• A FLEET FOR MOVING FURNITURE.
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NO furniture movingor making cohcern is better known in the Midlands than Chamberlain, King and Jones, of Birmingham. Of the several different branches of this great business, none shows more rapid expansion than that dealing with the removal and delivery of furniture, and none calls for more careful organization if the fleet of vehicles employed in this work is to be run and maintained economically and efficiently.
It is now nearly a year since a single executive took over the control of the removal, and transport departments of the company, with' what success May be judged bythe faet that the all-in rimning costs of the fleet have been reduced by no less than fid. a mile. The new records extend over 43 weeks, during which period 49,461 miles have been covered by the petrol vehicles, the total . expenditure, which includes sums written off under such headings as interest on capital, depreciation, overhead charges, etc., being £4,678. This,for the whole fleet, gives an all on outside cost of approximately Is. 10td. per vehicle per mile.
The present fleet consists of the following vehicles :—A 40-cwt. Albion, four 30-owt. Albions, a 72-cwt. _Albion, a. 2025 h.p. 25-ewt. Maxwell shod with pneumatic tyres, and a 6-ton Sentinel steamer and trailer. The 40-cwt. and one of the 30-cwt. _Albions are respectively 10 and '12 years old. The Maxwell and the other three 30-cwt. Albion chassis and the 72-cwt..chassis of the same make are twri years old. The three 30-cwt. vehicles are of 20 h.p., whilst the other 30-cwt. and one 40-cwt. models are of 16 h.p. The 72-cwt. Albion is fitted with a 32 h.p. engine.
The very great saving in the cost of. running the fleet referred to above has been made possible by the use of carefully plotted graphs showing, for pur poses of comparison, .the performances not only of each separate vehicle but of the fleet as a whole. These graphs are made up weekly and monthly and sup.pit:mental by detailed analyses in book form. By referring to these analyses the following figures dealing with the cost of running the fleet during the past 43 weeks were obtainable:---
The average distance covered by each car in the fleet was 7,065 miles, or for one month 700 miles.
The average petrol consumption of each car wastli. m.p.g.
The average oil consumption of each car, including oil used for gears, axle and hand lubrication, was 270 m.p.g.
These figures would have been materially improved had not the bulk of the running been clone on short journeys. Four vehicles were exclusively employed on town work, and the longer country journeys were fewer in number. owing to the depression in trade.
The cost of the solid tyres averaged Id. a mile all round, the pneumatics on the Maxwell averaging id. a mile. On the subject of tyres, it is the experience of this concern that pneumatics are not to be recommended for vehicles over 10 cwt. On the other hand, vehicles shod with giant pneumatics have not been tried.
Under the heading of repairs and renewals, maintenance of plant, mechanics' wages, etc., 2d. a, mile is given as the average figure.. All repairs are done on the-premises by a fitter specially conver= sant with the Albion chassis, It is iii teresting to note in passing that the amount spent on repairs during the period under review, on the 12-year-old Albion, which covered 5,600 miles, has been only 216.
The average total operating costs per mile worked out at 2s., this sum including, per car per annum, 7 per cent, interest: on capital, 20 per cent. for depre
ciation, for garage, 78 for administration and Other charges under the headings for insurance, tax, fuels, workshop expenses, etc.
The cars are out every day, and are only put into dock when the driver reports on a card in the evening that some defect --has developed or disclosed itself. The driver hands in a demand for petrol and oil at the same time, the tank being filled from a 1.000-gallon underground Bowser installation. Every evening a list is.posted up detailing the next day's work and giving the time of start and the destination. The latter may be hundreds of miles away, but, wherever possible the driver is given warning if he is to be away overnight.
If necessary, the repairs are effected during the night, and the car is washed down -ready for the driver next morning.. Very great importance is attached to the appearance of the vans, which have an excellent reputation on the score of their general smartness.
The day's work may consist of distributiug loads picked up at; the company's loading docks, or of removing furniture. in the former ease, the driver -and the man who loads the vehicle at -the dock are provided with duplicate lists showing the order in which the goods must be 'distributed and packed. In the latter case, the foreman in charge takes the orders for the day in writing,, and is in command of the proceedings.
