SHOPPING around
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Trends in retailing come and go. One minute, out-of-town hypermarket developments are being lauded. The next, hypermarkets are being accused of sucking trade out of declining inner cities and politicians are calling for planning restrictions. Throughout the twists and turns in planning policy, Argos has
stuck primarily to High Street locations for its 398 stores: its in the process of taking over a number of sites from Tesco and Kwik-Save. No doubt that policy suits Argos customers, but it has presented its transport fleet with one or two problems, says Argos Distributors' fleet engineer, Roy McCrudden.
Delivering to city centre stores with restricted access means that Argos Distributors, a subsidiary of Argos PLC, has to run short semi-trailers, typically 10m single-axle and 12m tandem axle. "We have very few 13.6metre trailers," says McCrudden.
About 175 of its box-bodied dry-freight semis are Trailer of the Year Award-winning aerodynamic Streamliners built by Sandy, Beds-based Tidd Trailers. "They have bulbous noses, largeradius cant rails, side skirts, and sculpted rear ends to enhance the air flow," says McCrudden. "Everything is on air suspension and we use ROR running gear.
The sidewalls are constructed from 20.5mm 0 polyfont panels, usually with GRP extrusions 1.* covering any metalwork which would other
wise be exposed. "GRP weathers a lot better RI than paint and tends not to show scratches," McCrudden observes. Powder coating rather 10 than conventional paint protects most of the ?. rest of the trailer.
"I'm happy with Streamliner's design and it's proving to be an economical trailer to look after," he adds. "Our figures show that over the past five years Tidd's trailers have proved to be £200 to £500 cheaper to maintain than comparable products. The most recent ones we've acquired don't seem to suffer as much accident damage as a standard box van trailer—I think that is principally because if drivers have a nice-looking trailer to pull, they look after it."
But have Streamliner's aerodynamic aids reduced fuel consumption? "We have shown a clear 15% payback, and we're achieving approximately lOmpg no matter how big a trailer is involved," says McCrudden. "The tractors are fitted with a front air dam, roof fairing, and side collars,"
Covering an average 75,0(X) miles a year, all Argos artics are plated at 28 tonnes and the fleet includes kneeling trailers. "That's so we can level the trailer out if the store is on a
severe incline, and we've developed a new airdriven system in conjunction with Cartwright that allows us to do so silently," he says.
Argos Distributors also runs double-deck trailers. "They're the only ones that get close to grossing 28 tonnes," he says. "The single-deckers gross at 22 to 24 tonnes at the most."
Loading is always by roll-cage, and all Argos trucks and trailers are fitted with onetonne tail-lifts. "Historically we've used a mixture of Ratcliff and Ross & Bonnyman, with the latter being the main supplier over the last three to four years," says McCrudden, "but that's under review this year."
The double-deckers have an enclosed taillift, and big barn-type rear doors, but the single-deckers have a roller shutter, and an exterior lift. "I've switched from steel tail-lift platforms to alloy because I don't like the idea of other drivers following a rusting wreck," he says. "Alloy improves the truck's appearance 100% and it doesn't deteriorate at the same rate." Argos has traditionally specified Pirelli tyres, but when McCrudden joined the company two years ago he reviewed the policy. After conducting trials he discovered that he was getting up to 75% better tyre life from some other brands and has switched to Bridgestone as his preferred first-life tyre.
"It was a close-run thing between Bridgestone and Michelin—Bridgestone gave us a slightly better performance," he says. "We're getting as much as 450,0001(m out of them on our tractors. It's a combination of good-quality equipment, drivers, and the lightness of our loads. We also use Bandvulc remoulds, but only on drive axles and trailers."
The tractor fleet is dominated by some 160 Scanias, most of them P93s. "We also have 10 Leyland Daf 75 Series and an equal number of Volvo FS7s—which have suffered from airrelated problems which have never been satisfactorily sorted out We'll be replacing them later this year," he says.
Most tractors are at 250hp, but McCrudden is edging towards 300hp: "That's because we're pulling a lot more double-deckers. Pulling a large box through the air can be very demanding." More powerful vehicles could be kept for 61/2 years rather than the 51/2 years currently laid down for lower-powered units. They should also be a more attractive used buy.
Also on the strength are 15 rigids; a mixture of 17-tanners and 7.5-tanners used to deliver to stores where access is impossible with even the smallest artics. The core trailer fleet is 437 strong and Argos will buy 50 more this year. Core trailers stay in service for 15 years and are kept in reserve for a further five years to help cope with the Christmas rush.
In 1995 the company bought a further 362 trailers from CTR and TIP, specifically to deal with the Christmas bulge. "We have a fairly unusual 0-licence which includes an agreement with the Ministry that they will be mothballed between January and September," says McCrudden.
Surely having trailers sitting around for eight or nine months of the year is an expensive overhead? Not so, says McCrudden. "They paid for themselves within 1.7 years and we're now into saving money," he says. "It means we've got a sustainable fleet each Christmas, although we still have to hire in."
Has he thought about renting out the mothballed trailers? "If a blue-chip company expressed interest we'd be happy to talk about a partnership," he replies. "But we wouldn't want to go into general hire. A third-party hirer wouldn't look after the trailers as well as we do so we wouldn't get the same sort of life out of them, and we still use CTR's storage and maintenance facilities."
What does he do about tractors? "I'll buy around 40 this year and we purchase them in August/September time," he says. "But we don't get rid of our old tractors until the following January, so they help see us through the Christmas peak. On top of that we still have to hire in 75 to 100 tractors."
Agency drivers are brought in too, but only after a rigorous assessment, "The failure rate is probably around 35%," McCrudden says.
Argos has six regional distribution centres, with third-party involvement at two of them. At Basildon the transport operation is run by Wincanton; at Bridgwater by Exel Logistics, which also looks after the Argos Direct operation using a separate fleet.
"Wincanton and Exel carry out daily deliveries to stores on our behalf from Basildon and Bridgwater, but we purchase the vehicles, set up the maintenance agreements, and supply the fuel," says McCrudden, who used to work for Exel. "They supply the drivers and the management, so we've taken out a lot of their earning potential—and we believe we can do this sort of work ourselves just as cost-effectively as a third-party contractor."
ZI by Steve Banner.