A PRIVATE THREAT
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In the London borough of Havering an anxious local authority plans to compete with privateers, helped by Drive 6, a private-sector computerised fleet management program.
Mi If pressed, the London Borough of Havering will admit that its most vulnerable transport operation, when the private sector sharks send in their competitive tenders next summer, will be vehicle maintenance. On 1 October 1989, contractors could begin business in the council's yard — and transport manager George Munro does not want to see that happen.
The council has called in Drive 6, a computerised fleet management system developed by Freight Computer Services, part of the National Freight Consortium. Havering is going to fight fire with fire, and time, it seems, is of the essence. "We hadn't really got a system before," admits deputy controller of public works Derek Bushell. "Important information on vehicle and parts failures was frequently provided too late."
The council wanted a system that could instantly reveal what was happening to any one of its 350 vehicles as well as the servicing, MoT and maintenance schedules each had been allocated.
ANNUAL BUDGET
It was never going to be easy. The fleet is diverse, ranging from Fiesta cars and Escort vans up to 24-tonne Leyland Daf Constructors, with an annual budget in the region of 22.25 million. "It was late 1982 when we first went out looking at other people's systems," says Munro. "We wanted to find a system that would run on a Honeywell," says Bushell. "The whole of Havering runs on Honeywell throughout, and we wanted something that would be compatible." They visited Thurrock and South Staffordshire, two other local authorities already using the Freight Computer Services Drive 6 package. With modifications, Havering decided it would fit the bill.
VEHICLE MAINTENANCE
About 850 vehicles and units of construction plant are now on the borough's Drive 6 database: "We go right down to grass cutters," says Munro, "and there are more than 25 records for every item listed.
"We'd targetted vehicle maintenance as one of the main areas for cost saving," says Bushell, "and first off we wanted to set up a feeder system from the stores." Havering wanted to know which parts were being used, when and where.
According to technical support officer Stewart Jones: "One of the first advantages we've become aware of is that we now know exactly when a vehicle's MoT is due to run out. The system is already reducing admin costs considerably."
"Before we were just relying on one person to come up with the right informa tion at the right time," says Munro. "Now we get an automatic three-month warning for every HGV." Four basic databases have been put onto Drive 6 at Havering: E Haulage and plant; E Wages; E Creditors; E: Stores and purchasing.
COMMODITY CODES
Commodity codes have been designated for all of the spare parts Havering uses, and these are fed in by the workshop manager's office.
The system also prints out job tickets which are given to the fitters. Information is automatically printed from the database on each ticket listing the job number and the date; the vehicle department — for instance "refuse"; the vehicle type — for instance "Phoenix"; the vehicle make and • model; repair class; reason for repair; fleet number; registration number; chassis number; engine number; body code, and ancillary equipment code.
The lower half of the computer ticket gives space for a fitter's report, and for a full description of the work, parts and hours needed used to complete the job.
Havering reckons that it has invested about £20,000 in the Drive 6 package: We will be ready for competitive tendering and we will give it a good shot," says Bushell, "especially on our refuse collection, street sweeping and vehicle maintenance contracts." These are the areas which will generate most outside interest, he thinks.
Havering does not go in for leasing its vehicles; "Leasing isn't attractive to local authorities now because we can't get the tax benefits anymore," says Bushell, but the borough does use a high number of hired vehicles: "Some 12 to 15% of our fleet is hired at any one time," says Munro, "to cope with the peaks and troughs." The Drive 6 package is able to cope easily with non-owned vehicles on the authority's books.
FAST RESPONSE
Flexibility and fast response times have to be the keystones of the council's future transport policies. Bushell foresees increasing the number of contract hire vehi
cies in the fleet if central government continues to impose restrictive spending limits. He will want the computer to tell him exactly how much each vehicle is costing, in total, every month.
Havering has recently brought in threeaxle Leyland Daf Constructors to replace its old two-axle trucks. The Phoenix bodies, 7.4m long and 3.4m high, will take the contents of four 23m3 refuse compaction vehicles. The bigger (14-tonne) payloads have helped reduce the number of runs to the tip from three to two a day.
The tip is at the end of a long run out of the borough and poor-quality roads there are causing lots of tyre damage.
Havering is delighted to have cut down on the number of runs – it will watch the computer read-outs carefully to see if average tyre lives improve. Standardisation is increasing too. Havering freely admits that it carries few spares in its small (56m2) workshops, and it uses express delivery parts from local motor factors wherever possible. Stock-holding at present is around £60,000: "We have always attempted to minimise the number of spares we hold," says Munro.
TRANSPORT YARD
The computer could help him get things even tighter. Dennis, Ford and Leyland Daf will end up as the mainstays of Havering, says Munro, waving his hand round a busy transport yard full of Bedford TK, TL and TM chassis. When the first local authority transport tenders to go to the private sector begin operations Havering says it will be watching them like a hawk to see what goes where at what price: "It's going to be the only way we can tell exactly what the market is going to be like," says Bushell.
Will he use the computer to strike first, and bid for a couple of outside tenders sometime this year, using up-to-theminute operating figures? "No, I don't think so. Local authorities are creatures of statute. We're not really allowed to work in the private sector as such. We can and we used to work for health and fire authorities, but we don't do any of that now." That could easily change in the future, however.
D by Geoff Hadwick