MILLERS' ET ON FIVE-YEAR TEST
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THREE years ago James Duke and Sons, Ltd., agricultural merchants and suppliers of animal feeding stuffs, Abbey Mills, Bishop's Waltham, Hants, revised their policy concerning the operation of their ancillary fleet, and began a five-year programme involving the trial of several different types of vehicle to find which returned the best results, as reflected by a detailed costing system. Mr. Roy Cull, the son of a. haulier, was appointed transport manager and transport efficiency and economy have been improved.
A major part of the company's • business is the manufacture and delivery of animal feeding stuffs. Grain is collected from farms in Hampshire. and adjoining counties, and other supplies frorn London. Bristol and Southampton. Imported feeding stuffs are collected from London and Avonrnouth docks.
When bags of grain are to be collected from farms, full vehicle loads on outward and return journeys can be carried. Where suitable plant is installed, a bulkgrain vehicle can be used for collections. Another ingredient carried lit bulk is molasses; which comes from Greenwich.
Small Bags Preferred Over 50 different kinds of animal-food mix are. produced. The company specialize in preparing mashes to suit individual requirements. Many farmers have certain preferences which Duke's seek to satisfy in competition with bigger producers. Another sales point is that all foodstuffs are consigned in' ,cwt. paper bags, which take the place of larger bags previously used. The small bags entail more carries for the drivers when delivering, but are particularly approved by farmers who employ female or young male labour.
Over 3,000 farmer-customers within a 150-mile radius are served by Duke's, who have developed their trade to achieve as level an output as possible throughout the year. For example, slackness in demand for cattle feed in the summer is partly offset by that for turkey food. As agricultural merchants, the company deliver .substantial loads of seeds during the spring and .autumn.
Mr. Cull keeps week-to-week graphs of tonnages shifted by ancillary and hired vehicles. The tonnage for the C-licence fleet is slightly above the other during most of the year, but during the busy August-October period hired vehicles carry two-thirds of the traffic.
Most of the company's own vehicles are Thames, of c12
which there arc live 7V-type petrol-engined 5-6-tonners; seven ET6-type 5-6-tonners (four with petrol engines, one with a Perkins P6 unit and two with Ford 4D engines); and four 4D drop-siders with provision for canvas tilts. The 4D lorries have chassis reinforced with flitch plates., and 7.50-20-in. (12,ply) tyres are fitted so that 51-ton loads can be carried. In such form the vehicles average over 20 m.p.g.
Two Seddon 6-tonners, one of which draws a Taskers 5-6-ton trailer, and three Commer TS3 vehicles complete the major units in the fleet. Aluminium bodywork by Hornalloy and 13onallack is preferred, as thrown-up mud causes timber to rot.
One Commer is a. 7-ton platform lorry, whilst the other two are 12-ton tractors in conjunction with which two platform • semi-trailers, a tank semi-trailer for molasses • and a bulk-grain semi-trailer are used. Two Commer 8-cwt. vans and two Land-Rovers employed for crop spraying are also operated.
The tanker was acquired from an oil company after new petroleum regulations allowed the use of larger outfits for the distribution of petrol. It was converted by Messrs. Simmonds Engineering, West End, Southampton, to carry 11-ton loads of molasses, a product which can be handled at ambient temperatures. The tank is loaded by pipe inserted'into the main orifice, but is unloaded by air pressure through a 4-in. outlet The compressor is not mounted on the vehicle, but at the unloading point, and at 10 psi. the tank can be emptied in two hours.
This vehicle makes one or two collections each week.. The prime mover can be disconnected while the semitrailer is being unloaded: the tank also represents an addition to the company's storage capacity. Previously molasses was delivered to the mills. Operation of -the outfit has eliminated delays in supply. Conveyors (R.B.), Ltd., Stroud, built the semi-trailer capable of carrying 12 tons of grain in its single compartment, which is of the hopper type with a chain drag running along the bottom. At the rear is an elevator extension which may be winched into p6Sition, so that the load can be discharged at heights of up to 9 ft. either into a silo or 15-ton bins. The discharge gear is driven by a J.A.P. petrol engine.
This outfit is used to bring grain from the ports and those farms with appropriate loading equipment. Interest among farmers in bulk-grain handling is growing and it is hoped that eventually most of the grain brought to the mills each week will be carried in bulk.
The main advantages to Duke's are that expense on sack hire is saved, there is quicker turn-round at loading and discharging points, and labour costs are lower. Part of the saving is offset by the vehicle's higher depreciation. Sacks used for carrying grain on platform lorries are hired from a contractor to whom they have to be returned.
Other fleet activities include fulfilling orders taken at Duke's shops in Woolston and Southampton. Vehicles deliver twice weekly on this work, which entails carrying loads made up of small consignments, and there may be up to 60 drops per load. On normal work, delivering to farmers, vehicles may carry loads each made up of one to-IS consignments.
When delivering to farms, drivers are instructed not to run off hard surfaces. On many farms today this does not debar unloading near the point where feeding stuffs have to be stacked: nevertheless, the surfaces, if hard, are not always smooth. Neither are narrow country lanes kind to vehicles. This accounts for an average life of textile tyres of 20,000 miles.
