TRANSPORT VARIETY U DER ONE 4ANAGEMENT ACHIEVES SUCCESS
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S0 much has road transport become a part of the national life in the past couple of decades that there are now many highly specialized forms of it. Broadly, it is reasonably true to say that every transport operator has one principal type of work, but there are some concerns which combine several distinct forms of transport service, an e)Icellent example being All British Carriers, Ltd., with headquarters in Dock Street, Newport, Mon, and branches in London, Birmingham, Skewen (Glam.), Liverpool, Gloucester and Swansea.
To some extent, although not completely, the history and origin of this variety of activities can be traced. "Even more, one suspects, the cause must be attributed to the initiative and enterprise of Mr. John Freeguard, director and general manager of the company, but it is not without interest that this concern incorporates four others, these being Freeguard Bros. Transport Co., Wm. Bater and Sons, Ltd., the Somerton Transport • Co., Ltd., and G. C. Wadsworth, Ltd.
Of these, the oldest is Wm. Bater and Sons, Ltd. Its records go back to the pre-petrol era and it is known to have been operating before 1900, although the date Of its origin appears to have been lost in the haze of antiquity.
Several remarkable facts stand to the credit of this concern. Well before the 1914-18 war the merits of mechanical transport were foreseen and several steamers were acquired. This type of vehicle was, in fact, operated right up to 1936, and three steamers of the old Bater fleet have recently been recommissioned to operate with considerable success under war-time conditions. Anothe'r noteworthy fact about this company is its early connection with furniture removals by road motor. It is believed that Wm. Hater and Sons, Ltd., undertook the first long-distance furniture removal by motor vehicle in this country_ That was late in 1918, the client being Sir Alfred Mond (later Lord Melchett), whose furniture was moved from Wales to London. In such circumstances, it is natural that furniture removals .should still form a considerable part of the business of All British Carriers, Ltd. Perhaps, however, the most important section is concerned with trunk services, which provide daily delivery, within 24 hours in each direction, between South Wales and London, South Wales and the Midlands, South Wales and Liverpool and Manchester, London and Birmingham, London and Liverpool and Manchester, and, of course. Birmingham and Liverpool and Manchester.
Local delivery and distribution are undertaken over the whole of South Wales, as well as in large areas around Gloucester, Birmingham and Liverpool and within a 10-mile radius of Charing Cross. With this is combined a warehouse service which is of considerable value to manufacturers and wholesalers, in both the special circthrnstances of war and in the easier times of peace.
Goods can be taken in bulk for -storage at any of the company's: branches and can be delivered locally, in small quantities, as and when required by the consignor. If preferred, the consignee can himself, collect the goods from the A.B.C. warehouse. in this way, a distant manufacturer can ensure rapid delivery in any of the districts served. At the same time, he can avoid con-.
gestion in his own warehouses, whilst also dividing his risks of loss by air-raid damage.
Another side to this company's business is parcels delivery. This covers practically the whole of South Wales, as well as the Gloucester district. An extension of the earlier parcels-delivery service provides for delivery from London to Gloucester or South Wales, also from those parts to London, within a radius of two miles of Charing Cross. Standard rates have been fixed for parcels of any weight from 15 lb. to 3 cwt. between any of the places covered by this service.
Finally, there is the contract department, which can supply and operate for other businesses any desired number of vehicles, painted and lettered to the customer's requirement and placed entirely at his disposal.
Some little space has been devoted to this outline of the activities of All British Carriers, Ltd., because such diversity of operations might be expected seriously to complicate the business. It does, of course, 'demand a rather wide variety of vehicles, but maintenance and accounting have not been permitted to get out of hand. On the contrary, basically simple systems have been adopted.
Operating under the company's own name, there are some 75 vehicles, ranging from six-wheelers and eightwheelers for the trunk services down to 25-cwt. vans for parcels delivery. Various makes are included, the largest being Scammells and Albions; 2-tonners of the latter make are used for local delivery and distribution work: Most of the parcels service is performed by Morris-Commercial or Bedford 25-cwt. vans. Except for these and the three resuscitated steamers, almost the entire fleet runs on oil. •
At one time maintenance was carried out according to a mileage schedule. This has now been changed to a time basis, because of its greater convenience. With vehicles that work full time, week in and week out, on regular duties there is; naturally, little difference between the two systems, so far as the machine is concerned,, but the time basis permits of a .simpler organization.
Probably the most interesting feature is that it is found possible to apply the same time interval to all the different types of vehicle. Each of them comes in for attention every 14 days, but the work done is not the same on every occasion.
All the jobs which may be necessary have been tabulated and, to some extent, grouped. For every job or group of jobs there is a code letter. Thus, the work which is to be done on each occasion is indicated by a short set of letters. For instance, the first fortnight may call for jobs A, B, C and D, the second for A, B, C and E, the third for A, B, C, D and F, and so on. Here, evidently, the first three letters represent items which need fortnightly attention, whereas p is a monthly job ad F turns up every six weeks.
The general overhaul is included in this scheme and is timed so that it occurs at intervals which lie between 90,000 and 120,000 miles. All maintenance work, no matter how trivial, is carried out with meticulous care, and this factor, together with the system outlined, gives the fleet a good record for reliability.
Accounting, in a business of this sort, could cause trouble. Overelaboration would be so easy. On the other hand, with so many consignments something almost automatic or mechanical is needed to make sure that nothing is missed.
These requirements are met with the aid of a simple little machine called the "Fanfold," which makes five copies at a time. Two of these pass into a locked compartment in the machine, the key of which is held by the depot manager. These two are the invoice itself and the head office copy, which, in effect, is the copy invoice. They are sent daily by the local manager direct to head office. Of the other three, one is the receipt note, another is the consignment note and the fifth is filed at the depot.
When received at head office, the invoices are sorted alphabetically and they are posted each week oh an invoice summary before being sent to the customer. This system results in only four ledger postings per month for each account. A Comptometer machine is used to calculate the charges and, the result is virtually -an error-proof system.
Good premises, a simple but complete accounting system, adequate maintenance, and vehicles intelligently chosen for the work in hand—those factors, it seems, when coupled with honest service to the customer, pave the road to commercial success.