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Worlds
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WHEN operators' licensing is introduced later this year the sharp division between own-account and hire and reward transport will become blurred. The way will be open for the C licensee to make use of his spare capacity.
At the present time a number of large own-account operators treat transport as a separate division. The transport division hires vehicles to other units within the company and charges an economic rate of hire.
With freedom to operate for hire and reward with vehicles not exceeding 16 tons gross. these transport divisions—and others vet to be formed—will begin to compete with the professional section of the industry. How successful they will be remains to be seen and the degree of success will often depend on how professional the transport manager is.
Two main choices are open to ownaccount companies: they can adapt their existing organization or alternatively invite a professional haulier to join the .group and become their transport department. The British Vita Co. Ltd. is a company which took the latter step some time ago, and thus has considerable experience of this type of working.
Two years ago Vitafoam, as it was then, invited W. T. Noble and Sons Ltd.. the haulier who had been doing the majority of its haulage, to join the group and co-ordinate all its transport while continuing to
serve its old hire-and-reward customers. Now British Vita has the best of both worlds: it has a professional who knows his customers' requirements, looking after all its transport needs, and it is reaping the benefit of drawing good profits from the money invested in the haulage company.
Noble on the other hand has retained its identity within the group and has continued to bear the name which has spelt reliability to its customers since the end of the last war. It has doubled its fleet since January 1967 and widened its horizons, although the pattern of traffic has changed. Its chairman, Mr. Harold Aitken, who is also a member of the main board, has now assumed responsibility for British Vita investments. This highlights the growing tendency for large companies to regard transport as a vital branch required to play a major part in their activities.
As was recalled in Commercial Motor on July II 1958, Mr. Aitken left the Army in 1946 to revive the haulage business, which he and his father had previously run, with an A licence and a £200 gratuity. Twelve years later he was operating 16 furniture vans undertaking household removals (this represented 40 per cent) and general haulage. Twelve runs were made weekly from London to Manchester with other vehicles serving Birmingham and Scotland. At that time an office had been opened in Ashtonunder-Lyne to handle the return loading, among traffics for which was Vitafoam. W. T. Noble and Sons (Manchester) Ltd. was later formed which, together with its sister company operated 64 vehicles in 1964.
In this year Noble became an associate company of Vitafoam, the latter holding a 50 per cent share, because Mr. Norman Grimshaw (now group chairman) saw how much he was paying out for haulage and thought he might as well have a stake in this apparently lucrative field. During the next nine months the two boards considered the ramifications of transport in the future and, far-sightedly, Mr. Grimshaw saw that the licensing system was fast going out of date and therefore the advantage of a haulier having a captive market. In September 1965 Noble became a wholly-owned subsidiary and the group's own 64 vehicles were incorporated into the haulage fleet.
All C licences were exchanged for Bs, conditioned to carry for all companies in the group. In the past, infringements of the law had taken place with companies carrying their associates' goods under C licences. A dozen vehicles still run on C, such as tankers bringing in the latex, service vans for the engineering division and vans for the maintenance staff The base of the 25 Ashton vehicles was moved a few miles to the Vitafoam premises at Middleton, Lancashire, and thus the majority of Noble's vehicles were now in the North with some 39 A, B and Contract A licensed vehicles remaining at the old headquarters in Horn sey. • Joining up with the group has meant an injection of it million capital aud it has been possible to embark on a full-scale conversion to articulation. Vitafoam had four tractive units and four trailers orginally, now of the 183 vehicles operated, there are 73 tractive units (using 98 trailers), with an 85 per cent share for articulation as the goal. This enables a better use of drivers' time, especially when pending legislation brings in shorter working hours, and allows for greater payloads per vehicle. Of the 183, 58 are A-licensed and 13 operate for contract customers in the Metropolitan area.
Before the merger the major part of Noble's work came from Vitafoam although the companies within the group used many transport, contractors. Now all work goes through Noble which arranges sub-hiring where necessary. This gives for greater control and less administrative costs. Vitafoam is charged the same rates as outside customers and Noble has not changed its mode of operations, Mr. Aitken assured me, although with British Vita's production increasing, the fleet is having to expand.
Larger polyether blocks are manufactured at Middleton and taken to converting plants in Leyton, High Wycombe, Houghton-le-Spring, Glasgow and Maesteg. There are 40 flat trailers, of Baden and York manufacture, capable of carrying 21 of these blocks which can be 8ft wide by 4ft high, giving an average load height of 14ft. Nightly in each direction, there are three runs to London and one each to Newcastle, Scotland, and South Wales, with return loads being secured from haulage customers.
The 58 box vans are used for the foam in its processed form—either cut or moulded to customers' requirements—or for the compounded rubber products also manufactured.. Haulage customers with bulky, valuable loads also favour these maximumcapacity, lock-up bodies. Their largest vans have a 2,600 Cu. ft. capacity. Bulky cartoned goods are preferred rather than furniture which used to be carried. Indeed, return loads are not sought from the large furniture-manufacturing area of High Wycombe; it is felt that this should be left to the specialists.
