Better Spares Service Plea at Co-op Conference
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STRONG call for vehicle operators to demand a better spares service from manufacturers was made on Monday by Mr. F. K. Farquharson, manager of the Shell-Mex and B.P. Ltd. motor department.
n addressing 418 members of the National Co-operative Traffic Managers wciation (whose members control more than 30,000 vehicles on C licences, 120 on and 50 on A) who met in Blackpool from last Saturday until Tuesday for their lh annual conference, Mr. Farquharson said: "Some manufacturers today are her consistently poor on the availability of spare parts. This is no doubt because heavy production programmes and full order books, but 1 think as users we have t to keep up the terrier act of our teeth in the seat of their pants and not be Med with this situation. We must continue to press, both individually and °ugh our various trade associations, upon manufacturers the need to improve ir spares delivery."
In a paper on Vehicle Maintenance actice, Mr. Farquharson spoke of tintenance as being based on the prinde of prevention, and recalled the days ten a driver took an "almost proietary pride in his vehicle ", which eant less work for the maintenance Tot; he stressed the value of a driver's port in spotting defects before they are allowed to develop. His company couraged drivers to report on defects it he felt there had been a reluctance use the defect report form because ivers thought they might be getting eir friends the fitters into trouble for Lying something wrong with the vehicle. While emphasizing the value of a iver's report, Mr. Farquharson warned "the need for vigilance before letting vehicle in through the doors of a work'op." This This was because of. "the addianal work which is invariably found to .tep it in for a day or two longer, thus atting up the cost when so frequently any of these extra jobs are really quite aviceable."
They "manage to get into the act added, on the basis of somebody aite conscientiously feeling that the :leas should be put right before the :hide returns to service. This is quite tudable, but if you do not watch it, a ehicle goes in for a day and stays in ar a week!"
The Shell-Mex and B.P, maintenance ystem was to inspect vehicles either every ,000 miles or every three months which ver was the earlier, he went on, This nsured a low mileage vehicle did not tin for many months without attention. le service took half a day and, in eneral, anything that required longer htention came back later.
In the workshop, the ideal would be o keep overhauls and running repairs tpart. A one-day bay near the entrance vould operate with the aim of getting 'chides in and out the same day. In his section a night shift could operate to ;peed up repairs and increase the availtbility of vehicles. This one-day bay mould leave the overhaul side free from ninor interruptions and allow steady arogress on major overhauls or repairs. Without sectionalizing the workshop in his way. a great deal of time could be lost. Mr. Farquharson said his own theory was that to take a man off one job to handle another cost about 45 minutes at the very least in lost productivity. "The man concerned picks up his tools and moves to the new job ", he said, "then, having completed it, returns to his original work and always stands to consider the position before getting started again."
He stressed the economies achieved by standardizing a fleet with the same make and model vehicles and the use of reconditioned units in speeding the process of getting vehicles back on the road.
A great deal of thought was necessary in considering the time and cost involved before renovating worn parts. " Reclamation. I have discovered", said Mr. Farquharson, "is a kind of disease which a transport engineer can easily contract because of the engineering pleasure involved. To reclaim for the sake of reclamation is a dangerous process.
On stores procedure he suggested a petty cash float be used in certain circumstances to obtain small items. " In our organization we estimate that an official order on a supplier, from issue of the requisition to payment of the supplier's account, costs more than El in administration to get something which costs 10s. This is obviously bad economics."
Longer-lived Engines Commenting on the improved performance of quantity produced engines, be felt that 5to 7-ton diesel-engined vehicles were now quite capable of covering 75,000 miles and more. from new, before overhaul, Heavier categories with 91-, 10and 11-litre engines will run " happily" for twice that distance before overhaul.
While all owners had their own opinion of the value to be gained by the general appearance of a vehicle, Mr. Farquharson's own view was that cleanliness was next to serviceability. With the delicate. pastel shades of paint in usc today it was not easy to keep vehicles clean, he said, but a daily drip-dry wash helped.. Fewer coach painters and the high costs involved had meant an end to the-days of a mirror coach finish. Compared with the traditional brushing. a
respray could save more than a third of the time. Although experiments were being made with other finishes, he felt the alkyd synthetic finishes in use today were as good as could be got.
In detailing the overhaul practice for the Shell-Mex and B.P. vehicles, Mr. Farquharson said; "Tyres are a major item of cost in any transport fleet. Our practice is to use the premium type of tyres which have a deeper tread and thicker crown rubber generally. When these have been run to the point of smoothness they are re-cut, which provides them with a further 10,00015,000 miles of life. Our practice where articulated vehicles are concerned is to fit new tyres to driving wheels and when in this position they have worn smooth theyare re-cut and transferred to semitrailer wheels for running out."
He felt there was a good case for the use or remoulded tyres on local delivery work, but remoulds were not used in his fleet— the reason for this decision being that " the nature of the product carried rather preoccupies us with safety" and the saving involved was not so substantial, at the present time, that they needed to take advantage of it.
Brake Meters Disagreed
During his paper, Mr. Farquharson warned that the commercial vehicle industry would have to face increasing control over the condition and performance of vehicles on the road. The vehicle testing scheme, brake performtmce standards and noise regulations were coming. "I think it is no more than right and proper and public spirited to welcome this sort of thing ", he said. But he spoke also of the difficulty in official quarters in deciding what equipment was acceptable for measuring standards. As an example, he told how his company had loaned three vehicles to help in experiments conducted by the Ministry of Transport and the Road Research Laboratory. Five brake meters of different makes were used to test the stopping power of a fully laden vehicle at 30 m.p.h. According to the readings on the five nieters, efficiency on the same stop ranged from 56 to 32 per cent!
