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THE LOGISTICS of moving components and spare parts between the

21st May 1983, Page 70
21st May 1983
Page 70
Page 70, 21st May 1983 — THE LOGISTICS of moving components and spare parts between the
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manufacturing plants of European cv makers and their outlets are not a simple operation but if analysed properly considerable savings can be made.

An example is provided by Scania's main plants in Sweden, at Sodertalje, Lulea and Oskarshamn, which have become key points in a transport rationalisation project that is generating better vehicle utilisation and valuable reductions in trip cost.

About 100 people are currently employed by Scania in transport co-ordination in the sectors covering materials flow outside the manufacturing plants. More than 30 per cent of the annual turnover of the Scania Division is tied up in capital in the materials flow process at any given time.

It is evident, therefore, that improvements in transport operations must be linked to a radical new approach to the scheduling of vehicle movements. One of the fundamental objectives of Scania's rationalisation project is a scheduled system of road freight services, based on regular, reliable and costeffective transport that is easily managed and integrated in the in-plant materials handling system.

Germany provides an excellent example of the new Scania has reorganised the delivery of consignments to the Sodertalje plant. The country has been divided into eight regional consolidation regions, with work in each region assigned to a single haulage operator.

In practice, this means that in most cases the long-distance vehicles collect consignments from the suppliers and deliver direct to Scania, Sweden, without depot transhipment.

Rationalisation of the German operation has resulted in a cost reduction of about 23 per cent — an annual saving at present of about SwKr4m.

Transit times have also been reduced by up to two days and this has helped to reduce disruptions on the production line.

With the reorganisation of the German supply line Scania has also been able to reduce the amount of traffic sent by air freight. The co-ordination of express road services with regular road freight movements means that goods now reach Sodertalje as fast, and in some cases even faster, than by scheduled air freight facilities.

The company has started to identify the pattern of road freight movement between the various manufacturing centres and has already introduced a new system of regular road services between Oskarshamn and Meppel, in the Netherlands.

Because of varying Construction and Use requirements in European countries the operation uses demount platforms to make best use of the 24m train length in Sweden and the 15m and 18m combinations permissible elsewhere.

Thus, the two 24m drawbar outfits — each consisting of a dolly-fitted semi-trailer and a towing vehicle carrying a demount body — used in a typical movement between Sweden and the Netherlands are broken up into three different configurations on leaving Sweden.

The drawbar "trailers" become semis while the two swop bodies are carried on a drawbar 18m train. At the same time, additional savings have been made by loading directly on to the trunk vehicles at Oskarshamn without passing through the stores. This has released stage space for other purposes and has cut the transit time for materials. Vehicle use for the operator concerned has risen to about 170,000km a year from an earli( average of between 110,000 an 120,000km. Savings for Scania are already in the region of about 10 per cent but this can almost certainly be doubled after the initial shakedown period. Furthermore, this figur( does not take into account the saving made in internal handlir at Oskarshamn and Meppel plants.

A similar reorganisation of road transport services is now planned for shipments betweei Sodertalje and Zwolle. In this case proposals envisage the us of soft-top trailers to raise the payload from today's figure of just over 16 tonnes per vehicle• 19 tonnes by packing consignments more tightly.

It is expected that this increa! in unit utilisation will produce a saving of around SwFr1000 per trip.

In domestic movements within Sweden, the use of demountable bodies is to be further extended. One project concerns the carriage of cabs from the Oskarshamn plant to the main truck assembly at Sodertalje.

While increased use is to be made of air freight services to overseas customers, the replacement of this method by additional express road service is being accelerated in Europe, and this has helped link UK suppliers with Scania destinations in Sweden.

Another area in which there iE considerable scope for costcutting lies in spare parts distribution within Sweden where, at the moment, Scania and VAG (neighbours in Sodertalje) operate separate delivery networks. The possibility of co-ordinating the distribution of these spare parts is now under review.

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Organisations: Scania Division
Locations: Scania

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