REGIONAL DISTRIBUTION
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Operating on a smaller scale is FH Roberts & Sons of Southampton a business grown out of a newspaper wholesaler, working mainly for distributor Comag. Information technology enables most newspaper and magazines to now print regionally from satellite plants, shortening supply chains. Roberts runs seven DAF CF85 artics a couple of them double-shifted collecting bulk consignments from printers in Southampton and, occasionally, Portsmouth. Stephen Roberts, and his brother Graham, manage the firm founded by their father, delivering to wholesalers throughout the south, mainly between midnight and midday.
The consolidation of print centres has improved things, enabling us to move from rigids to artics," says Roberts.
A traditional approach to business owning both its yard and its vehicles has helped the firm through the downturn. Roberts use GSM tracking and mobile phones to coordinate the curtainsided fleet and has a low churn of experienced staff. Most important is what Roberts describes as a "comfortable mix" of work: print logistics dovetailing neatly with a just-in-time contract to warehouse and supply tyres direct to the line at the nearby Ford Transit factory.