Where the Public Call the Tune
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THE first impression received by a visitor to the transport department of Bakers, Ltd., at Congella, Durban, South Africa, is the great variety of different types of delivery van to be seen on the premises. The reason is that each van has been built for a specific bread round. In fact, the system works well and is the only satisfactory method of dealing with operating conditions that differ widely within a relatively small
area. .
Bakers, Ltd., are one of the largest baking and confectionery concerns in the Union of South Africa and, in addition to a large mill and bread bakery and a biscuit factory in . Durban, the company own premises in Cape Town and Johannesburg. It is difficult to go to any part of Durban without being within sight of at least one of Bakers' smart red and black vans, with their white roofs, and most of the fleet of 97 is out around the city from early morning until late afternoon.
Bread is delivered to many more households than in Great Britain. Most European families, in Durban at any rate, enjoy a Much higher standard of living than we at home, and delivered bread is taken as a matter of course, few people buying it directly from the shops.
Large Capacity Needed This means that the vans have to have a large capacity for goods and roundsmen, but heavy chassis are not required, because the daily mileage is low. The difficulty of finding an ideal chassis is further aggravated by the rulings of the Health Authority, which demand a clear central gangway down the . length of all breaddelivery vans. Bodywork must be correspondingly large, but the average normal-control 3-tonner cannot carry more than about 2,000 loaves.
Not that this ruling is a bad thing: Bakers, Ltd., had tried for years to get this type of body approved on hygienic grounds, but it was not until fairly recently that approval was given. At the same time, the Health Authority recommended that this style of body be adopted generally by bakers.
The fleet consists of 68 American vehicles, the majority of these being of Ford and International manufacture, and 29 British vans: The British contingent is being steadily increased as the American vehicles, which are up to 10 years old, are withdrawn. Ten vehicles are employed solely on maintenance, stores and welfare duties. There are also 12 cars, of which half are British.
Seven Commer, four Morris-Commercial, two Bedford, three Austin, three Thornycroft,. five Guy, two Seddon, one Thames, one Karrier and one E.R.F.
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comprise the British vehicles. The .E.R.f, is a 7-tonner used for flour delivery and is powered by a Gardner 4LW oil engine: Most of the other vehicles are based on 3-ton chassis, although 3-ton payloads are rare.
The Karrier is a Bantam. It is orie of the newest in the fleet and has an all-steel body with a capacity for 1.500 loaves on shelves. The use of steel saves 400 lb. in weight and this type of construction may be more widely adopted, depending on the rate of corrosion. Meantime, however, lour more vehicles with all-steel bodies are being put into service: two of these will be Dennis Storks, one an Albion Claymore underfloorengined chassis and the other a petrol-engined.Bantam.
Mr. R. E. Purdham, A.M.(S.A.)I.E.E., A.M.I.Cert.E., chief engineer, told me that the type of vehicle that he considered to be ideal for his fleet should be based on a forward-control petrol-engirted long-wheelbase chassis, and regretted the growing predominance of oil-engined vehicles of this type.
One of the few vehicles still produced which satisfies this condition is the Karrier Bantam, although the advent of other 3-tormers in this category, such as the new B.M.C. models, will help to widen the choice.
Although Bakers' delivery area covers approximately 120 sq. miles around Durban, with daily rounds of 10 to 60 miles, by far the largest number of deliveries is made within a radius of three miles from the factory. This results in small monthly mileages for many of the vehicles. It has been shown that if a vehicle's mileage is under 800 per month, the use of an oil engine is not economical, despite the saving in fuel.
Oilers Too Slow
Another reason for not using oil-engined vehicles is that they were originally found to be too slow on delivery work, although this disadvantage was counteracted by fitting Eaton two-speed axles, which, in turn. made the vehicles more expensive. Similarly, batteryeleetries are considered to be of little use because of the hilly nature of the area, in addition to their slowness.
