Pickfords guidelines to the future
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IN the week of the autumn conferences of BAOFR and NAFWR it is appropriate to take a look at the Pickfords household removals organization. The company is prominent in the affairs of both bodies. Mr. J. N. Tarsey, chief removals manager, is this year's president of BAOFR; his deputy, Mr. G. P. Pygall, is president of the Institute of the Furniture Warehousing and Removing Industry.
The Pickfords organization is probably the oldest and certainly one of the most romantic transport concerns in the world. It originated more than 300 years ago and is a fascinating story. British transport is fortunate in that at least from the mid-18th century Pickfords is well documented. Its vigorous exploitation of road, canal and rail transport during the industrial revolution is an inspiration more than a century later. A close study of the history of a company hie Pickfords suggests that there is very little in surface transport that has not happened before; of course the equipment and the tools of the job have changed vastly, but many practical problems faced by transport management today were faced successfully in the past.
Reading about an early Pickfords shareholder and Manager, Joseph Baxendale, who virtually took over the goods side of the London and Birmingham railway, introducing his own accounts system, goods classffication and so on, suggested a parallel with the recent capture by the National Freight Corporation of the controlling interest in British Railway's Freightliner traffic. Pioneers like Baxendale who conceived and organized a container system—for transfer from rail wagon to cart in 1830—are not easily emulated.
But the force of tradition must be a powerful stimulus to the present generation of Pickfords managers. Perhaps it is only to be expected that the firm is among the handful of British furniture removing and storage undertakings to have nailed flags to the palletized box storage system. Given the fork-lift truck in 1830 I expect Joseph Baxendale, or his brighter minions, would have built specialized depots for "boxed" furniture storage as Pickfords does today. The process of converting the whole network—there are nearly 180 depots—is necessarily a long-term one and its speed is likely to depend on the relative cost of the many factors involved, not least the cost of labour. Across the Atlantic, where wage rates are higher, palletized furniture storage is further advanced. A challenge How does a firm like Pickfords hold its own in the highly competitive environment of furniture removing? The skills involved are traditional; even so radical an innovation as palletized storage involves relatively modest changes in organization and staff training. It provides worth while talking points on the marketing side and a stimulating challenge to management to evaluate the pros and cons of the new system; in particular its speed of application throughout the business. Large sums of capital would be called for if, for example, all depots used palletized methods. Many new depots would be called for. The project would have to be seen to be viable all along the line.
Mr. Pygall has recently attended a management development course at British Transport Staff College at Woking—an indication of the importance attached to the problem of management succession. The human factors in management were highlighted in the Woking course, I suspect For Mr. Pygall, apart from being very well versed in modern management techniques, put his finger on what makes a good furniture removals manager very succinctly.
"Ideally," he fold me, "we look for a blend of rather rare skills; managers must possess considerable marketing ability and yet have the capacity of `juggling' operations, often at short notice," The marketing ability alone is, of course, valuable but combined with other management skills it is much more valuable. Some managers with years of experience seem to be incapable of effectively exploiting business opportunities. They are put off by relatively minor difficulties that do not deter more persuasive and quick-thinking managers.
Of course, nationally, some "plum" residential areas yield more revenue than purely industrial areas. Mr. Pygall accepted that though the objective was the effective exploitation of the assets in the business and branch managers were assesed in terms of their operating costs—and profits—to turnover, the nature of the business did not always justify comparisons with last year's turnover.
The autonomy of branch managers has been considerably curtailed as a result of the area traffic control arrangements. All vehicle movements, even local ones, are advised to one of four area managers (Glasgow, Bradford, Bristol and Croydon). Area traffic control points are informed of every job booked, including local jobs, and this provides a useful indication of the likely pattern of operations some days in advance. A vehicle delivering a load of furniture from Brighton to Birmingham comes under the control of the local area manager who, as likely as not, will already have arranged for a return load to Sussex or an adjacent county. The advantage of this system is that most of the Pickfords removals vehicles carry the driver only—off-loading assistance being available at destination area—and empty mileage, below 20 per cent, is greatly reduced.
Mr. Pygall confessed that some managers hanker after the old system whereby they would have power to arrange their own return loads and bargain as to the price. "The parochial view is understandable but the 'imperial' policy is to branches' benefit in the long run."
Such an old-established business as Pickfords cannot afford to assume that it will always be loved by the public. With the older generation—the over 40s perhaps—the cachet of the Pickfords name does not need to be laboured. Many worthy housewives insist on the familiar dark-blue liveried vans and would be most put out if—as seldom happens—a sub-contracted vehicle arrived to do a removal. Yet the modern generation of managers does not care to take on trust what can be put to the test. I gather that Pickfords contemplates some "corporate identity" exercises to measure the impact on the public of the tanker, heavy haulage and furniture removing activities.
Natural 'marriage' This "marriage" of furniture removing and travel agency may seem odd to some people but it is really a natural, particularly for overseas removals. It is obviously a great convenience for a family emigrating to make all the arrangements with one office. Tourism today is expanding so fast that, left with a completely free hand, a firm like Pickfords might well be tempted greatly to expand the turnover of travel vis-a-vis
removals. I put this point to Mr. Pygall and he stressed two things: that it would not pay the company to maintain city centre offices if there was no travel side; and that the major partner in the NFC's travel empire—Thos. Cook and Son—was the favoured instrument for travel expansion.
