Computers to the rescue
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THE TWO BRS Membership Services, Datafreight and Rescue, are both largely dependent on that twentieth century panacea, the computer.
BRS Datafreight was conceived because of the computer — without it Datafreight couldn't work.
BRS Rescue, on the other hand, has only recently converted from a manual system of control to the computer and hasn't looked back since.
Datafreight was publicly aniounced in June last year after line months of internal trials, 3nd the system is designed to aut people with loads to be -noved in touch with people who lave the vehicles to do it. It's )otential for finding backloads is mormous.
For BRS itself, looking for mckloads used to be a longvinded business. A depot with a orry becoming available for a )ackload would notify depots in he relevant area by telex or )hone. With over 150 depots ind thus a good spread in most ireas, this could involve quite a ew inquiries before a load was ound.
In fact, BRS research showed hat on average it takes five lours and seven phone calls to acate a return load.
As far back as 1975, BRS conidered the idea of a computer ut rejected it — computers /ere then far too expensive.
But by 1979 things had hanged. The price of computers ad plummeted while the price f diesel had rocketed. The net asult of this was that a compu3r became more feasible and ven more desirable.
Though originally developed )r BRS internal use, Datafreight ad industry-wide applications. 1979 study by the Transport id Road Research Laboratory ad concluded that the 360,000 avy commercial vehicles on K roads spend roughly one iird of their time running -npty.
BRS reasoned that the main use of this dead mileage was a )mmunications problem. In all • obability there was a load to .a moved but the haulier didn't low of the potential customer's hereabouts and vice-versa. Dafreight sets out to put one in uch with the other.
At the heart of Datafreight in 3ndon is a computer, storing all e information. The computer terminals are in BRS depots across the country, linked to the computer via phone. The terminal is operated by an experienced traffic planner because his knowledge is still important.
Suppose you are a Leedsbased haulier returning home from London and looking for a backload. Instead of making half-a-dozen phone calls or putting yourself in the hands of a clearing house, you need make just one call to the nearest BRS Datafreight depot.
The operator will key in the relevent details such as where your vehicle is, what time it will be free, where it's heading for, its size and type.
Within a minute or so the vdu screen will show a list of available loads that will fit the bill, listing the load's origin, destination, type of vehicle needed, size of load, special requirements and the phone number to contact — that of the BRS depot that keyed in the information.
The receiving Datafreight operator relays these details to the haulier who can then get in touch with branch providing the load and negotiate the job in the normal way.
If there are no backloads in the exact area, the computer very quickly says so and the operator can widen the search area. For instance, if there wasn't a load from London to Leeds, the computer might show up a load from Bedford to Sheffield which would be a good alternative.
The whole system works in reverse for the producer of the goods. He rings BRS with the load details and these go onto the system.
All transactions are via BRS — the producer with goods to move is entering s contract with BRS, not the haulier. BRS then has access to the information first and puts it onto the DatafRfaight. The haulier who actually carries it as a backload is accepting the load from BRS, not the producer of the goods — he is in effect a sub-contractor for BRS. So what's the difference be tween BRS and a clearin! house?
BRS Membership Service director Mark Bedeman point out that Datafreight is trul' national; the screen can shov loads available anywhere in thi country whereas the clearin house is strictly local. Taking th3 earlier example for instance, th3 London clearing house migh well not have found the loac from Bedford.
he Datafreight system also 3 rantees payment for the flier — if the producer of the xis doesn't pay up, it's BRS o is losing not the haulier. El of course, speed is far )erior; the clearing house is I working with a list of names
a battery of phones.
;o how much does it cost to this exclusive electronic b? A haulier will pay a £75 ival fee, plus £50 a year subiption for each vehicle. BRS esn't pretend it's cheap, but ints to the cost of running 'ides empty.
rhere are currently 50 Datafght members. All applicants .1 screened first — that's a In of assurance for the cus-ner and BRS.
ft/here a haulier has more than vehicles, Mark Bedeman says would be viable for him to ve his own terminal. In this ry it's his company's phone mber that goes onto the reen, cutting out his local BRS anch involvement. But this )uld cost the haulier between ,000 and £10,000 per year.
Similarly, a large producer can lye his own terminal, entering own loads as they become • ailable. In all there are almost 70 terminals of which 56 are in BRS depots. To date, there have been well over 50,000 transactions made via Datafreight.