Should any of the vans break down, the-driver has to wire both his destination and headquarters, stating full details of the' occurrence. If the delay is serious, a stand-by vehicle equipped with emergency tackle is -sent out to hi.4 assistance.
In the case or a big removal from a considerable distance, the chassis is used to transport the van bodies from headquarters to the railway, and again from the railway to the house; and from the house to the railway. The chassis follows the bodies and possibly takes two
lift vans by road. By means of this arrangement expenses are reduced to a minimum.
Very greatly increased efficiency has been obtained from the staff, which num-ber 24, by the weekly publication of their time-keeping. sheets. At first, it was a common thing for as many as 260 minutes to be lost during the week. The lost list showed only a .10-minute loss, nne man alone being responsible for six
.minutes. The staff has accepted this scheme in the spirit in which it was inaugurated, and the result has been an all-round speed-up in efficiency.
• Another device which has proved of • value during he past four months is the Dra.keeon recorder, which is made by the Drakeson Ret reler Co., Princes Street, Stockpert. he instrument, which checks the times at which the vehicle is running or is stationary, or when the engine is running with the vehicle stationary, was chosen in preference to„similar devices driven from the wheel. The first time it was used, unknown to the driver, some interesting results were obtained, very much to the surprise of the driver.
The graphs already referred to Are useful in checking in the bud any undesirable tendency. Each car is graphed weekly, such items as standing charges, time working, time standing, miles run,
m.p.g., spares, materials, and fuel used being entered. In addition, an average is, struck every four weeks.
En the opinion of Mr. G. T. Mayhew, who is reponsible for the organization and management of the fleet, van bodies designed for the removal of furniture 'should be built as low as possible, and should, of course, be quickly detachable so as to allow easy transference' from road to rail, and vice versa.
Such a. body has been designed on the premises, and is fitted to the 6-ton Sentinel steamer, which has given excellent service. The body fits direct on to the side-members of the chassis, to which it iii secured by fa= bolts and is some 8 ins, lower thaw the standard pattern. Its capacity is about twice as great as the usual type, and there is a saving of about one tom in weight. Above the cab of this vehicle there is a separate box containing a ton of coke, which is fed to the main bunkers under the driver's seat through a chute of sacking. The vehicle carries enough coke for a
journey of 240 miles. The vehicle, of course, runs with a trailer and has the advantage on the question of weight, though not of speed, whesj. compared with the petrol-driven van. A recent performance of the Sentinel is, worth quoting.
Left Birmingham. 6 a.m. Monday. Arrived Bromley, Kent, 5 a.m. Tuesday. Left Bromley, Kent, Tuesday midday. Arrived Brighton Tuesday night. Put 16 tons on train front Wednesday to Friday. Loaded 9 tons 17 cwt. during Friday and Saturday. Left Brighton 3.30 p.m. Saturday. Arrived Binning ham 162 miles) 6.50 p.m. Sunday.
The equipment of the garage, which measures only some 80 ft. by 100 ft. necessitates careful arrangement. Eacl; van has its own place, which iA indicated on a plan posted in the garage, and it must be left there and nowhere else, for only in this way is it possible to enable any van to enter or leave without interfering with the others. A 5-ton Morris lifting block is housed on the first floor; the vehicles standing in. the entrance
whilst the body is lifted off. Cowan transveynrs are used for moving the van bodies when once they are detached from the chassis. That the floor space has to be carefully apportioned may be realized from the fact that, in addition to the eight chassis; there are the 1Z inanimate bodies to be stored. A small workshop is attached to the garage, where all running repairs are dealt with,
The entrance gates of the garage can not be unlocked from the inside, an an electric bell on the gate gives warning to a member of the office staff in case an individual or vehicle wishes to leave the premises. As already explained, great attention is paid to the saving of every minute in the daily operation of clocking on and off, for it was realized that only by attention to the smallest details could the concern hope to compete with the of its competitors. _ The reason for most. of these regulations is explained to the staff in the form of pithy paragraphs. When the time-keeping has been had, an uncommon occurrence nowadays, attention is drawn to the fact in a .semi-humorous vein.