BUYERS’ GUIDES
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Your guide to
In such squeezed economic times, procurement budgets are under pressure like never before...
which is why CM is kicking off a new series of Buyers’ Guides to help you sort the wheat from the chaff on all kinds of purchasing decisions
." That seems to be the fashionable description for the tough economic times in which we ind ourselves. Capital budgets are being cut to the bone – and then trimmed some more. Hauliers stand a good chance of selection for the LTK team if belt-tightening is chosen as a demonstration sport at this summer’s Olympic Games in London.
So the introduction of a major new series in CM could hardly be more timely. Our new Buyers’ Guides series sets out to do exactly what it says on the tin. We aim to cut a route through the purchasing jungle to ind the shortest path to the wisest buys. From AdBlue to yard counterbalance trucks, each week we look at buying the products and services that underpin your business.
"Challenging
What we are not doing is teaching our granny to suck eggs. We know you know your business. But not all purchasing decisions are routine. When was the last time you set out to buy a vehicle wash? Or a fuel storage installation? How do you ind a trusted source of legal advice if your trafic commissioner decides to call your company to a public inquiry? And how much should you expect to pay for their words of wisdom?
Saving you time and effort
What we are doing is taking an impartial, analytical and objective approach to the task of buying the products and services truck operators need.
Where necessary, the guides pay heed to the rules that so often have an impact on what we do and what we buy, be it storing AdBlue or analysing our tachographs. We look at the principles behind the products. We examine alternative strategies and we think laterally. For example, instead of focusing solely on which tractor unit air-kit is best, we also consider whether it could be more costeffective to run lower trailers. In short, we are doing what a logical, well-informed and pragmatic operator or manager would do if he had the time. We hope that our research and analysis will cover the groundwork, saving you time and effort. If nothing else, we can bring a strategic perspective that will help narrow the ield and clarify your thinking.
CM Buyers’ Guides are not about brands. We do not aim to conclude that brand X is better than brand Y. That choice is too heavily inluenced by factors such as individual circumstances, local suppliers, business relationships and, of course, the prices quoted on the day. So the ultimate choice is a judgement call that only you can make. But we can and do aim to summarise the essential characteristics of the various types of products or services available, highlighting the pros and cons of each and indicating where they are likely to work best. We leave you to provide the local commercial input to ind the best it for your business.
The guides do not cover just the big-ticket capital items, either, like the vehicle wash and the fuel storage installation mentioned earlier – we tackle some of the everyday purchases too.
Procurement professionals recognise that it is important to devote effort to purchasing low-value but high-volume products and services. Day-to-day commitments make it dificult for even the most diligent manager to keep abreast of all the developments in today’s fast-moving worlds of technology and business.
It might just be that it is time to revisit and challenge some long-established, routine purchasing decisions. If just one of our guides triggers that process, they will have proved worthwhile.
Rest assured that no matter what advertising, sponsorship or promotional material surrounds the guides, the editorial core of each and every one is researched and written completely independently and impartially. There is no commercial inluence or bias. But nor are we prepared to dodge the issue. Where appropriate and possible, we aim to quote realistic market prices and will not hesitate to pass comment on value for money or apparent shortcomings.
The choice is always yours
The series kicks off in this issue of CM with our guide to tyre management contracts (see page 34). As promised, we have thought laterally, so we also include the alternative view that suggests you may not need a tyre management contract at all. The choice is yours.
To read the full version of this Buyers’ Guide, which includes extra data, charts, graphs and links to useful content, please go to www.commercialmotor.com/ buyers-guides This guide forms part of a series designed to give you a complete tool kit for buying products and services. We appreciate how complicated the decision-making process can be and hope that these guides will become an invaluable resource for you to use.
If there are any speciic areas you want us to focus on or if you have any comments on these guides please get in touch with CM directly by emailing us on david.wilcox@ roadtransport.com ■
COMING UP
We will be running a large number of Buyers’ Guides throughout the year. The first topics to be tackled over the coming months or so include: ● Engine oils ● AdBlue ● Driver CPC training ● First steps in telematics ● Tachograph analysis ● Buying at auction In the weeks and months to come, we plan to investigate the purchasing of everything from refrigerated trailers to grease, and from aluminium wheels to legal advice.
If there are specific topics that you would like us to address in forthcoming guides, please get in touch. The online Buyers’ Guides also invite you to share your purchasing expertise, experiences and feedback with us – so please take part and help us to make the service as useful as possible.