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• More than 80% of breweries distribute their drinks with
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an in-house truck fleet because it is cheaper that way and because they prefer their own trained staff to handle the product.
Several major breweries say that they have watched competitors experiment with third-party contract distribution firms in the past couple of years, and did not like what they saw. The industry in general remains fiercely proud of its independence, and -control" still figures largely in their justification for keeping things in-house— 17% choose the inhouse option because it helps them keep better control of their image, and 14% like to keep scheduling under their control.
One North Country brewery has told us that it is worried about the fact that once a company has made the decision to pump its distribution out on contract, "it's pretty much impossible to bring it back in-house again". Of the 14% of interviewees who have gone to thirdparty distribution, however, it is fair to say that the majority are quite happy with the service they get.
When we asked about fleet profiles, we were surprised to discover that just over half of the country's breweries do not run artics at all. The 17-tonne rigid remains the industry's workhorse.
NATIONAL DISTRIBUTION
Some 60% don't run trailers either. And of those who do, rental is a very popular option. Drawbars remain a fringe option, but their use will probably grow with the increasing number of breweries opting for national distribution.
Around 55% of breweries still distribute their beer locally but oncesmall companies like Mansfield Brewery are growing fast. Only 3% of our interviewees distribute to Europe at the moment, but most of the transport managers we talked to believe that central distribution depots will continue to grow in importance.
Beer is still the most popular load, and curtainsided bodies the most popular type of bodywork. Nearly 60% of breweries opt for curtainsiders, with only 3% preferring folding/rolling sides and 5% preferring sliding side doors. Curtainsiders come up again as the type of bodywork which requires most maintenance, but this is because they are SO common.
The vast majority of breweries told us that it was other types of bodywork they found the most irritating, and they identified things like door catches, locating pins, floor surfaces and so on as troublesome. One London brewery told us "We are moving over to a new sort of curtainsider with spring clips as opposed to rails because we have found this sort of fastening definitely requires less maintenance." An interviewee based in Sussex told Bodybuilder: "Most of our maintenance is repairing slashes and rips in the curtainsides caused by thieves and vandals." Another told us: "We operate dropsiders at the moment but we are moving over to curtainsiders because they are better and cheaper all round."
Leyland Daf heads the chassis stakes with a 27% share of the market, followed by Iveco Ford with 21%. Volvo is the only other chassis to make it into double figures on market share, and Scania and MAN both scored a duck. Most of the breweries we spoke to like the 17-tonne Iveco Ford Cargo and the 17-tonne Leyland Daf Roadrunner.
Nearly 40% replace their vehicles every five years; 25% opt for every seven years. The 11% who answered "other" to this question either contract their distribution out, or exchange their vehicles on a mileage basis.
Boalloy is the most popular bodybuilder in the drinks business, with 23% of the breweries naming it their number one preferred supplier.
Don-Bur did well, with a 20% following, and Southfields took third spot with 12%. Also-rans included York, Crane Fruehauf and Lawrence David. All of the 28% "others" were small, local and independent bodybuilders. Most of these small local companies have been working with the breweries in question for many years.
Some 70% of brewery transport managers keep the bodywork in action for more than five years and were keen to stress to us during the interview that they usually carry out a thorough refurbishment every three years. Virtually all of the breweries we spoke to say that they would change bodywork more frequently if budgets allowed it. One interviewee told us that the company he works for expect its trucks to look pristine on the road but refused to increase the replacement/fleet budget in real terms.
As the breweries come under ever greater economic pressure, this sort of squeeze is going to get worse.
When we came to the question "Do you insist that all of the bodybuilders you use have BS5750?", we were staggered by the 34% of interviewees who basically said "What the hell is that?" And quite a large number of the 44% who said "no" did so without questioning what benefits imposing such a standard could bring.
Most operators seem happy with the bodywork they specify, though lower loading heights and tougher floor surfaces were singled out for more attention. A Birmingham Brewery told us "more lightweight bodywork in
general please,and one West Country firm thinks that few bodybuilders ever pay attention to eliminating dangerous, slippery, wet floor surfaces.
When it comes to buying their trucks. 40% of breweries devise a specification first and then choose the most costeffective bodybuilder to meet that demand: 29% of breweries still choose to use their traditional supplier simply because he or she has always supplied the operation. Auctions are the best way to get rid of used drays, then private sale. And of those who were prepared to tell us what their annual budgets were, nearly half spend less than £250,000. The 8% who spent £750,000 to £1 million last year, the 6% who spent £1 million to £2 million and the 6% who spent more than £2 million have declined this year to 5%, 1% and 1% respectively. It seems that 1990 will not be show time for the big spenders.
ID by Geoff Hadwick