1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184 
Polish recruits help Swain climb back into the black
Page 8
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
F Swain & Sons turned its fortunes round last year, and it attributes much of that success to its Polish drivers. Lucia Cockcroft reports.
A READY SUPPLY of Polish drivers helped family firm F Swain & Sons swing into profit in 2006 after it posted a £153,000 loss the previous year. In 2006, the Cheshire-based business delivered a pre-tax profit of £105,000 on a virtually static turnover of £16.1m.
Operations director Peter Millington says: "We're delighted. It has been a lot of hard work over the last year, and I would say the results are mainly down to a new labour source of Polish drivers. They are proud of being drivers, and the calibre is often higher."
Millington also attributes the company's turnaround to a move away from owner-drivers, leading to a more efficient utilisation of the fleet: "We turned the focus away from owner-drivers and brought much of the work in-house. We didn't feel we had the same degree of control [with owner-drivers].
"This new way of working enables us to run our own vehicles more efficiently and utilise the fleet better by using vehicles during rest days," he adds.
The firm has also picked up new business: through its tie-up with transport consortium Jigsaw Solutions — in which Swain has a 20% stake—it won a new contract with Indoset and renewed an existing agreement with Lafarge.
Swain also has twojoint ventures: Portbury Logistics, which has the contract for Lafarge Plasterboard; and PentagonTransport Solutions, a tie-up with Norfolk-based Jack Richards, JM McKennars and Smiths of Whiteinch to service a Unilever contract.
Plans for 2007 include fitting most of the fleet with telematics technology, enabling the company and its customers to track the progress of consignments. -It will bring greater visibility for customers," says Millington.
The company was founded in 1922 by Fred Swain,the grandfather of current owner Michael Swain; it forged its reputation collecting milk churns from local farms.