As well as offering companies the chance to have their own Da tafreight terminal BRS goes one step further; a company can have its own private Datafreight system.
This "licensee" arrangement offers great potential for the large own-account operator with a good spread of depots, Dunlop has this facility, and BRS reports that another nine companies are planning to become licensees.
Mark vehemently denies that Datafreight has been less than well received by the haulage world outside BRS. The fact that the Road Haulage Association has delayed becoming a licensee is not significant, he maintains, pointing out that it's not exactly the best time to ask transport men to put their hands in their pockets.
BRS is casting its net even further and looking to Europe for the next stage in Datafreight's development with two terminals going into operation "somewhere on the Continent".
While Datafreight is still in its infancy, the other BRS Mem bership service, BRS Rescue, is well-established. In 1977 the wreckers and breakdown facili ties at the BRS depots were organised to give national coverage, backed up by appointed agents, and opened to the industry at large. A rational control room was set up, built around lists of de pots and appointed agents, many phones, and more maps. When a lorry broke down, the driver phoned the control room, which then phoned the details through to the nearest BRS depot or agent, who would send out the wrecker.
BRS Rescue manager Chris Bryan told me that everyone considered the system fairly efficient and it wasn't through any feeling of dissatisfaction that Rescue became computerised — but he saw the potential of the computer.
The control room moved to a new Rescue Centre in Birmingham in May last year, and the planning for the new system started almost immediately.
Using the "rubbish in, rubbish out" computer principle, Chris decided it would be best if the actual Rescue Centre operators could stipulate what details they wanted on the computer and be involved as much as possible in the programing.
He used computer games to get the operators used to "driv ing" the terminals, and the system went live in October last year.
So what's changed?
The driver of the broken-down vehicle phones the Rescue Free gone 4151 number (via the Post Office operator) which goes through to the Rescue Centre in
Birmingham. The calls are automatically stacked in order of rec., eipt and distributed to the Rescue operators who man the Centre 24 hours a day.
First the driver gives his company's name. The operator keys this into the terminal and if the company is a BRS Rescue member all the company fleet details appear on the operator's vdu screen, including any special company instructions in the event of a breakdown.
A credit rating also appears — if the company is on a black list of debtors for any BRS region the Rescue operator can demand a cash-only transaction. Non-BRS members have to pay a surcharge.
Having established the identity of the company the Rescue operator will talk the driver through a question and answer sequence: location, type of vehicle, problem, and so on.
The Rescue operator keys in these details onto the terminal, plus the code for the area in
which the breakdown happened. The vdu screen will instantly
show the nearest BRS Rescue facility, either a BRS depot or an appointed agent. There are 1,000 in all. The vdu shows all the relevant details of the depot or agency including number of wreckers, lift and tow capacity plus of course, phone numbers and people to contact.
If the depot or agency can't attend the breakdown (maybe all its wreckers are out) the vdu will quickly come up with the next most convenient Rescue agent.
It's then just a case of the Rescue operator phoning through the details of the breakdown to the Rescue depot or agent which will then go out and repair, rescue or recover the broken-down vehicle.
So the advent of the computer hasn't drastically changed the Rescue service as far as its recipients are aware. But it has given the Rescue operator so much more information at his fingertips, and information that is more easily updated. The computer has also speeded up the process of accepting the calls and routeing them to the appropriate agent.
BRS is well aware of the importance of speed of response during breakdowns, particularly with the introduction of the eight-hour driving day making many trunking schedules even tighter.
Computerisation at BRS Rescue didn't entail any redundancies but the computer has created extra handling capacity to deal with future growth. Al present there are 4,500 Rescue members with a total of 130,00C cv and coaches, not including the 18,000 National Freight Corn pany vehicles.
The nine terminals currently ir operation at the Rescue Centre handle a total of 45,000 calls fol help a year and there's plenty a. unused capacity — up to 40 ter minals can be installed, capable of handling up to 5,000 calls ir 24 hours.
An important off-shoot of th( computerisation is the system': record-keeping ability. All th( breakdown information keyed ir by the operator is stored on till computer and can be retrieve( again in almost any form number of breakdowns attendee by a particular depot or agent causes of breakdowns, till breakdown record of a particula member and so on.
Chris Bryan has examine' other countries' breakdown ser vices and told me that to the be of his knowledge BRS Rescue i the most sophisticate breakdown service in the world.
So look on the bright sid( Next time one of your vehicle breaks down just remember th it couldn't happen in a tpettE country.