Most of the inquiries for removals work now came by telephone, said Mr. Pygall, so central town premises were not a justifiable expense unless subsidized by the travel side. People could just as easily phone an outlying depot or warehouse, which is what happens in areas where there is no travel section.
Many times in its history the Pickfords family has been enlarged and strengthened by acquisition. Just as its own name is world famous, the name of subsidiaries is often retained as a business asset. The Griff Fender company in South Wales, said Mr. Pygall, is developing considerably.
Some Pickfords managers have toyed with the idea of buying 450 cult. lightweight vans, following the Transport Act relaxation. Mr. Pygall tells such managers: "All right, if you see the prospects of profitable operation go ahead! But remember that such vehicles will be depreciated over a five-year life as against the seven-year life of 1,300 cu.ft. or over vans. You'll find the small vehicles cost almost as much to operate as the larger vans." Modest as its own overheads are the company does not pretend to be able to meet the competition of new entrants operating with a lightweight vehicle from a house. But such competition would not make appreciable inroads into the traditional Pickfords business anyway.
Paperwork
Until last year payrolls were compiled at branches but the work is now largely done on a new computer at Enfield. So also is the bulk of the travel documentation—notorious for paperwork proliferation. The company expects to make increasing use of refined statistical information as computerization gets into its stride.
I was interested to learn from Mr. J. G. Boxall, Pickfords training officer, of the rapid developments made since the department was established in May 1968. As a branch manager he was well versed in Pickfords methods and the aim is to get the best practice adopted over the whole field. Internal communications are regarded as most important and Mr. Boxall is transmitting much of his own enthusiasm for training to branch managers by means of a periodical management review bulletin. "If people read things because they want to, they are more likely to retain the information. As opposed to sending formal instructions down the line a chatty approach, via the bulletin, is proving successful. Communication is a two-way exercise, and we value the response from branch managers greatly." Training departments must be based on accurate record keeping. Mr. Boxall found it best to send a questionnaire to 'all branch managers to compile the detailed information necessary at the start. He could have obtained some relevant information, of course, from existing staff records but with 2,500 cards to go through this would have been a tall order, and by starting afresh the information could be compiled in a classified way much more readily. It is a relatively simple matter for a branch manager to compile information concerning a small, staff of a dozen or so people, and the information from the outset is up to date.
Using the experience of foremen a manual of accepted, best practice, was compiled. There was not always complete unanimity; experienced tradesmen sometimes rightly insisted that their long-proved method was satisfactory. But in the end, standard methods were compiled and these will be taught in training programmes and, no doubt, revised whenever better ways or newer materials for packing or retraining become available.
Although in a traditional industry the opportunities for radical innovation are restricted Pickfords has developed a technique in overseas packing avoiding the use of wood wool. To get training board grants, I gather, it was necessary for Pickfords to provide details of the method to the RTITB. This was an unenviable decision, for the RTITB would then be free to pass the information to competitors of Pickfords. The alternative, for any firm that devises something it values as its own special method, is to bear the training expense of teaching the method. Perhaps the commonsense approach is for the RTITB to disseminate all good ideas throughout the industry. If, as one hopes, the Board tries hard to sieve the world for worthwhile technical ideas firms like Pickfords will be less inclined to feel that their brains are being picked.
Three variations of an elaborate branch training manual have been produced by Mr. Boxall's department. There is a division in the manual for clerical and operating training programmes and though the basic training material is standard the introductory supplement varies according to the recipients. For example, the manuals of branch managers contain details of general organization and administrative practices. Those responsible for practical estimating or driver training are appropriately briefed in their particular manuals.
Thirty-five training branches bear the brunt of practical training. So far 13 of 36 instructors have attended RTITB courses at 1-figh Ercall, most of them with good results: With 90 per cent of the staff in the categories of porter, packer or packer-in-charge—drivers get the same training as porters, though they are paid more than packers-in-charge—the scope of general training may seem to be relatively humdrum but the furniture removing job is a worthwhile one that needs to be done well all the time.
I spent some time with Mr. A. S. Wood, branch manager at a fine new depot at Chichester, discussing the pros and cons of the new palletized box storage method. The depot can store 216 boxes, each of about 320 cult. capacity. Customers who have seen the depot and learned about the system are enthusiastic—as I can well appreciate. Compared with traditional furniture storing methods Chichester does look like 1970. The system is not perfect; loading at the house takes longer; the four-pallet vehicle used at Chichester is a bit long for some Sussex country lanes; long carpets, work-benches, etc, won't fit in; the fork-lift truck is an expensive animal if not used intensively; additional handling costs are incurred if furniture is collected by conventional vehicle and then has to be transferred to a pallet-box.
Greater security
Against such factors is the greater security of stored furniture; the obvious sales potential of the system to an increasingly large number of customers, some of whom insist on pallets, and the changing factor of labour cost which will make the system increasingly economic. When people retire and plan to move to another area the "lock-up box" idea is immediately attractive if there is a suitably equipped depot in the new residential area chosen. Mr. Wood is storing pallet boxes at Chichester for people from London and elsewhere who plan to settle in Sussex. There is also the possibility, as Mr. Wood has learned, of using the pallets for storage of such things as plastics toys. Anyone contemplating a capital investment in "box storage" methods may be able to justify the investment better if—in the early days—there is some alternative use for the furniture pallet boxes.
Pickfords, in the household removals business since 1834; has a long tradition of service and pioneering to live up to. The tools of innovation, training and management techniques described all too briefly here should carry them along for another century or two!