Keep on keeping on
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AK Worthington marks its 30th anniversary this year, but don’t expect fireworks – MD Julian Richards is happy to just get on with the job
Words: Christopher Walton / Images: Tom Cunningham AK WORTHINGTON, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, has become as regular on the Manchunian landscape in the past three decades as Coronation Street, winning Premier league titles (in the red half at least) and ‘baggy’ rave music.
But the 30th anniversary isn’t going to the family irm’s head (the A stands for Anthony, or Tony, Worthington who founded the company). They are not hiring out the Albert Hall, joshes MD Julian Richards, who joined the irm just 11 years ago, nor are they doing anything oficial. There are, he says, “a few” trucks carrying a 30th anniversary emblem, but that is for “the customers to know they are working for a traditional haulier that is still going” .
Richards explains: “When I came from Geodis, Tony’s idea was to take a family business and modernise it slightly. Since then, we have more than doubled turnover.” He is full of sympathy for hauliers that have recently been forced to close their doors. When CM caught up with Richards, it was just after 161-year-old Joseph Rice & Sons and Derek Linch Haulage had ceased trading. He says it is hard to mark an anniversary such as your 30th year of trading when other established family businesses cannot survive.
“We are strong enough and the balance sheet is pretty good; we are not cap in hand to the banks, which is handy. We will come out of all this stronger, and it is the time to invest.”
It would be fair to say that AK Worthington punches above its weight. It has a leet of 71 vehicles and 101 trailers, and, through its sister company World Freight Centre, it manages 700,000ft2 of warehousing space in Trafford Park. In November of last year, it took on 200,000ft2 of warehousing space next to its current site – a £2.5m spend – but Richards notes that the growth is for sanity, not vanity. However, like those other great family hauliers of the North West (Sutton & Sons; Stobart Group: Fagan and Whalley) it has become a permanent ixture on the haulage map.
“Our strength is being a North West logistics provider,” he says, conceding that the company does punch above its weight. People are normally quite surprised we are as small as we are, but the livery is quite striking and we do invest in the leet, and I guess we work hard at the PR. And with the warehousing, we do have the best of both worlds,” he says.
Increasing in size
Over the years, AK Worthington has used many familiar means to increase its scope and size for customers. It became a Palletforce member in 2004 after trialing with other networks – the best network in the world, according to Richards. The irm is also a founder member of the Partnerlink network, a consortium of 17 hauliers across the UK ranging from Intercounty Distribution in Cornwall to Caledonian Transport in Aberdeen, exchanging full and part-loads, sharing warehousing space and routes.
“There is quite a cost to get into Palletforce, but once you are in, it is a serious player, and it quickly became an important part of our business. We are probably focused a bit more on volumes going into Partnerlink, but getting one pallet in for one is just as important as getting one pallet in for another.” Customer focus at AK Worthington in recent years has been on food volumes, as they are pretty much recessionproof, and investment in that sector has taken the company into more valueadded services, such as packaging. Richards is reluctant to talk customer names, but he describes some contracts as “mouth-watering” , with one major contract running out of four different locations across the UK, while another with a “big 3PL” sees quite a large contract start this month.
Returning to the subject of trading during a recession, Richards notes: “With other companies going under, you realise there is a small fraction of error. Serious customers want some stability in their hauliers, they do not want to be changing haulier every few years. On the transport side, it is very dificult to get any long-term commitment to contracts – you are only as good as your last job.” Pressure on keeping the job has seen many contracts change hands in the past few years, as customers have given contracts to the cheapest tender with some unscrupulous hauliers running one contract at a loss, while other contracts are over-charged, in order to maintain high volumes. It is a practice Richards hopes we will soon see the back of.
Competitive prices
“In the past three-to-ive years, it has been a massive problem with people just looking at price. There has been a queue of hauliers looking to do it £1 cheaper,” he says, but notes it becomes less frequent as that proverbial queue of hauliers shortens and the operator’s balance sheet becomes an important part of the tender process to customers.
As with virtually all operators, the continuing high price of fuel and duty on fuel remains a concern for the steady operation of the business: “The high cost of fuel means that the cost of living is going up dramatically.
“That is going to effect the economy, and for our customers that is just as painful. Next time you have to buy a suit, or a loaf of bread, and the price has gone up, that is where that cost goes.”
Like Sir Alex Ferguson building another title-winning side with Manchester United, or the Coronation Street tram crash keeping it on top of the ratings, the need for AK Worthington to keep reinventing itself as a thoroughly modern employee should ensure it remains strong and vibrant enough to celebrate a few more anniversaries along the way. ■