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Alternative arrangements

29th October 1971
Page 91
Page 91, 29th October 1971 — Alternative arrangements
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

EVEN for the operator of a relatively small fleet of commercial vehicles it is more than likely that he can provide alternative arrangements for the movement of particular consignments. The most obvious alternatives would be in the combination of alternative sizes of vehicle as determined by the factual composition of the operator's fleet.

To take as simple an example as possible one could consider some of the alternatives available if an operator had to move 30 tons of traffic involving 100 miles return journey with the choice of three sizes of vehicle. namely with 22-. 16or 8-ton payloads. It will also be assumed that other traffic cannot be conveyed on the same vehicle to make up any particular load and that terminal facilities permit the use of any size of vehicle with equal facility so loading and unloading times would be in proportion to the load carried. Also, to provide a uniform comparison, the operating costs used in the exercise will be based on an average weekly mileage of 800 for all three vehicles.

Obvious choice

The obvious first choice would be a combination of the 22and 8-tonners. The current edition of the Commercial Motor Tables of Operating Costs show the total operating cost per mile for the 22-tanner (Table 5) is 20.81p. So for the 100-mile trip the cost would be £20.81.

Similarly the cost per mile for the 8-tonner is 12.08p (Table 2) or £12.08 for the 100-mile trip. The cost of moving the 30 tons by this combination would therefore be £20.81 plus £12.08 giving a total of £32.89.

That amount, however, obviously constitutes the optimum and assumes that both vehicles are—or conveniently near to—the loading point. In practice it would seldom be the case that the ideal vehicles for a particular movement of traffic were conveniently on hand.

So it will now be assumed that one or both of the ideal vehicles are not immediately to hand. It would then be necessary for the 16-tonner td make two trips involving an excess capacity to two tons fie 18 X 2 = 32 less 30/. The cost per mile of this 16-tonner is 17.08p (Table 5) so giving a total of £34.16 for the two trips.

Dead mileage

This shows an increase of £1.27 over the "ideal" combination of the 22and 8-tonners. It will be seen, therefore, that in this instance the margin in favour of the "ideal'' combination is not so marked that it would justify more than a relatively small amount of dead mileage to bring either the 22or 8-tonner to the loading point.

While this has been a purely notional situation it does indicate once again that costing is not limited to maximum efficiency exercises. It can also help operators to choose the least inefficient when the ideal arrangement cannot be provided.

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