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Every Little helps

10th September 2009
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Commercial Motor talks to Tesco transport director Alex Laffey about how the supermarket giant is reducing its emissions and raising its efficiency.

Words: Brian Weathei tey / mayes: iorn Lee

IT'S 8:30AM ON Monday and our interview with Tesco transport director Alex Laffey hasn't exactly got off to a flying start. Pulling into the car park of the supermarket giant's impressive Welham Green regional distribution centre (RDC) and HQ we close the car door and promptly set off the alarm of the vehicle next to us. Red-faced, we report to security with our details — and the registration number of the Toyota whooping and wailing 200m away So, with a cup of tea in hand, we're soon led into Laffey's office, whereupon he welcomes us in a broad, no-nonsense. Geordie accent.

A retail veteran of three decades, Laffey (the name's Irish) joined Tesco in 1994 after a spell at Laws Stores and then William Low. His job is to make sure that Tesco's supply chain runs like clockwork. No mean feat considering that this involves controlling the 1,900 vehicles that carry up to 62,578 product lines a week from the company's 29 distribution centres, and make 34,000 deliveries to 1,770 stores For the record, Tesco's Primary Team is also responsible for delivering 250,000 pallets each week to the Tesco RDCs. But it's not just about efficiency...

Environmental matters

The retail organisation recently raised its environmental bar to a challenging height. The business has committed us to an overall target of reducing our CO2 emissions for each case delivered to store by 50% by 2012 against a baseline of 2006,reveals Laffey.

And the progress to date? "It gets harder," he notes, "as the easiest returns are obviously on the lower hanging fruit — but we're at a good point, in terms of where we want to be."

But is it really about being greener, or simply about being more efficient and thereby gaining a green spin-off along the way? "I think it's both," says Laffey, matter-of-factly.

"We want to operate our fleet well and emit less carbon. But we're aware that running fewer miles also means less cost. As a business, we're mobilised on our corporate social responsibility agenda, but we make no apologies that it also reduces the costs of running our fleet." he says.

"And where we're working with our haulage partners, whether it be big or small, allowing them to use their vehicles fully is not only right for the environment, it's also right for the cost lines as well," he says.

Despite his exalted tide. Laffey likes to keep in close touch with the nuts and bolts of the fleet. "I'm interested in how it runs, if it's efficient and safe, and if it is giving us the carrying capacity we need to reduce road miles."

Tesco has recently invested heavily in double-deck trailers, which Laffey reports "has cut down the amount of miles we travel delivering to stores and trunking between depots".

Fleet efficiency

Having spent big on double-deckers, does he see longer artics, or even longer, heavier vehicles (LHVs), boosting the fleet efficiency of Tesco? "We're aware of the lobbying going on," he says. "We support carrying more capacity, but we have got enough to be getting on with in relation to filling our existing trucks better, and double-deckers are key parts of that."

On LHVs, Laffey says: "It's feasible, but that's more for the general haulage operator. In our space, a longer trailer is fine, a double-deck is fine, but since our core purpose is to deliver to stores, it's limited for us."

Technology Given the tough green target that needs to be hit by 2012, what part will new technology play in meeting it? "I think it's fair to say that it's early days," says Laffey, -but we're working with manufacturers on what we can do.

"We already run a small trial gas vehicle [with Mercedes] and plan to invest more and we've got the Canter hybrid, too.

"But I think our biggest challenge is to look at what you can do with your existing operation double-deck trailers have had a big impact, filling vehicles better, just actually planning how you fill them and asking: why don't I put an extra layer on that product on those pallets that are going into that vehicle'?" he says.

Given Tesco's reputation for tough negotiations with suppliers, we ask if Laffey has ever found himself caught in

the crossfire. His response is illuminating; "If you go back to the heady days of ex-factory distribution, we had some negative feedback from our supply base," he says.

"But in the past two years we've moved far more to a collaborative approach where we're working with suppliers and hauliers alike."

Fair treatment

Laffey adds: "I can't remember the last time that I had an irate haulier who was disgruntled with how he had been treated by anyone in 'reset), and similarly with suppliers.

"We're genuinely working to deliver what is a joint challenge of moving product around the country as efficiently as possible," he says.

On that topic. Laffey warms to his subject. "We don't work with everyone because it's not possible.

"We have a network of 100-plus carriers and we wouldn't work with anyone unless we were happy we were going to get the service. We don't make any demands, but we try to steer our haulage partners to make sure they can give us real-time information via telematics on service and performance and we're doing a lot of work in the industry to try to make that more accessible to smaller operators."


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