FROM PRODUCER TO CONSUMER
Page 14
Page 15
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
The Value of the Motorvan for the Transport of Fragile Confectionery Goods.
T"EMOTOR delivery van is playing an important part in commercial developments, not mere;y in the delivery of goods, but in the changing conditions of business. Manufacturers of perishable articles and foodstuffs are now able to get direct to the consumer with the help of rapid motor delivery. Some multiple shop organizations, in association with actual producers, are finding the certainty and cleanliness of motor delivery a great economic advantage over the dilatory arid m is-handling methods aisociated with modern,railway systems.
A case in point is afforded by the experience of Bowdens, Ltd., who are manufacturing confectioners , and cake
makers at Ashton-under-Lyne. Their goods are sent out in bottles, on trays, and in packages that require delicate and accurate handling. To trust such goods to the railways would mean a risk of damage and of pilferage; to trust them to horse delivery over the cobbled streets of Lancashire towns would jolt away a proportion of profits and lose some of the company's prestige; and so a small fleet of motor vehicles has been brought
into use to convey the goods to the Meeson's confectionery shops, which are a feature of towns in Lancashire, Yorkshire and the Midlands. There are about a dozen of these shops in London, but, in the North, Meeson's sweetshops are as 'distinctive as Boots the chemists or Lyons the caterers are
in London. Moreover all the boiled sweets sold in these shops are from Messrs. l3owden's works at Ashton. They are delivered so far as Colwyn Bay by motorvan, and Within a radius of 40 miles from Manchester or of 50 miles from Ashton frequent supplies of fresh goods are sent out to be delivered in perfect condition by motorvan. A Vulcan, purchased in 1916, was the forerunner of the company's motor delivery system, to which was added an Oldsmobile lorry, the inevitable Ford van, and, later, a C.K.-type Daimler.
Previously, when cake was supplied to the Meeson's market shops in the
Potteries, it had to be made at the beginning of the week, and put upon the rail in the hope of sale on the Friday evening and Saturday. Now it is made on Thursday, packed on the van ready for setting forth early on Friday, with the certainty of getting to its destiny, tion for sale at the evening market. Thus the producer reaches the consumer in double quick time—and the consumer gets the freshest of supplies.
In the development of the company's small motor vehicle fleet the question of tyres was the troublesome point. The treads of the tyres-used maintained their strength, but the canvas gave way until quite a fair collection of good treads that could not be utilized was accumulated. Then N.A.P. tyres were tried, and experience with Macintosh-N.A.P. tyres on the Oldsmobile shows a. substantial saving in running expenses, quite apart from enabling a good and reliable service to be maintained—two essentials to business .effiCiency.
Economy, to the extent of increasing the running poWer of the heavy van a mile pei gallon, is an achievement that would commend itself to the wielder of the Geddes axe, just as it has to the manufacturing confectioners of Ashtonunder-Lyne. They have, for their own comparative records, satisfied themselves of its actuality. Moreover, With goods liable to break if jolted, the, tyre has proved as equally shock-absorbing as any pneumatic,' • When the tyre passes over big stones a circumferential flat results, and there is no sideway distention of the tyre. The air cushion of the tyre has withstood everything over which the vans oF Messrs. Bowden have passed, and avoided the jolting and displacement of goods that is the' great bugbear with which such users have to contend.
During the wintry months sideslip is another trouble in certain Northern districts, and here again the MacintoshN.A.P. tyre has scored, the triangular cavities on the narrow tread of the tyre Securing all the essential qualities of a non-skid. Messrs. Bowden are fitting these tyres on the rear wheels of all their vehicles as a result of their experience with them on the Oldsmobile van, on which Vehicle they have already exceeded, by more than 2,000 miles, the 10,000 miles; guarantee of the makers. ,Punctures have, in their case, been relegated to the limbo of forgotten things.
Thus the commercial value of • the motorvan is being demonstrated in the direct supply of goods from the producer to 'the consumer—and both should -secure some benefit from the operation.