Questioned on the value, ofdiesel fuel additives, he said that he had no actual experience of them. Although additives had a quality that could be defined, he thought it was nothing of really outstanding merit.
In reply to a London operator. he said his vehicles r,an on a fairly straight mineral oil from an engine overhaul until
the next inspection. We find Supplement 1 oils can delay the bedding in of rings for quite long periods after an overhaul ", he said. Mr. Farquharson was challenged on his faith in the regular driver's report on his vehicle by a Dartford delegate who urged that the transport foreman was the man to discover faults which the regular driver becomes accustomed to.
Session chairman D. H. Cartwright commented on the 6,000-mile service and oil change, when many manufacturers recommended other frequencies. lie gave as an example the Perkins 4.99, for which an oil change was recommended every 1,000 miles. In reply, Mr. Farquharson suggested that possibly some manucnturers felt some operators did not use a premium oil—but on the engines in their fleet they had found 6,000 miles satisfactory.
Air Suspension Systems When C. T. Saward, chief designer of the Dunlop Rubber Company's suspension department, explained, with the aid of slides, his company's air suspension systems for commercial vehicles, he was
criticized on the high cost. .
Fitting the system to a 5-ton travelling shop, which, as a delegate said, was the most practical use for Co-operative retailers, would cost £200 or more. But once the system was developed in qUantity that would be bettered. At• rirdent the price was comparatively high hecaUse of the limited production and the fact that they could not alter existing axle designs—they had to do their best to effect a reasonable layout:. Dunlop technicians had to strip the vehicle 'themselves and modify the system to fit the vehicle, taking perhaps two or three days
on the job. • Asked by a Belfast delegate what quantity would be necessary 'before the price came down to what he considered was an acceptable level of /60 to £100, Mr. Saward said his company was hoping for 1,000 a week. But as the most immediate application was likely to be in giving smoother rides in ambulances, this would take time—for there were only 1,100 ambulances in this country and each one was changed approximately only every five years.
Mr. Saward hoped it would not be long before air suspension was available as a standard extra on commercial vehicles providing, as it did, the same stable and comfortable ride irrespective of the load.
After Mr. Saward had, during his paper, explained the simplicity of the Dunlop Pneuride suspension in operation 860 and maintenance once it was fitted, and also.had extolled its value in comfortable rides for passenger service vehicles and in carrying fragile loads on commercial vehicles, it was a Scotsman who stood up and suggested that with so much ancillary equipment now being introduced which took its power from the engine, it would soon be time for manufacturers to provide an engine simply to drive the vehicle again!
Earlier in the conference, in a paper entitled " Diesel in Distress—the Inside Story ", T. G. Charlesworth, chief instructor of C.A.V., said that half the troubles which occurred in diesel engines could be attributed to dirty fuel. This was at a time when tile amount of diesel fuel used was increasing dramatically; in 1963, m. tons of diesel gas oil was used ii this country, an increase of l m. tons on 1962.
Such an increase in the use of the diesel demanded increased service facilities. He stressed the value of practical training courses and when challenged by one traffic manager that with 'workshop staffs of anything from four to 20 men they could ill afford to have specialists Or, indeed, let staff go away on courses for long periods, Mr. Charlesworth said that the time involved, usually a week, was small .compared with the reward of
speedy and efficient work.. .
A point to remember in servicing the
vehicle was that fuel delivery pipes shou not be allowed to vibrate excessively; they did, they would soon fracture. explained the C.A.V. Filtrap aids to cleLfuel, emphasized the need to folio manufacturers' instructions when startir the vehicle, and stressed the importano of correct servicing of the fuel inject° as an aid to correct and economic runnit of the diesel.
The Smoke Problem Commenting in his paper on the smol problem, Mr. Charlesworth said: " T1 reason why diesel engines smoke if con bustion is not complete, and per engines generally do not, is that the fu used in diesel engines has a much high+ boiling range than the fuel used in petr+ engines. A fairly large droplet of fu
in a diesel engine may give over-ric conditions locally during evaporation an therefore cause carbon particles to released. Some, but not ail, of the particles will be burnt as combustion pro ceeds; the surviving carbon particles wi appear in the exhaust."
His final comment was on the turbi charged engine. This would become vet popular, he said, as it provided " dramatic increase in power on a normal] aspirated engine ". Fuel consumption wr higher at low speeds but at workir speeds the return was better.
On Tuesday, following his paper c Motor Insurance ", Mr. C Port manager of the Co-operative Insurant
Society motor department, was questione on claims for loss of use of a vehict One operator said he had a 24-ton-grce vehicle which had been off the road ft
six weeks following an accident. TI cost for loss of use was something lik £9 a day, Explaining that there was a Is
of misconception about such claims, M Potts said the legal position was that 0, insurer would pay only what the claimat could aetually prove he had lost in can ings, not what is usually the highs amount of what it actually cost to kee the vehicle on the road.
During his paper, Mr. Potts said I was disturbed at some operators ni
extending their policies to cover passer gers in a commercial vehicle. Warnir of the likelihood of liability even if
driver gave a lift to a passenger contra' to the operator's instructions, he stresses
" You cannot afford not to insure ti
passenger risk." I.M.