Keeping Track of Movement
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BECAUSE movement of goods or passengers is the prime purpose for the employment of commercial vehicles, accurate recording of collection, transfer and delivery of traffic must always be of vital importance to transport operators. Yet, paradoxically, several examples of apparently successful operation are found where little, if any, attempt at such recording
is made, • In the majority of cases, the reason for this is because the road haulage industry as a whole consists largely of numerous small units, despite the emergence of some large undertakings in recent years. Where a fleet consists of only a few vehicles, carrying comparatively regular flows of traffic, it is admittedly possible to dispense with a proper traffic recording system and rely largely on memory and word of mouth alone.
It is significant, however, that there have been several instances of previously successful operators running into difficulties when they have tried to expand. Although this may more commonly be accounted for by the inadequacy of their financial resources on such occasions, lack of control once the .,.scale of operations became too large to be supervised personally by one man may be of equal importance, though not so readily apparent.
A difficulty to be met when inaugurating a traffic recording system is the variety of traffic and, possibly, the conditions under which individual operators work. This is in contrast to engineering and costing records, which are largely standardized although varying in total according to the type of vehicle.
Standard Records
There is also some standardization of traffic records in respect of passenger vehicles, and these often form some of the most exact of transport returns. Hut the recording of the movement of goods must be largely individual to each operator. In addition to variations in traffic carried, there are also substantial differences in the manner in which orders are received from customers.
A load may be directly canvassed by the driver, collected, and conveyed forthwith if agreement is reached. Alternatively, as is probably more often the case, customers may give instructions direct by telephone, by post, or through a canvasser.
Where traffic is passing regularly, and though there may be an overall agreement that it should be carried, precise instructions as to its consignment may be given only at the time the goods are collected. A further complication may arise Where a single consignment consists of a large number of similar packages. Only one instruction note will probably be issued whilst, at the same time, only sample consignments may carry the address of the consignee.
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Whilst the several types of consign ment and .advice notes may ideally sui the needs of the haulier's customers most operators find that such a not, greatly facilitates control of traffic i some form of internal standardize‘ consignment note is adopted.
When determining the form sucl a consignment note should take, consideration should be give] to the traffic recording system as a whole, to' ensure that ; logical sequence is followed. Traffic recording can be con veniently grouped into four functions. First, there is the initia recording of instructions received from customers as to th, time and place of collection, description of goods and the timl and place of delivery. Each individual instruction has them to be appropriately and economically grouped with othe instructions and allocated to particular vehicles.Drivers hay then to be instructed for duty accordingly, and issued with. th necessary documentation. Finally, this is returned confirmin proof of delivery and providing the basis for the correc charges to be made to each customer.
Complication
Compared with the small fleet operating from one base, ; further complication in traffic organization arises when the tota fleet is dispersed between a number of depots, and whet vehicles do not regularly return to their home base each night It then becomes even more important that not only shouli accurate instructions be given to drivers by telephone, bu equally that all members of the organizations concerned shouli subsequently know what verbal instructions have, in fact, beei given.
In keeping with the four functions of traffic recording jus enumerated, it is recommended that, however the initra instructions from _customers are received, these should la recorded on a standardized summary which would then forn the basis of subsequent scheduling of journeys and drivers duties. The precise form of such a summary would obviousI be drawn up to suit individual operators' particular set o conditions, and the following is suggested only as a basi example.
Dependent upon the size of the organization or depot, sucl a summary form could be divided horizontally into, say, 51 divisions with the appropriate numbering (i.e., from 1-50 ii the first vertical column). The next vertical section woulo relate to the manner in which the customers' instructions wer received, with a sub-division to permit entry of the date an time the order was received, and whether this was verbally o by written instruction.
. The purpose of numbering each line is to assist clarificatia of any subsequent query arising from collection and deliVer3 kdditionally, where it was the custom for canvassers employed y the operator, agents or traffic offices of larger customers to elephone their instructions, they could be told the appropriate ne number as confirmation of receipt of each individual order. t would similarly provide a reference to the appropriate epartment when an ancillary user was providing a comprehenive service to a large organization.
