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Bardon quarries is part of Aggregate Industries, in turn part
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of the Holcim Group. The group is active in the UK, the US and Scandinavia with 100,000 employees and a £148m profit in 2004. It produces 7.4 million ms of concrete a year and is acquiring similar pre-mix enterprises.
Bardon's UK logistics manager Jeff Stobbart is a strong advocate of the contracted owner-driver system. "Franchisees make up 89% of our fleet." he says. "Owner-drivers have a strong incentive to earn money and look after the vehicles. It also reduces the company's overheads, freeing up capital to invest in plant and acquisitions."
Both Daf and Mercedes are on Bardon's approved chassis list. According to Stobbart: "Daf are popular because they are light and strong, are reasonably priced and offer good backup." The firm is also trialling two articulated mixers.
Bardon uses its purchasing power to buy the trucks and it has a deal with Barclays Mercantile to help owner-drivers finance their investments. Bardon acts as a loan guarantor -saving drivers having to put their homes on the line-thus retaining an interest in the vehicle and ensuring it comes to the firm in the event of payment default. This prevents drivers from simply upping and leaving, taking their vehicle with them to work for a competitor.
The company has put together an induction pack for prospective franchisees; a CPC is preferable but not essential and references and credit records will be checked. Franchisees can have more than one vehicle but, unlike some other firms. Bardon usually caps the number at three. Driver retention is claimed to be good and the firm is expanding the franchisee scheme to its aggregate tipper fleet.