These, then, are the reasons why it is not proposed to adopt oilers as standard, although they will be used on long runs between depots. A Guy Otter with a Gardner 4LK power Unit and a 3,200-loaf shelved bpdy is at present making runs of 60 miles per day along the south coast, making wholesale deliveries to shops, and an Austin 5-tonner with a Perkins P.6 engine is similarly engaged. Both these vehicles travel off the road for the most part and there are many miles of dirt roads and several rivers to he negotiated on each run.
The total fleet mileage is about 800,000 per year. and individual vehicle mileages vary between 3,500 and 20,000 a year. The average life of vehicles so far used is estimated at 90,000 miles, which works out to about 10 years for most vans. Thus most of the American vehicles which were bought in 1945 and 1946, when British chassis were not available in large numbers, will shortly be due for replacement, and before long the fleet will show signs of being completely British. The biggest problem facing Mr. Purdham and his transport manager, Mr. C. J. Knight, is the Saturday delivery rush, Although the density of deliveries per square mile is much higher in Durban than in Britain, the demand is increased by 50 per cent. on Saturdays, because no Sunday deliveries are made. Bodies must, therefore, be large enough to deal with the extra load. Consequently, the vans are not loaded to capacity during the week, when single deliveries are made.
Further complications ensue from the fact that few customers will take their full requirements for the weekend on Saturday mornings, so an afternoon delivery has to be made to ensure reasonably fresh bread for Sundays. To avoid a constant flow of vans back to the bakery during the afternoon; a system of feeder services is brought into play, for which all available vehicles are used.
Winter Holiday Peak
Van bodies have to be large enough to cope not only with the Saturday peak, but with seasonal demands, which are greatest in July and August and are at their lowest in January and February. Durban, being a modern coastal town, offers great attractions as a holiday resort, but although the South African summer occurs between January and March, the climate in Durban is too oppressive and most visitors from inland choose the winter months, when the heat is less intense.
So that the full fleet will be available for the Saturday peak period, all repair and routine maintenance work is, wherever possible, done during the first five days of each week.
All bodywork is locally built and, with the exception of the five all-metal bodies, is of composite construction. The standard body is of the box type, the cab being kept separate for reasons of hygiene. These bodies have large doors at the rear and double doors on the near side, midway between the axles. The rear doors are used purely for loading and unloading at the depot and at all other times they are locked.
The interior of each van is divided into two sections, there being a clear floor space adjacent to the side doors. This space leads into the central gangway, which passes between the bread shelves and is used to house steel racks for cake boxes. The ratio of loaf shelves to cake racks varies in each van according to the round on which it is to be operated, as higher cake sales are regularly made on some rounds than on others.
Internal Cleaning Simplified ._
Cleaning the insides is made as simple as possible by avoiding dirt-trapping corners and apertures, and vans are scrubbed internally twice a week, it being considered that more frequent washing would cause the paintwork to deteriorate. A more thorough cleansing programme is carried out once every two weeks, when vans are steam-washed with a Teepol spray. After each washing, the vans are backed out to the forecourt, where there is a convenient stretch of sloping grass which allows all the water to drain away.
The bread is loaded directly into the shelves in the delivery vans, but the four vans which have been specially constructed for work as feeders contain racks to carry trays of loaves. Some vans have roof racks for roundsmen's baskets and bicycles, it having been found that on certain rounds it is quicker to send the boys off from the vans on bicycles to isolated houses, rather than to drive the vehicle there.
As each van returns to the depot at Congella, the driver orders his requirements for the following day. It is parked in its allocated loading bay and, if due for it, is then cleaned under the driver's supervision. During
,s14 the night the vans are loaded and all are out on the road again by 7 a.m.
Only Indians are employed as drivers, who act also as salesmen. There is no incentive scheme, but those who are above the average are marked down for promotion or an increase in wages. A driver's average wages for the month are approximately £32 10s., including occasional overtime. The delivery boys, of whom there may be from one to five for each vehicle, depending upon the density of the round, receive £10 per month, thus the monthly wage bills for each round vary from £55 to £88.
