted for test; with the exception of one, all passed at the first test. (The failure was the Magirus which shows Hilton claims could not be attributed to him.) The Partner Vehicles are serviced every two months in accordance with the Road Haulage Association scheme and every month they are greased. When the new workshop is built there will be accommodation for 30 vehicles, each with its own access door. Vehicles will back on to the store which houses £20,000 of spare parts. "This way the mechanics don't have to walk all over the shop", I was told. "The wage bill is 20 per cent overtime and we don't want to add to it unnecessarily." This time my informant was Mr. Tom Hodges.
Tom holds 19 per cent of HTS shares— that's the only part not held by Ralph Hilton. The partnership was an arrangement to beat bargaining by other operators. Ap
patently when Ralph Hilton went off to buy a company, Tom Hodges had much the same idea. In a number of cases the company on offer played Ralph off against Tom. "And we frequently paid over the odds", says Ralph. So they joined and defeated the bargainers.
I asked Ralph Hilton about a take-over. "Are you open to be taken over?" He almost had apoplexy, and when he recovered he almost growled at me: "If there's any taking over to be done we're doing it!"
It is easier to take over a business than to take over people; and Ralph Hilton is not the kind of person you take over. His drive and enthusiasm amount almost to perpetual motion, and this is where Tom Hodges comes in.
Tom is the kind of person Ralph needs— the quiet influence who changes down a gear or gently applies the brake when it is most needed. A partnership in the best sense.
What of the future? Both Ralph and Tom are family men and their sons are now in the business. These three young men are not finding things easy, they are having to work darned hard in the warehouse and workshop. They are not university graduates learning the ropes from the shop floor, but they are learning, and doing it the hard way.
Training is part of the Hilton scheme of things. The company is operating its own training school, which is also open to outside companies. When heavy goods driving licences are introduced next year most of the HTS men will get exemption on grounds of experience in most classes. Before these men have their licences renewed they will require to pass Hilton's h.g.v. test and for this purpose the company has two men training as h.g.v. instructors at the moment.
The training school caters for manage
ment, administrative staff, fitters and forklift truck drivers. The company employs 75 fitters and 16 fork-lift truck drivers and in addition there are 45 low-loader drivers. The fleet in its white and blue livery always attracts my eye and this is not surprising as the vehicles are regularly washed in an Ultrasonic machine and are inspected almost daily by the company's bodybuilder and painter. The result is a collection of vehicles which stand out from the general run of haulage machines. It is excellent publicity.
Relaxation
HIS is a giant and giants are traditionally unkind. Not so this one. Of course, Ralph Hilton is a no-nonsense operator; he's in the business to make money and undoubtedly he does, but he has a deep-seated staff interest. The two factors are not incompatible. When vehicles are loaded at night for an early start at 4 a.m., 5 a.m. or 6 a.m. drivers are not allowed to take them home. "That's not good for business", says Ralph Hilton. But he provides the early drivers with mopeds to travel home at night and back to the depot in the morning.
The new premises will take care of efficient working and staff comfort; at HTS they believe these things go hand in hand with progress. After a day at Charlton one cannot doubt that HTS is heading for an even more successful future; with Ralph Hilton at the helm I can't see it otherwise.
Even as you read this he is preparing his powerboat HTS 858 for a round-Britain off-shore race. I understand this is a most punishing event on the human frame. Ralph Hilton is looking at it as relaxation—"A rest from haulage. warehousing and distribution," he calls it.