To improve matters the company are trying Michelin Metallic tyres and report that the first set wore out after 54,000 miles. Wall damage caused by stones lodging between twin rear tyres is the main difficulty. On Thames vehicles, A20 tyres are fitted to front axles and B20 to the rear. With a laden normal-control 5-6tonner, a quarter of the weight is carried by the front tyres and the remainder by the rear, so that a heavier tyre is specified for rear wheels. Individual tyre records are kept.
Aim of Costing
The company's costing system is designed to show not only the relative economy of different vehicles but also, together with performance statistics, how many vehicles of various payload capacities it is desirable to own— whether, for example, it is better to have 5-6-tonners, 8-9-tonners and 12-tormers, or 5-6-tonners and 12tonners only. After another two years, Duke's experimental programme will be completed and full data will exist upon which to plan the future make-up of the fleet—or to underline decisions already based on practical experience.
Wages are recorded separately: drivers are paid 4s. 6d. above the weekly rate for Grade I area workers under statutory scales. Overhead costs are equally apportioned among the vehicles and entered as annual debits. Depreciation is reckoned on accountancy principles, diminishing not by a fixed amount per annum, but by a percentage of book value as revised each year. c14 The depreciation _allotment in the first year of a vehicle's life is thus higher than in the second and so on. This item is grouped with an estimate for maintenance and repair expenditure, which is judged partly on the age of the vehicle.
It has been found that as vehicles become older increasing maintenance costs balance diminishing depreciation allotments, so that an even debit for each year is obtained when the two items are combined as one entry. The maintenance estimate, which includes tyre costs, is reviewed quarterly and at the most recent revision was found to be only £63 in excess of actual expenditure on the whole fleet.
Fuel and oil costs are collated monthly, at which interval mileages run and tonnages carried are broken down according to the .nature of the work involved. There are headings for local deliveries, journeys to farms within 60-80 miles, and beyond 80 miles. The information thus revealed will be particularly useful when deciding upon the make-up of the fleet.
Another practice is to record hypothetical revenues for each vehicle according to keen haulage rates, so that when a job is performed a sum representing the amount which would have been paid had the work been undertaken by a contractor is entered. The revenue figures are a yardstick against which to measure costs. For each vehicle there is a weekly record of revenue, tonnages carried, destinations served and odometer readings. A 35-ton weighbridge is used, to weigh all incoming loads and all outward consignments other than local deliveries.
Costs and Performance are compared quarterly, and the following factors are worked out for each vehicle: cost per ton, cost per mile, average miles per trip, average tons per trip, average miles per ton carried, ton-mileage and cost per ton-mile. Mr. Cull admits that these figures may not all have equal value and that some, particularly the ton-mileage and cost per ton-mile, have to be interpreted with care.
The object ofca.' lculating them, which in any case takes only a little time, is not so much to provide a current check on fleet operation as to build up a comprehensive picture for reference in another two years. A valuable, or at least interesting, geometrical relationship between the various factors may be revealed.
Overheads Adjusted
Also included in the quarterly analysis is an entry for days spent by lorries off the road, entailing an appropriate adjustment to the debit for overheads. Wages of sick drivers, or drivers of off-the-road vehicles, are put down as overheads. Fuel-consumption rates are checked monthly.
The company intend to have their own workshops, but no moves in this direction will be taken until the standard makes and types of vehicle are chosen. Engine reconditioning will not be performed in the workshops, as it is thought that the larger oil engines should last for -five years (the basic period for vehicle replacement). at the rate of 30,000-37,000 miles a year. It is hoped that engines of the smaller oilers will also last for five years, as they cover smaller annual mileages: if not, exchange units, can be installed. '
Engine life and fuel-consumption rates of different vehicles during the present experimental period are further factors to be taken into account in due course.
Drivers are responsible for cleaning their vehicles and for changing engine oils at 2,500-mile intervals. Esso and Wiggins Superlube S.A.E.20 lubricants are used, and there is a special Esso grade for Rootes oil engines. At intervals of two or three weeks, drivers take their vehicles to a local garage to use the greasing plant available there.
At one time there was a 25-per-cent. turnover each year in driving staff, but Mr. Cull has succeeded in cutting it to 5 per cent. He favours the recruitment of young men fresh from the Services,as they can be trained into the company's methods without having to break too many fixed habits. Older men with experience with a number of previous employers find it difficult to adapt themseiVes, thinks Mr. Cull. Duke's are aware of the part drivers play in fostering customers' goodwill.
Social activities engender a happy spirit and every three months there is a drivers' meeting at which suggestions are discussed and complaints are put forward.
When it was decided to fit Servis recorders in some vehicles, not primarily to cheek drivers' time-keeping but mainly to gain statistical information about turnround times at docks and other terminals, the reason was fully explained to the men and their co-operation was gained.
Mr. Cull, who is a committee member of the SOuthampton Area of the Traders' Road Transport, Ass'ociation and an area representative on the committee of the London and Home Counties Division, does not expect that the raising of the 20 mph. limit will greatly affect the operations of his fleet. He does not believe that schedules can be substantially speeded up so that vehicles may return to base sufficiently sooner to enable extra deliveries to be made, except Perhaps in the case of two-three-day trips.
As an operator, he endorses the suggestion put forward in The Commercial Motor dated November 23, 1956, for a guardian association for operators and repairers. Although his vehicles may not, have frequent occasion to be attended to by distant repairers to whom Duke's are unknown, Mr. Cull feels that membership would be an insurance against unforeseeable difficulty.