Hornsey vehicles service the Leyton processing plant but only two vehicles each (rigids) are based at Glasgow, Houghton and Maesteg for local deliveries. Although economically speaking the new maximumlength trailers would be preferable, the firm is restricted to 33-footers by customers' premises, said Mr. Aitken.
Vehicle tests
Tests have been run on various types of British tractive units for 20 tons g.v.w., the Ford D800 having proved the most suitable. It now has 44 of them, with 19 Seddon and nine Dodge of an equivalent size. The BMC it had on trial had proved unsuitable for its requirements, but Mr. Aitken felt the new Laird might be a possibility.
Plating and testing will not cause weight difficulties because the rigids are not operating to the full limit now and all the artics will meet the 1972 braking regulations because the trailers are fitted with three-line air systems.
With the freeing of vehicles from licences Mr. Aitken considers that "there will be large companies who were hitherto using transport contractors and who may feel it is time they went into haulage to ensure primarily a continuing service to their own customers. I think there is going to be a large number of hauliers who will become financially very weak and will not be able to meet the demands for replacements and better maintenance facilities.
"In the past, to my mind," continued Mr. Aitken, "hauliers have been exploited by customers keeping rates down. Not everyone will have the reserves to meet the new changes." Some of the traffic on 200-mile trunk runs could be affected by quantity licensing but he felt British Vita would be able to prove road was more economical because only eight polyether blocks could be packed in a 30ft Freightliner as opposed to the 21 loaded on a flat trailer.
Loading of the blocks takes two men 20 minutes at one of the two loading bays beside the converting plant at Middleton, with a further hour to sheet and rope. Working day and night, 22 are loaded every 24 hours and the trailers are hitched to tractive units and taken off on delivery of left in the large parking area awaiting a driver. There are six further bays serviced by movable electric conveyors for loading converted goods.
Integration is the essence of the smooth running of this transport division but the one thing that is kept separate is the traffic scheduling and there are two offices, one for the A-licensed fleet and one for the 13vehicles with each driver working exclusively for his section. However, close liaison is maintained by the transport manager, Mr. G. Longden, and all calls are channelled through him and requests from the group or from customers named in the B-licence conditions are separated from haulage customers at this point. Any excess traffic is contracted out by the latter department.
Trailers are not differentiated and all have a metal plate which hangs on a numbered hook on a board behind the trailer officer. When a tractive unit has been scheduled for a job by either traffic office, the driver exchanges a metal tag bearing the tractor number with one for the trailer he is picking up, so the whereabouts of every attic is clear at a glance.
Maintenance of all vehicles is carried out from one workshop which has two pits and space for two more vehicles and is under the direction of the chief engineer, Mr. J. Smith. In a high-ceiling annex to an old, converted mill which used to house the mill engine, the body repairs and lengthy jobs, such as engine replacements, are undertaken. There is a steam cleaner and a newly installed ultrasonic washine machine capable of giving a 50ft outfit a chemical, brushless wash. Mechanics work in three shifts with the 10 p.m.-6 a.m. workers inspecting and servicing, and repairs being undertaken by the day shifts. Servicing is carried out every month, which is equivalent to approximately every 3,000 miles, with more extensive services at two and six months. It is planned that roughly equal numbers of As and Bs are called in each day so that neither section is unduly short.
Any repairs found to be necessary during inspection are noted on the service sheet. When they have been rectified the fitter enters it on a job card and after coatings have been noted, both documents are filed in the vehicle's folder where any outside work is also entered. Excluding tyres the vehicles are estimated to cost £450 per annum, being replaced every five years_
Running costs
The managing director of the transport division, Mr. G. Minshall, has estimated that an artic costs £80 16s a week, running 1,000 miles, and with driver's wages and expenses this adds a further £36 10s. From this a fair rate for the job is calculated which includes a loading and unloading charge. Where the length of journey plus the latter is less than a 10-hour da wOrk, calculated at 25 miles to the hour, then the cost is as for 10 hours. Dead mileage is looked at carefully because this can often turn out to be the difference between profit and loss on a particular job, considers Mr. Minshall.
Therefore with a standing charge of £10. per day, plus fuel, driver's wages and a percentage for profit, the rate is built up. He also told me that the break-even point for a normal profit figure was £38 per vehicle per week on return loads. Turnover for the
current year is expected to be with an operating profit after depreciation reaching six figures.
Shortly to come into the transport division is the administration of the group's 175 cars and they will be hired out to the companies at competitive rates. This will ease the transfer of cars between companies and ensure proper records and maintenance.
To be more in line with the group, Noble is now having its new vehicles signed "Vitafreight". The blue and white colour scheme of the well-known Noble livery is being maintained together with the standard of service which is synonymous with it.
This type of operation could well prove a pattern for the future and it will be interesting to see whether peaceful marriages such as this one can result from the new legislation rather than the fighting for traffic prophesied by some pessimists.