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PALLETLINE CASE STUDY
Page 38
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• Shepton-Mallet-based Framptons runs 60 trucks and joined Pallethne eight years ago. It sends about 160 pallets a night to the central hub although its inputs have varied from as low as 90 up to a record-breaking 390 recorded in one particularly busy night. Managing director Andrew Frampton reports that the company is now one of Palletline's Top 10 inputters even though its catchment area, which includes Bath and Dorchester, "has a lot of green fields". Framptons' Palletline business accounts for 200/0 of its turnover and is currently growing at the rate of 30% year-on-year.
But Frampton reports a somewhat different story with outputs. "Because we're not in a very good area geographically on average we're getting between 70-80 pallets incoming. However, we've done a couple of things like encouraging multiple pallets and made some changes to the pricing structure to encourage more."
What kind of relationship does the company have with Palletline plc? "The centre is still very much there to facilitate moving of our pallets," says Frampton. They run the hub and increasingly they're doing more commercial work developing corporate business. However, they're very helpful on trunker times and trying to accommodate members."
On the effectiveness of joint decision-making via the Palletline board and shareholders Frampton has mixed feelings—not least when it comes to rates: "Being a shareholder is obviously important—but it does have the odd drawback. Things don't move quite as quickly as if just one person was making the decisions.
"Steve Hayward knows I feel that's the way we need to go in certain areas, so there are fewer decisions by committee. But in other areas it's got to be, as Steve would say, a community."
Either way Frampton has no quarrel with Palletline's quality levels: "I think there is certainly a big commitment via the principles of the businesses to service. We might get other things wrong but service is invariably up there. If I've got to speak to head office two or three times a year that's a lot— it doesn't actually happen. In transport you'll always get cockups but they deal with them very professionally and quickly."
Ironically Frampton admits that, like many other members, his company originally joined Palletline not least "as a means of getting rid of awkward freight we couldn't handle with our own vehicles. But now it's very much a flagship of what we sell. It's very successful."