PROFILE ARBOCKLE SMITH
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Clocking up a century in haulage is no mean feat-the key might be to identify your customers' requirements before they do.
Imes are changing. One hundred is no longer reckoned to be that great an achievement unless, of course, you're an English batsman—or a haulage company So when, in today's highly-competitive market, a haulage company does achieve its centenary it's a talking point. And when it does so on the back of an industrial sector which many have previously attempted to exploit with little success, you have to be impressed,
The company in question is Glasgowbased Arbuckle Smith. It runs a fleet of 80 trucks and its recent growth has been achieved by exploiting the potential for a Scottish shared user network serving the food and drink industry
Accounts for the financial year ending 1899 are displayed on the Arbuckle Smith boardroom wall. Today a year-end loss of E202/18/1d would be seen as breaking even
a hundred years ago it was enough of a disaster to send WS Arbuckle into exile in Canada (where, like so many Scottish emigrants, he proceeded to make his fortune).
EG Smith soldiered on in Glasgow. Left to his own devices, Smith oversaw the gradual development of a thriving business. The company, which had started out as a shipping brokerage, developed transport and bonded warehousing operations. The warehousing prospered, helped by the growth of the whisky trade. By the 1920s Arbuckle Smith had offices around the world.
By the 1960s the company was a household name in Scotland, with a successful chain of travel agencies developed from its shipping heritage.
We were a bit ahead of the game during the 1970s in that we took a hard look at where the industry was heading and chose to focus on our core business," says general manager John Kendall. The company at that time was running bonded warehousing and bottling plants, primarily for the whisky producers. These were sold and we began to focus on road transport, forwarding and warehousing."
Today Arbuckle Smith operates a thriving shared-user distribution system for FMCG goods across Scotland. The company markets itself to its customers as being at the end of the line, as Kendall explains: "I would reckon that 90% of our customers are English-based. They need to cover Scotland, and we have the necessary regional expertise to allow them to do that."
On paper, shared-user distribution is an elegant solution to a perennial problem. Small, frequent deliveries can he consolidated and efficiency is improved so suppliers, hauliers and end users all benefit. In practice, it's rarely that simple. To feed its Scottish distribution system Arbuckle Smith has had to face a problem common to many regional hauliers: mismatch of loads.
"Like many Scottish hauliers, we have no problem finding northbound loads," says Kendall. "The problem lies in getting the trucks to the South to start with. In order to get our trucks into the right location we have forged a number of strategic partnerships with other companies. These have allowed us to feed our Scottish network without tying up vehicles on less profitable southern onwards delivery work."
Successful haulage is all about customer service. Kendall has embraced a 24-hours-aday, seven-days-a-week ethos and expects his suppliers to do likewise. He buys his vehicles on the basis of how well dealer support fits into his operation.
"Some 95% of our business involves timed deliveries," he explains "Our primary distribution vehicles are double shifted so we can't afford to have vehicles serviced at a dealer's convenience. We're hauliers, not mechanics, and it would be economically unviable to maintain our own fleet." Because of this Kendall now tends to buy his vehicles from manufacturer-owned local dealers.
"Experience has taught me that these dealerships tend to offer the greatest flexibility as far as maintenance scheduling is concerned," he says. "I cannot afford to have vehicles off the road. Our customers expect us to operate to their convenience; I don't think it's unreasonable to expect our suppliers to operate to ours." Despite this eagerness to do business with manufacturerbacked dealerships, Kendall is concerned at what he sees to be one of the more dangerous developments in haulage: an apparent willingness by manufacturers to embrace vertical integration, possibly to the extent of offering a complete transport service.
"We deal primarily with the food industry," he says. "That tends to be full of global players, Most truck builders are now global players as well. I worry at the thought of one global player doing deals with other global players in order to source its global transport requirements at head-office level. The truck manufacturers have been talking about offering trucks and drivers for years. Recent events suggest that this day is getting closer, and it's a big worry. My supplier could become my competitor, and this will colour future buying decisions."
Good management That aside, Kendall is upbeat about the future. "We have a good position in our market," he says. "I think that successful haulage is about good management, and we have that in place.
"We see a future for intermediate warehousing," he adds. "Our customers find themselves supplying larger and larger sites, so we'll have to react, offering a staging post in the supply chain. Some of today's supermarkets now hold more stock than RDCs did 10 years ago. There's likely to be a market for holding stock on a localised basis, say for two or three shops at a time. It's an interesting prospect; then again, this is an interesting business.
"Business comes from being able to match your service to your customer's requirements," Kendall points out. "Success, arguably, comes from being able to identify your customer's requirements before he does. We've managed to do that for the past 100 years—we'll try to carry on doing the same for the next 100."
by Oliver Dixon FACTFILE: ARBUCKLE SMITH & CO BASED: Glasgow, Scotland. FOUNDED: 1898. CONTACT: John Kendall, general manager. FLEET: 80 vehicles, half 38-tonne artics and half 17-tonne rigicls; mostly Renaults with some MANs, Leyland-Dafs and Mercedes-Benz. MOST RECENT PURCHASE: Seven 17-tonne rigids (four Renaults, two MANs and a Volvo) with Don-Bur bodies. SPE — CONTRACT: Shared user work for the food industry. TURNOVER: About el • Haulage is a business in which second chances are a rare occurrence—you get nowhere by providing a service that isn't tailored to your customers' requirements. So when Arbuckle Smith was told that one of its customers needed to load 25 tonnes onto a 38-tonne combination it opted for Don-Bur's Palletrnaster 2001 trailer, winner of the Dry Freight class in Commercial Motor's 1997 Trailer of the Year awards. The company was so impressed that it now specifies the Stoke-on-Trentbased bodybuilder's equipment for all new rigid bodies and trailers.
The Palletmaster 2001 has just been succeeded by the 2002 model, launched at the Commercial Vehicle show in February. New features include a buckle-free curtain system which is said to enhance productivity and safety, as well as providing a clean, unobstructed surface for liverying. The new trailer also features a full perimeter reinforced-GRP air management system which provides a complete air path around the bottom of the trailer. The benefits from this design are enhanced by a skirt around the landing legs to deflect air flow away from unaerodynamic trailer running gear. These GRP panels are specially strengthened to avoid the need for heavy steel uniderrun bars,
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