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Light van deliveries in record time

5th September 1975
Page 45
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Page 45, 5th September 1975 — Light van deliveries in record time
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Frantic scene

For competition to supply and sell a product in huge quantities to a fickle clientele whose taste and choice cannot be predicted or secured with any degree of continuity virtually from one minute to the next, the record industry takes the prize. It is only the flexibility of light commercial vehicles which enables this frantic scene to continue.

Certainly by a judicious mixture of own transport for the areas of intense radtivity and hired in transport for the less congested areas,. CBS Records Ltd in West London exploit that flexibility 'to the full.

Though there is a steady and continuous demand for firm favourites such as classical muSic or for vocalists who have captured and retained the public's acclaim over the years, this is the bread and butter of the industry.

The jam on the bread' and butter is the "Top Ten." To satisfy the demand for these records calls for some pretty slick road transport and, taking into account the critical nature of the deliveries and the difficulties of moving about a city the size of London, it is here that CBS Records have concentrated their own fleet of 18cwt Ford Transits. Using 'these vehicles a next-day delivery following customers' orders is maintained through out an area stretching : Barnet to Croydon and : Barking to Maidenhead.

This might seem simple, but there is more than at firSt appears. To tur stand the complexities of operation, it is necessar: look behind the scenes at company's headquarters w up to 50 telephone girls frantically engaged 'in acl ing orders for an 'in= variety of records.

Here, at the West Um warehouse where the proC of three recordng compE are concentrated for dust, tion, telephone orders received all-day long. N complicates the system is one customer might ask two or three separate Os on the same day. The ris of the business is such every customer wants his r order completed as soot possible and is rarely prep to accept packages 'in o sequence. To be without is asked for 'currently h lose a sale forever in the re business. lerefore, all the daily rrs for each individual omer must be consolidated the complete order arrive he loading bay packaged ready for delivery by the ring. This method is much e satisfactory than trying satisfy customers more once a day. Only a few ths ago CBS was deliverin Central London two and e times a day. However, n one customer who had !red for the second time at n complained bitterly that 30pm delivery on the seccall of the day was "boo ," the company decided to )tnalise its delivery service. ow, orders are consolidated wheeled trolleys at the ling bay. Each trolley reents a particular round none of the 'trolleys goes the vehicle. Unloading the leys into the Transit ye?s is is no hardship as the est parcel is no more than in weight and the loading L is at floor level.

uesday and Thursday are two peak delivery days of week. After the intense ing of the weekend, the nd shops inundate the ipany with orders on Monto restock 'their depleted Ves. Thursday orders are, course, in anticipation of following weekend's deids and are frequently the ilit of "Top Ten" predics.

.ny record that is not dered by Friday evening, I ; told, had no chance of a that weekend.

hough the intensity of very obviously varies with season, an average trip ines about 50 parcels and le 30 drops. In a busy ion, such as before Christ;, this can intensify to over crops when the rounds bele really hard work.

'is for this reason that the ipany supplies its drivers h the de luxe version of Transit equipped with a io—as if the driver had not . enough of pop records on job—and a 'bench seat. permission the driver is a. to take a passenger—pers a member of the family n the round with him. >espite the obvious implicais of such a procedure, CBS s to keep the same drivers on the same rounds. The company believes that familiarity with the round, the area it covers and the customers in it helps •to speed the deliveries and this far outweighs the possible disadvantages which could arise.

There is another consideration, too. Record shops tend to stay open later and remain closed till well into the morning. Though this has some advantage for the driver in that he can make for the most distant drop and commence deliveries on the inward leg, there is the possibility 'that some shops will be still closed when delivery is attempted.

Getting to know you

It is useful, therefore, to know the other shopkeepers in the vicinity and to know who will be prepared to accept custody of a parcel of records till the record shop proprietor arrives. Failure to supply a customer on time, especially if he has a competitor in the vicinity who has taken .a delivery of a record much in demand, can lead only to acrimony and complaint. To bring back a parcel of records is unthinkable, so 'that knowing who will take delivery on a customer's behalf can save a great deal of waiting about by the driver.

The company has a good knowledge of which records Will be in demand before they are generally released as the result of some 'inspired crystal ball gazing and, just as order consolidation is being put on a computer as Ian experiment, so the -scheduling of rounds Will be computerised and the two functions combined if the experiment is successful. This is expected to provide :an even more efficient distribution service in the long run.

In order to ensure that adequate supplies of the records which will be in demand are available for despatch, records produced at CBS's Aylesbury factory are transported Ito the West London warehouse on a shUttle service of three 7-ton company-owned rigid vehicles. Two 3-ton rigids complete the company's own fleet and these are used for bulk deliveries of records to such organisations as record clubs, and so on, which order quite large quantities at one time.

Outside London, the distribution of the company's products nationwide is undertaken by the Courier Express division of Security Express as would be expected with such a high-value commodity of an easily disposable nature.

To facilitate 'the loading of these large vehicles, the warehouse loading bay is equipped with a scissors-lift dock leveller.

For more " greenfield " areas, CBS uses either the Post Office service or that of British Railways to distribute its products.

Tags

Organisations: Post Office
Locations: London

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