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Up from the depths

25th March 2010, Page 32
25th March 2010
Page 32
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Page 32, 25th March 2010 — Up from the depths
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

David Watson Transport rescued a successful transport business that was laid low by the ills of its parent company and the effects of the recession.

Words / Images: Dave Young When, through no fault of its own making. sell-loading crane specialist haulier Milbank Trucks fell victim to the recession, and its fleet might have vanished.

However, through the determination of managing director David Watson and his team, a management buy-out was pushed through...

The company began in 1984 with a single craneequipped lorry bought to transport pre-cast concrete sections made by Milbank Floors of Chelmsford. This venture proved so successful that more were acquired, outside work was taken on, and Milbank Trucks became an autonomous part of the Milbank group.

The housing boom of the 1980s, along with exacting new health and safety rules, provided a catalyst to Milbank's rapid expansion.

Customers soon saw the advantages of not needing to hire in cranesor labourers to unload trucks. Concrete sections could be placed precisely on site or even directly into the build and its lorry loaders increasingly became the norm.

Milbank's skills soon found

applications in other areas. such as plant and temporary building movements, and, by 2008, the business was boasting a 114-strong fleet and five depots. at Earls Cc-Atte,

Essex, Brandon in Suffolk, Cliffe, in Kent, Stafford and Northampton.

When the financial crash came, the building sector suffered first. Milbank Floors in the middle of financing a new factory was placed into administration, and, as the main shareholder in Milbank Trucks, took its profitable subsidiary down. too.

Good management

Fortunately, having gained a reputation for good management and financial probity, its banker supported the buy-out, and although the vehicles remaining on the fleet retained their distinctive original white, red and black livery, they adopted the David Watson Transport name.

Inevitably, though. there were casualties principally among the loyal workforce. Redundancies, both before and immediately following administration, amounted to a quarter of the staff. Fortunately, some drivers have since been re-employed.

Concrete flooring is still manufactured directly opposite the David

Watson Transport HQ in Earls CoInc, but it is no longer carried by its wagons. Instead, the current gameplan at David Watson Transport is to undertake a wide variety of work for a broad customer base, seeking out blue-chip clients and building long-term partnerships.

Selling hard

David Watson Transport is selling itself hard, constantly searching out new sectors in which to market its services and is finding trade show databases an especially effective way of finding new leads Mobile generating sets are a growth area — David Watson Transport has two trucks and four drivers that provide permanent 24/7 emergency cover for EDF Energy. based at customer premises. David Watson says: "They are called out every shift, rather like tire engines.This was work gained through personal recommendation."

David Watson Transport still undertakes substantial work for the building industry In fact, says Watson. the sector has held up better than expected. although not providing the 50% to 60% of the total workload it contributed before the economic crash.

Much of the current volume comes from moving mobile building and site stores, and this work. cautions Watson. is at the most price-competitive end of selfloading crane haulage.

The rail industry has become another important customer. For a long time, David Watson Transport had six vehicles outbased on the West Coast mainline upgrade, in addition to the sizable amount of jobs undertaken for Network Rail contractors.

Its warehousing facilities at Earls Colne come into their own with a contract to renew service station car washes for a national group. DWR collects these, holds them until required, installs the new machine then removes and stores the old unit until a decision is made to either refurbish or scrap it.

One-off jobs

Other high-profile one-off jobs include moving art installations and sculptures, and further work for the fleet comes from the aerospace. heating and ventilation sectors.

David Watson Transport currently offers a range of vehicle sizes from 15-tonne to 65-tonne (STGO) GVW.

Working across the UK and the Benelux countries, the firm's flatbeds undertake industrial moves, offering customers a complete project management package everything from DGSA assessment, laying temporary trackway, cranage, STGO transport, route planning, escorting and handling all paperwork and bureaucracy.

Since so many loads must be carefully timed, either for delivery or to meet escorting requirements (some cabins measure 14ft x 60ft), backloads can be hard to organise, especially when building jobs can frequently cause hold-ups. The firm does some night trunking but few vehicles can be doubled-shifted despite most jobs being local to the truck's home depot and drivers only averaging about two nights out a week.

However, some non-time sensitive jobs can be done at return load rates for regular users, and because the firm's IT software allows each depot to see what work the others have planned, there's scope for co-operation to cut empty running.

As a business built on service, David Watson Transport (and before it Milbank) were early adopters of IT systems, using bespoke load planning software and Cybit GSM satellite tracking updated every 20 seconds to provide real time information. Longstanding customers have dedicated key account managers and are permitted password access to the relevant part of the network, David Watson keenly believes opennessbuilds trust".

In order to attract larger enterprises as customers, the MD knows David Watson Transport has to offer wider geographical coverage.

Expansion so far has largely occurred on the basis of friendly takeovers of established family businesses, affording the immediate bonus of crane-equipped kit, premises and an existing customer base. Watson believes the firm must expand rather than "let competitors grow around you" and is looking to establish long-term relationships with firms for whom cost is neither the only nor most important criteria. "Clients are hard to get." he concedes. "but once we have t hem, they tend to stay."

Market position

For the first two years. Watson says David Watson Transport is happy to "consolidate our market position, drive down costs and make constant incremental service delivery improvements".

Its office accommodation is extremely modest and there's a low ratio of hack office staff to trucks, in the longer term, he'd like to acquire depot freeholds, hut with the commercial property market currently depressed. reviews aren't too intimidating. "We budget on the ha of cashflow and avoid borrowing," says Watson firmly Watson is conscious of the sacrifices staff have mad -They haven't had a rise in four years." and he apprec their commitment. All drivers are given cameraphom and are encouraged to send in prospective customer I As CM talked to Watson, his iPhone rang to displa images of cable drums and the name and address of the consignee. With such innovative thinking, this firm deserves to endure. •

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