TASC Force for profitability
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)y Johnny Johnson photographs by Dick Ross
FFICI ENT business management, ough eminently desirable, has never !en as critical a factor in commercial rvival as in the present unstable onomic climate. When the economy is )oming, it is perhaps not too difficult r road hauliers to make money despite untrained management team apply rule-of-thumb procedures. When ings get tough, however, the absence accurate information on which to se decisions might mean the Terence between solvency and nkruptcy.
Nowhere is this so true as in the case small companies which, in the main, 'e their existence to the enterprise of e man, The industry abounds with such npanies which have developed to a where what was once a task of nageable proportions for their ners has become the subject of :ntion fora small management team. While building the business, the ginal company founder has been far busy operating his vehicles to lertake instruction in the application nodern management techniques and ends to recruit help for the business n among his own family. The result iat none has had formal training in art of management, which inhibits profitable running of the company.' :ealizing that even with the levy cutthere remained a high proportion of her companies accounting for 70 per of the management strength of the istry, the Road Transport Industry ifling Board set up its Training stance in Small Companies (TASC) tnization to provide help and ance for hauliers who wished to an insight into formal business !moires,
mess statistics
the six years of its existence. TASC helped over 2,200 managers to ..trstand the implications of the ness statistics available to them and, ,me cases, improve those statistic g to Cnt a better picture of trading
trends.
To get some idea of the usefulness of this service I spoke to a number of haulage managers in Wales, recently, and all were generous in their praise of what they had learned. Not all used the service for the same reason, but all had completed the course with a better understanding of their own businesses.
One managing director of a company in Merthyr Tydfil, Mr Ralph Pullman of Taff Plant Hire Co Ltd, had been frankly sceptical of the value of participating, but persuaded by the enthusiasm if his general manager Mr Arnold Jones had agreed that his management team, including the company accountant, should attend the group lectures.
Completely converted, he told me that he was delighted with the result. The RTITB lecturers had been able to suggest improvements in his existing documentation and he now had before him each week a concise account of the company's previous week's trading with comparative figures. Moreover, the monthly figures were available by the 10th of the following month so that any necessary management action to counter adverse trends could be taken with the minimum of delay.
To add to which, implementation of the TASC recommendations had improved the company's credit control so that the cash-flow position was a good deal better than it had been. As the result of adopting recommended procedures, Mr Pullman told me, a substantial saving had been effected in the company maintenance facility.
The company accountant, Mr Bernard Skidmore, pointed out that he, himself, had joined the company from the engineering field with no previous experience of road haulage. By adopting recommended procedures, including standard vehicle performance forms, he had been able to arrive at an efficient system of collating management tformation far quicker than designing is own.
Operating a fleet of 20 tippers and a 2-ton low-loader, the company had ideed profited in the broadest sense -om its participation in the TASC usiness improvement group.
A little larger with 38 vehicles icluding tippers, flats and artics, the ewport company of W. J. Clayton and ons Ltd, had sought a different result -om the service.
Here the objective was proper .aining for management succession. Owned by three brothers with three )ns between them to learn ail about )ad haulage, the company looked to ASC to provide a training ground for s future management, The Clayton rothers were also enthusiastic about hat they had obtained faim the usiness improvement group for, apart .0m introducing the youngsters to usiness management they had picked p a few tips despite their extensive
experience in haulage. Not the least of .these were again concerned with cr-edit control and the improvement, of the company's cash flow.
At Bridgend, Mr Richard Raymond, managing director of Vale Transport Ltd, admitted that he was one of those people who had always been far too busy to learn formally modern management skills.
In-company visits
Attendance at business improvement group lectures one day a month, however, had proved not too onerous and the in-company visits by TASC staff to assist with implementing those procedures which were acceptable. had been very valuable.
Mr Raymond explained that while the company was quite small, he had been able to keep track of revenue-and expenditure quite easily. As it developed, however, this became more and more difficult till his fleet of 13 vehicles required proper docu'mentation to ensure its efficient operation.
This company, too, had benefited from an improved cash flow. Accounts were settled on the average within two and a half months.
Apart from this advantage, the procedures and documentation suggested by TASC and adopted by the company had enabled him to identify the customers which were most profitable leaving him free to consider whether the others should be discarded or encouraged to make a better return on the capital employed to provide the haulage service. Collection and presentation of information had helped. also, in rates negotiation, particularly when increases had been necessary.
One additional advantage pointed out by Mr Raymond was that he had been able to establish personal contact with a number of other hauliers within the area through the business improvement group meetings. Though he had been aware of the existence of the other hauliers before participating in TASC he had never met them. There were obvious advantages in knowing other local hauliers who shared the same problems. Some of these could be solved by concerted action, Mr Raymond pointed out.
Realizing that it was the small companies from which managers could not easily be spared for conventional training sessions, the TASC organization has designed its courses to provide the minimum of interruption to day to day business. The business improvement group is formed of about 15 companies within a 25-mile radius of the meeting centre, each of which employs between 15 and 100 employees. The group, run by two specialist training officers, meets once a month over a period of six months. In the period between meetings, TASC teams visit each company to assist and advise in the application of the systems
discussed. continued overleaf