The main section of the form would be given over to a escription of the traffic to be carried and the point of ollection and delivery. It is this section, in particular, which tint obviously vary according to individual circumstances, but le minimum requirement would be the point of collection, umber and weight of consignments and ultimate destination. There would then follow three consecutive columns in which enter the day, date and time that delivery is required. The nal column would be devoted to the transport reference umber, which would provide a link between receipt of ustomers' orders and the detailing of a driver to carry out the qark.
In addition to the obvious and immediate need to record the ate and time delivery is required, a summary of such data this form can provide additional benefit. Adequate advance iformation can undoubtedly assist an operator to provide conomic services and, when rates are being periodically eviewed, it would be invaluable for him to have factual iformation as to the assistance he receives from his various ustomers in this direction.
C-Licensees, Too Such a review may be equally necessary for ancillary users. Vhilst, admittedly, transport should he a service to trade and idustry—and particularly so when a C-licence fleet has been nit up precisely for that purpose—there must come a point hen too-frequent requests for urgent collection or delivery ecomes most uneconomic and unreasonable. The existence of factual summary would provide a means of determining Ihich particular departments were prone to making extravagant emands on the transport department.
From this summary of customers' orders, the data recorded iould then be transferred to a working arrangement sheet rhich would be virtually the key record of traffic .control. Vhether, in fact, it was confined to daily or weekly operation 'ould be dependent upon the type of work undertaken by idividual users. But where vehicles were commonly away for ne or more nights, a weekly sheet would facilitate overall lanning.
Where a weekly sheet was adopted, and mediumor
mg-distance eration was involved, it would probably be onvenient to commence the weekly sheet on a Saturday, when ame of the vehicles may be loading ready for delivery on 4onday.
It is suggested that the weekly working arrangement sheet hould be divided vertically into nine main columns. The first column would be sub-divided to permit entry of details relative to vehicles and drivers. Assuming that a fleet numbering system had been adopted to indicate the capacity (and possibly type) of each vehicle, the listing of all vehicles in the fleet available for service in numerical order would simultaneously group them according to size and type. This would obviously be of assistance when marrying loads to vehicles. Alongside the vehicle numbers would be entered the drivers' names which, in the majority of cases, would remain the same where a policy of allocating one driver permanently to a vehicle was in force. The next seven successive columns would be headed by the appropriate day and date.
Because this working arrangement sheet would, of necessity. be large in size in the interest of legibility, it would probably prove of advantage to duplicate the first column (i.e., relative to a description of the driver and vehicle) in the last column. This would eliminate the possibility of error when reading-oft the appropriate duties on the final day of the week, which might otherwise arise if reference to the vehicle or driver had to be made to the extreme left of the sheet.
It has been assumed that in the majority of cases neither hauliers nor ancillary users would have sufficient regular work, other than possibly night trunking, to justify a schedule of standardized and numbered duties as is common practice in passenger operation. Therefore, when devising this working arrangement sheet, it would be necessary to ensure that the vertical columns relative to each day of the week allowed adequate space to record whatever loading and delivery details were peculiar to individual operator's requirements. In the majority of cases various forms of abbreviation commonly used in particular trades would be employed.
Permanent Record
The working arrangement sheet suggested here would be a written and permanent record, it is appreciated, however, that in some circumstances a more temporary disposition of daily or weekly duties, such as would be provided by the use of an indicator chart and appropriate pins, would suffice. But on balance, although involving possibly a little more clerical work, the existence of a permanent record would often prove invaluable in providing, or leading to, the solution of problems concerning short or non-delivery, or similar queries.
Horizontally, the working arrangement sheet would be divided to allow one line for each vehicle in the fleet, with intermediate lines to emphasize the division between types. Where hired vehicles were also employed to supplement the main fleet, it would probably be convenient to allow space for these at the bottom of the sheet so as to give a comprehensive picture of the whole traffic movement for the week.
Finally, the addition of a record of vehicles not immediately available for service would serve as a reminder of those expected to be made available during the week under review. S. B.