Revelation 3: marketing
Page 15
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#RKETING is the third reveion in transport, according to e managing director of itional Carriers, Brian yward. "I put containers as e first revelation; then ytorways," he said. "And now are actually marketing distri-, tion." DAVID WILCOX
oorts.
:vidence of this was the first tribution Services Show held Wembley Conference Centre t week which attracted no rer than 82 exhibitors from distribution world.
Vith just a few exceptions all major national distribution )cialists were represented, )ing to add some names to ir 1st of clients. Most distribu companies are now talking arms of one or two-day lead es instead of three or four rs that might have been the e a few years ago.
:ourier Express was an in?sting example. Best known
its Security Express cashrying business and its parcels .vice, it is now heavily Dived with specialist distribu) and sees it as a good growth a. It always offers next-day ivery and claims to deliver 70
cent of all records in the UK, inema films and vast quanti; of perfume, books and pharceuticals.
lost of the large express par; carriers were also at the iw and the competition be:en them seemed even hotter. Ii so many businesses now fling with minimal stocks the Id for fast general parcels serP.S has never been greater. Vilkinson Transport was rionstrating its Wilkontrol cels monitoring system. Just
the parcel's dispatch note nber onto the vdu keyboard I the screen will show where the network parcels have ched — at the collection de ar delivery depot, or already ivered. The Wilkinson man nitted that it did not help the cels move any quicker, but it kes customers' inquiries rut particular parcels much ier.
'NT Overnite, which has de quite an impact in the exss parcels world, pulled yet ither rabbit from its hat. This e it announced its entry into ope with a 48-hour doOr to door guaranteed service to any address in France. The parcels move through the normal Overnite system in the UK and are given a similar treatment in France by French carrier Calberson. France is just the beginning, says TNT Overnite; this Europfast service is likely to expand to Germany, Holland and Scandinavia before too long and destinations much further afield were hinted at.
Computers are very much part of the distribution scene these days and the computer men were out in force at the show, managing (almost) to speak the same language as distribution men. One exception was a young man on a computer stand of whom I asked the price for a particular system. "I don't know, I'm a software man." Hmm.
Scicon was launching a new computer system, SDS-3000, specifically designed for distribution with various modules that can handle order processing, stock monitoring, route planning, performance monitoring, etc. Typical all-in price, including computer, software and installation, is around £100,000 to £150,000.
The National Freight Company's computer arm, Freight Computer Services, was presenting its DiPS system which 'seemed to offer a particularly comprehensive list of features for the operational side of distribution. Daily route planning (from a database of 14,000 road junctions), depot location, vehicle utilisation, the effect of new drivers' hours legislation or taking on new clients are all subjects that DiPS will tackle.
All the computer companies at the exhibition said interest in their products was high, particularly on the route planning side.
The common-or-garden timber pallet has spawned a whole range of unitised handling devices and many of these were on display. GKN Chap was showing a neat portable racking system called Cheprack which is a steel tubular frame built around a standard pallet that can be moved individually and stacked one on another up to four high for instant racking. When not in use up to 11 can be nested inside each other. Cheprack is available for sale or hire from GKN Chep. The same company was exhibiting another new product, a collar of stout plywood eight inches deep that fits on a standard 1000 x 1200 timber pallet. Several collars can be fitted on top of each other to make a box on the pallet; lids plus horizontal internal dividers are also available. These too are available for hire or can be bought outright at about £6 per collar.
In many retail distribution operations roll-cages have taken over from timber pallets, and BMat of Glenrothes, Fife was exhibiting its range of wheeled roll cages and trollies which neatly fold flat for nesting when not in use owing to the use of a hinged base rather than removable sides like most roll cages. Brand new at the show was B-Mat's Expotainer which is designed to be used not only for transporting the goods but also for in-store display for items such as cartons of milk.
TNT Materials Handling is a relatively new name in the UK but is already making itself felt. It's likely to be treading on GKN Chep's toes and is hiring out pallet cages and devices called Pallecons. These are tubular steel frames that clip onto a 1000 )< 1200 timber pallet with plywood side panels and lids to form complete boxes around the pallet. They can be stacked and moved by normal forklift trucks and can also be fitted with combinations of doors or flaps. TNT Materials Handling is almost certain to go into the conventional timber pallet pool business as well.
With the price of fuel never far from people's minds there was a lot of interest shown in Windfoil's roof-mounted deflec
tors and under-bumper al dams. The deflectors are a rathE more subtle shape than man and are curved in every directio which is why, claims Windfoi they are effective in reducin: drag while flat ones are c doubtful value.
Windfoil's other exhibit wa its new boxvan body display& on a Ford Cargo (CM Octobe 17). Originally to be calle, the Ultralite, its name wa changed this week to Econoliti to avoid a clash with anothe body manufacturer. It is a corn posite construction, even dow: to its one-piece floor and is parti cularly light. Windfoil has al& paid a lot of attention to aerody namics and the whole body is a:
clean as possible with rounder • edges and side skirts. Its initia price is slightly higher than ; conventional composite body.
At present the Windfoil !pod' has to be painted in the usua way, but next year colour im pregnation will be available. Thi company is also working on ai insulated version.
Show organiser Gordon Carl ton was hoping for 7,000 visitor: over the three days. Judging Ix the number of people I saw or the first day, this was over optimistic. Mind you, at least thi salesmen seemed to be tryini harder and it was easy to get al the attention and informatio: you wanted. The only exceptior to this was a well known curtain sided bodybuilder on whosr stand I stood for several minute: reading its brochure while fou salesmen stood five feet aw& and talked among themselves They evidently hadn't caugh Brian Hayward's enthusiasm fo marketing.