THAT WAS THE SHOW THAT WAS
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To anyone with an interest in road haulage Truckfest is an event worth looking forward to—and one that lives on in the memory for a long, long time. To help keep those memories alive, here are some of the sights that caught our photographers' attention. If you weren't there, these pictures may give you an idea of what you're missing—see you next year!
j" F Taylor Transport is a family haulage business running three trucks out of Southampton. It is about to join an international club for the business elite.
John Taylor, his wife Marion and daughter Kerry are awaiting the arrival of the certificate from the British Standards Institution that confirms their operation meets the quality assurance standard 11.55750.
It's the end result of six months' hard work which involved putting the firm's ways of working under the microscope, writing quality manuals, and satisfying a BSI inspector that a proper system for managing quality is now in place. Accreditation has also cost the firm more than £2,000 in consultants' and registration fees, but John Taylor reckons it was all worth while.
"It gives you credibility," he says. Most of his customers have turned to BS5750—or its international and European equivalents 1509000 and EN29000—and, he says: "I didn't want to get left behind."
There's little danger of that—Taylor Transport is in the vanguard: the BSI says it is one of, if the not the first small transport firm to earn BS5750. So far only 3% of small businesses are registered. More and more small businesses of all types are turning to quality assurance—but often reluctantly because BS5750 has had a bad press for being too expensive, bureaucratic and generally illsuited to the demands of running a small company.
As a result, BSI has now made changes to give smaller firms (defined as those with fewer than 10 employees) a "low-cost, no-fuss route" to registration. Research shows such firms tend to think their quality is fine but see BS5750 as a necessary evil if they are to hang on to existing customers or attract new ones. John Taylor's operation, based on ferrying containers to and from Southampton docks, fits that profile.
He started the business in 1989 and now employs two other drivers, operating a pair of FL10 6x2s and a Scania 4x2 from two centres. The shipping lines have centralised logistics in recent years and Taylor has found himself dealing with people over the phone rather than face-to-face in Southampton. A growing number of shippers have taken quality assurance on board and some wrote to ask about his plans for BS5750.
Taylor thought it over for a year before ringing the local Chamber of Commerce and arranging an initial visit by a BSI representative. At first I was totally lost," he admits. The chamber put him in touch with Workspan, a Winchester-based transport consultancy run by John Bellasis.
Taylor speaks highly of Bellasis, a former commercial manager of the Southampton shipping group ACT Services which was bought out by P&O. "He came and sat in my front room, explained about BS5750 and it became that much easier."
Right attitude
Bellasis does not recommend the registration route for all small hauliers, but it does offer benefits. Hauliers who go through the process will acquire the right attitude to quality assurance and accreditation offers a badge to prove it. "It makes companies think about certain aspects of management they haven't thought terribly relevant to their organisation," he explains.
Marion and Kerry Taylor handle all the administration; after a couple of brainstorming sessions with Bellasis they wrote down the procedures for running the business in the form of quality manuals. John Taylor says this was the first time that many of the procedures had been written down. Like many small hauliers, he says, "Everything was in my head."
A common criticism of BS5750 up to now is that everything has to be described formally and BSI assessors do like the manuals to reflect their guidelines and jargon, which is where a consultant can be crucial.
Bellasis carried out two audits to identify gaps in procedures. "You will suddenly realise it's that gap that has caused aggravation in the past and could do so again in the future," he explains. Small operators in particular tend not to understand the audit process. But a clear audit trail can help save money as well as improving quality control. For example, if a log for vehicle defects is cross-referenced to garage invoices it can highlight any overcharging. In the case of Taylor Transport the audit showed that drivers were filling in two forms for the office invoicing system where only one was necessary.
It can pay to formalise other procedures, such as the driver's duty to keep shippers informed of late arrivals (this is now set out in a drivers' manual), and feedback from the drivers. Other mundane changes included a revised filing system for invoices, PODs and EIRs, and a wallchart for monitoring vehicle servicing.
A log has also been set up for bookings and this is used to record the number of deliveries made and the percentage on time. "It's important to tell customers how well you're doing things for them," says Bellasis. Order logbooks and the customer file are backed up by three manuals covering the quality management system, the office, and the drivers.
It sounds like a library but the five documents together are no more than half an inch thick, says Bellasis, who stresses the need to keep the system simple and avoid duplication. Also included in Workspan's fees of less than £1,000 was some training to ensure that the Taylors were at ease with the new set-up. Bellasis sat in on the first monthly "quality review" meetings which cover debtors and delivery performance as well as serving as a forum to swap ideas.
John Taylor has notices a difference already: "I think the business will run a lot smoother," he says. "In fact it is at the moment." Chasing through the files is easier but he does not claim the quality of service has been transformed overnight. "I feel we were doing a good job before—the proof will be in a couple of years' time."
Nonetheless he does not believe that BS5750 is right for every small haulier, and Bellasis agrees with this view. Workspan was approached by one haulier who was gung-ho for BS5750 after a key customer, accounting for 30% of his business, asked to see his "quality plan".
Workable plan
Bellasis advised against it—you don't have to be registered with the BSI or other accrediting bodies to have a workable plan for assuring quality. But many of the large companies who have acquired the standard are under the impression that their suppliers have to follow suit. The BSI is aware of this but says it cannot prevent it.
While it may make sense for manufacturers and their component suppliers to aspire to the same quality assurance regime, it is hardly crucial for others. This is particularly true for haulage which is already tightly regulated by legislation, says Stan Mendham of the Forum for Private Business, He is unimpressed by the 13SI's changes.
"I don't think BS5750 is appropriate for small businesses which have a hands-on approach to control over quality. Will it stop hauliers dropping the parcel?", he asks.
Mendham suggests a less formal approach: go through the steps to quality assurance, draw up a quality plan but "self-certify", he advises, That way the you avoid registration and annual audit fees.
Whether or not other small hauliers follow that route or the trail blazed by his family firm, John Taylor aims to make the most of the firm's investment in BS5750. When the certificate arrives his customers will get a letter confirming Taylor Transport's new status, and the letterhead, if not the trucks, will bear the BSI registration mark. "Why not?" he asks. "If you've got it, flaunt it!"
by Eugene Since