1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178 
Playing the part
Page 24
Page 25
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Fruehauf Parts and Service has been a leader in trailer maintenance for decades. It is now under new management and Andy Salter catches up with the new managing director.
Following a couple of visits to MAN-ERF's HQ in Swindon at the end of last year we'd been left ruminating on the whereabouts of Darren Weeks, MAN-ERF's UK aftersales director.A key part of the powerful MAN-ERF triumvirate with Des Evans and Dave Cussans, Weeks was well known throughout the MANERF organisation as an operator's man: a guy who understands the needs of the customer and who would move mountains to ensure the vehicles stayed on the road, earning money.
A chance meeting before Christmas answered the mystery. Weeks had left MANERF, but it wasn't until the beginning of :his year that he emerged as one of the new ;hareholders in Bullwell Contracts, the new )wner of FP&S Parts, the former aftersales -nisiness of Fruehauf trailers before it went nto receivership two years ago, and Bullwell [railer Solutions, the mobile service and repair livision of the company.The latter is headed by 3ary Bulley.
FP&S. like its former parent, has been hrough a fairly turbulent time of late. It was >ought by its management at the time of the -7ruehauf collapse. Word was that this was the inly profitable hit of the business,although any ;reen shoots of recovery swiftly evaporated and FP&S went into administration last year.
Enter Weeks and fellow director Nick Davies armed with a strategy for sustained business growth and some much-needed investment.As a result the past few months have seen a fairly tough restructuring of the business in order to prepare the platform for growth.
This has led to some job losses, particularly at the Dereham HQ in Norfolk. "This isn't a process I've enjoyed," says managing director Weeks, "but we now have a strong management structure in place, which will give the business the sound footing from which to move forward, Service measurement -We now have a branch network that is focused on delivering an excellent service to the customer. In this business, you live or die by the service you provide for your customers — and if we don't deliver what they want, they'll soon move elsewhere."
The FP&S business is divided into two divisions — parts and service, as the name suggests. The service business, rebranded Bullwell Trailer Solutions, looks after the trailer maintenance of a growing client base via a fleet of more than 50 mobile workshop vehicles.These are strategically located around the country and a plan is in place to add at least one vehicle a month over the next 12 months to extend the geographical coverage of the operation to meet the growing customer base.
-Everyone knows the company for the parts side of the business," says Weeks, "and while that's clearly got a strong future, were very excited about the potential for the mobile workshops. It's important for us now to ensure we've got the right people with the right vehicles in the right place to look after the customers.
"We are investing heavily in this side of the business. All the vans will be equipped with PDA mobile devices to track and trace the jobs and constantly update what the service team is doing.We'll he buying more vans and recruiting more of the right people."
Bullwell Trailer Solutions is operated from a central control room with a lot of the maintenance carried out at the customers' premises, although there are also multi-bay trailer workshops at Tamworth and Swindon and a proposed new site in Newport. Gwent, for more extensive repairs, refurbishments, conversions and accident repairs.
Competitive sector FP&S Parts, the more familiar parts supply side of the business, is where much of the strategic development work has been to introduce sharper work practices into the organisation. Weeks' experience from MAN ERF has no doubt stood him in good stead for the challenges here. -The trailer parts business is a hugely competitive sector." he says.-To make FP&S Parts profitable we need to drive as much unnecessary cost from the business as possible."
Illustrating the competitive nature of the sector, Weeks took a call during our meeting from a customer playing one supplier off against another on price. "We have to be as tough as possible on price," says Weeks, -or there's no point in us being in business. We'll have to let this one go. I'm not going to engage in suicidal pricing battles. If we were in this business just with a view to selling the business on and making a fast buck, then we would do every deal no matter what the price, just to make our figures look good That's not the plan; there's far too much potential for us to realise from FP&S Parts to start doing anything silly."
Trailers provide the bread and butter of the business and FP&S Parts will be looking to derive increased growth from it. However, the management team will also consider opportunities to expand. Fast-moving truck parts, for instance, have already been added to the portfolio and further development of the mobile service business is possible.
Weeks is well educated in the demands of a commercial vehicle operator and the trailer maintenance business will be all the better for his arrival on the scene. Expect to hear more of him and the company over the coming months FP&S is definitely back in business. n