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From Smalls To Distribution
Page 84
Page 89
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THE efficient distribution of repeat selling goods in a highly competitive field is one of the major problems of marketing. In a period of increasing advertising effort and some credit
restriction, it is important that stocks Depots to at the point of sate should always be sufficient and that arrangements should Requir exist to replace them at short notice.
Neither retailer nor manufacturer can afford to hold uneconomic stocks, and only a balanced flow of goods through the distribution pipeline can ensure that there are no gaps in the supply system or on the shop counter. This can be achieved by the establishment of local distribution centres where fluctuations in demand can be gauged and met..
A comparatively new service which several hauliers are now offering adds warehousing to their usual functions of collection and delivery. It is a service which has been enthusiastically welcomed by manufacturers who are unable to cover the entire country from their own depots or who wish to regard the haulier's warehouse as a subdepot to their own provincial centres. It solves the problems of both staff and storage, at minimum cost.
D26 Early entrants in the held of distri bution contractors were A. Packham and Co., Ltd., 60 Highbury Grove, London, N.5. The company, originally smalls carriers, now operate main
meet Selling Warehouses at Bristol, Falmouth and
Cullompton, Devon, as well as head
ements offices at Highbury, and sub-depots at Southampton, Bournemouth and Salisbury. Large storage accommodation is not available at the sub-depots, but facilities. exist to break bulk and make local distributions. The Falmouth warehouse is operated jointly with another company in which Packhams. are shareholders.
Both the Cullompton and Bristol warehouses are of con, siderable size; the former offering 260,000 cu. ft. of covered space and the latter, opened in 1959, 360,000 cu. ft. Each is well equipped With mechanical handling plant, including fork-lift trucks and conveyors, and the loading banks have 'ample space for dealing with up, to 14 vehicles;simultaneously.
Culloinpton main depot is served bY direct trunk services from London and Bristol, and distributes over Devon and part of Somerset and Dorset. Bristol depot is fed by krunkers from London, Cu!tampion and Falmouth and distributes over Wiltshire, 'part of Gloucestershire, Dorset and Somerset. Falmouth has its trunk service from London and Bristol, and serves the whole of Cornwall. No considerable storage space exists at the Highbury depot but goods inwards and outwards move so rapidly that it is scarcely necessary. .
Regular trunk services are run from London to Southampton, Bournemouth and Salisbury, and the two latter depots are also served from Bristol. It will be seen that a very efficient network covers the whole of the south-west.
The special convenience which Packham trunk service offers to retail goods manufacturers is that the merchandise can be moved without undue urgency, and without the errors which are apt to attend over-hasty movements. The bulk tragic can also be handled at alower rate than-would be the case for an individual conSignment.
On arrival at the warehouse at Bristol; CuIloinpton or Falmouth, the goods are:off-Ioaded, checked and takenitito store. Warehouse clerks bring their records up to date and the goods are • reissued only against the manufacturei's demand. The loCal deli-Very is undertaken in box-bodied
vans, the manufacturer is notified and in due course the warehouse stocks are replenished through the trunk system. The distributiOn cycle is then complete.
Counting by Ray .
Although -not strictlymechanical handling devices, the photo-electric counters employed in Packham warehouses are interesting. It was found that a" 1:-ton consignment of cartons was unloaded in about 22 minutes, the team stacking the cartons for counting in convenient lots of five or 10. The photo-electric counter, manufactured by the General Electric Co., Ltd., reduced the unloading time to eight minutes.
Pack ham warehouses are supplied almost equally by the company's own transportand that of their customers, delivering direct. The manufacturer can also deliver in bulk to the nearest Packham depot, for onward transmission. All consignments are entered on a master document known as a van guidance, which provides the traffic movement order and proof of delivery. The same sheet is also the basis for the invoice and a further copy is retained at bead office for statistical purposes. The various depots are responsible for producing accounts up to the pricing stage: thereafter, rendering of accounts to the customer is undertaken by head office.
The present Packham fleet numbers some 56 vehicles
and eight semi-trailers. About half are boxvans, with 16-ft. composite bodies by H. Tidd and Sons, Scarborough Road, London, N.4, on '5-ton Thames. chassis. There are also 15 drop side trucks-, on Thamesor Bedford chassis, and five 10-ton Bedford tractors, The-semi-trailers are variously fiats and insulated containers by the same bodybuilders. In addition, there are seven other vehicles, including cars and breakdown trucks.
Maintenance facilities exist at each of the main depots. The programme is based on time, rather than mileage, so that every vehicle is inspected at fortnightly periods, with a more detailed examination superimposed each month.
In a typical year of operations, the trunkers cover about 400,000 miles and the distribution vans approximately Irn, miles. About 24m. packages, weighing 52,000 tons, are handled and the individual consignments exceed half a million. The staff employed throughout the network numbers about 170, of whom 50 are drivers.
Rates Calculator
The Packham business has increased notably in the past year or two and the directors ascribe much of their success to the publication of an attractive brochure which is, in essence, a handy ready-reckoner of rates from a number of dispatching points to the destination areas. Apart from unusual consignments, the customer can calculate exactly what his work is going to cost. Storage is usually charged at the rate of 2d. per sq. ft. per week and there is a handling charge of between 17s. 6d. and 30s, per ton.
Packham's are also founder-members of the Eurofreight service which consigns parcels traffic for the Continent by sea or air, speedily and with the minimum of intermediate handling. This door-to-door service is rapidly finding favour with exporters.
Under the direction of the chairman, Mr. Albert Packham, and his son, Mr. Philip Packham, the company has the air of being much on its toes. The service it provides is something new in the field of mass distribution of consumer goods and its usefulness is being increasingly recognized. It is a service which provides for the rapid transport of goods in bulk from factory to warehouse. The 10-ton articulated outfits are on the road for nearly 24 hours a day throughout a five-day week.
At the warehouse end of the system, orders placed with the local manager during the afternoon are sorted and loaded overnight, so that deliveries to local shops can be made next day: .
All this is carried out by the -haulier, thus relieving the manufacturer of the outlay associated with regional depots. of the staffing problem and a complex transport organization. It would seem that there is a bright future for the distribution contractor.