These boys' jobs have been handed down from father to son through the generations and many of the boys have been with the company long enough to remember the days, just before the war, when 85 per cent, of all deliveries were made by horsed vans.
In addition to the fleet at Congella, there are 40 vans operating-as a self-contained unit in Cape Town, and eight vehicles in Johannesburg which are maintained in the Durban . workshops. Because of Government restrictions on mileage, it is not possible for Bakers to send their biscuits to Johannesburg by road, and this increases the journey time by at least 100 per cent.
Durban's Congested Streets
The Durban vehicles have to operate in a congested network of streets and conditions are made worse by the preponderance of hills which lie in and around Durban. On some five-mile delivery runs in the central area as many as 70 stops are made, and this sort of work naturally takes its toll of engines and tyres, In the outer areas, the biggest impediment to economic operation is mud, and there is plenty of it to be found on the country roads serving the city. These rough roads are also the cause of Mr. Purdharn`s principal complaints about British vehicles, namely, that cabs and radiators are too insecurely Mounted to stay on the chassis for long. It has recently been decided to build cabs locally Other complaints about British vehicles, although not severe, concern the brakes, which in some cases arc thought to be weak (which supports the theory that a 3-ton vehicle does need a servo), and universal-joint bearings. The bearings have been found to break up easily and no satisfactory cure has yet been evolved.
Minor engine troubles which were mentioned to me include burnt-out valves on certain types of petrol engine, and loose oil pumps, which have been experienced with one proprietary make of oil engine. If the pump moves it allows air to be sucked up with the oil and the resultant insufficient lubrication causes mainand big-end bearings to run.
Repairs and Painting
Mr. Purdham is responsible for all repairs, maintenance, purchasing, body design, painting and tyre control, in addition to his normal engineering duties in connection with the bakery plant. The demands of the plant rarely leave him more than an hour each week to devote solely to the transport fleet, and it is hoped to find a qualified engineer,who will take over this side as a transport supervisor. Although Mr. Knight is the transport manager, his main preoccupations are sales and vehicle allocation. His duties also •include keeping petrol and mileage records.
These records, together with other statistics, which are compiled each month, are combined into a ." Bread Round Analysis," which shows the rounds run at a The bakery trade is highly competitive in South Africa as in this country.
Routine maintenance checks and lubrication programmes are carried out on all vehicles at 1,000 miles. At six-mot-Mt, interVals each vehicle receives a thorough inspection, but vans are not called in for repair unless the drivers' 'records of daily mileages atid fuel consumpt:on indicate that an overhaul is necessary.
The garage at Congella is not large, but is sufficient to meet current demands. The foreman, Mr, W. L. Coleman, has two European fitters working under him. There are also three Indians, one of whom acts as bicycle mechanic and the other two as strippers, and three native boys who start work at 5 a.m. each day by checking all tyre pressures. These boys are also employed 'on greasing jobs and the topping-up of batteries.
Each vehicle' has its own workshop card on which details of all repairs _are entered. Complete vehicle overhauls can • be carried out, but rebores and crank regrinding are sent out to a specialist. The frequency of the repairs is reduced by keeping the same driver to each vehicle as far as possible.
Representative sets of spares for each vehicle are kept in numbered boxes and should a vehicle break down on the road, a recovery vehicle is sent out with an appropriate box-of -spares, a system which has been found to work well. Similarly, spare wheels are kept at the depot and are taken out by a breakdown vehicle should punctures occur. •
On concentrated delivery .work and off-the-road running, tyres can present acute problems and ._Bakers exercise strict control over tyre wear. Before an original cover is allowed to get into a bad state, -it is retreaded. Each tyre is retreaded as many as three times, giving it a total mileage of up to 60,000. •