Transport co-operati to Co-operative advantage
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By thoughtful use of its grocery distribution fleet, the South Suburban Co-operative Society Ltd is ensuring that the maximum advantage is obtained from the provision of a £2 million warehouse
THE importance of road transport as a management tool in own-account operation is often overlooked. In planning future business strategy or recasting existing practice, there is an inevitable interplay between the main business activity and the supply of transport which, if not co-ordinated, can result in some of the financial advantages to be gained from the new proposals being lost.
When, about two years ago, the South Suburban Co-operative Society planned its new warehouse at Croydon, to be brought into operation this autumn, it was realised there would be a significant reaction on the company's transport fleet. Therefore by a series of regular meetings as the planning progressed at which the transport aspect was represented, the maximum return has been assured from the company's E2 million investment.
One way in which this has been achieved is that the replacement of vehicles engaged on grocery distribution has been delayed until the effect of the new system has been evaluated.
The need for a new warehouse has been apparent for some time.
The present building was constructed in the 1920s and has no potential for conver sion to a modern warehousing complex.
It is at the rear of the company's store in London Road, Croydon, and its restricted access and lack of space for expansion is second only to its position in the centre of traffic congestion in encouraging the repositioning of the premises.
Moreover, the warehouse is constructed with a number of low-ceiling storeys so that stacking height is limited and a goods hoist is necessary to transfer the stock between floors when entering or leaving the warehouse.
Nor can advantage be taken of palletised deliveries and mechanical handling equipment. Lack of space dictates that deliveries of palletised loads have to be broken down and taken into the present warehouse package by package ; a waste of time and effort as well as being costly.
The new building has been designed by Planned Warehousing, Guildford, as specialist consultant in distribution management.
It is situated about a mile from the present site on a reclaimed refuse tip in Beddington Lane. Because of this, the contractors, Wates Construction Ltd, have been concerned in considerable piling wHich has resulted in inconvenient rows of stanchions in the reception and dispatch bays. Because some vehicles will have to be position d in the bays with one side omewhat inaccessible, loadin and unloading will have to be completed by use of an overeach truck. This, however, is a minor disadvantage in' comparison with the presen setup.
When completed, the new warehouse will cover 1 5,000 sq ft of which four-fifth will be warehouse floor spaced. This will be divided into fou bays each giving 30ft up t the eaves. Five-high heav duty pallet racking will be i4talled with wide aisles betwee The intake will be wholly palletised and the orde picking from some 3,000 ite4is will be largely from first beam (6ft) high using custoI1 built Cleco order pickers designed by the consultants.
Dispatch will be in r011 pallets of which the company will own about 3,000.
Completion of the premises will convert a 40 per cent own vehicle distribution activity to distributing 90 per cent of the total among South Suburban's 89 branches.
The warehouse operation is
Right Restricted acces at the present warehouse and ; lack of space for expansion has confirmed the need for a new warehouse. At present, palletised loads have to be broken down and teken into store package by pack ge.
designed on a integrated traffic flow system with separate circulating areas for intake and dispatch. A control box has been provided with all round visual control and this is so placed that drivers arriving with freight' for taking into stock and the Co-op's own drivers leaving with deliveries will be obliged to pass through this checkpoint.
The control is situated in a building which protrudes from the main building and is equipped with barriers so that the staff can grant or deny access and egress.
There is a security area provided away from the dispatch area for incoming stores.
At the goods inward bay, the building is equipped with induction-loop operated " Flyaside " doors and a hot-air curtain will guard against exposure to the north wind and thus maintain an acceptable inside warehouse temperature. On the dispatch side, the orders will be picked into the roll-pallets and delivered to the company's own drivers under the supervision of a dispatch foreman. To accommodate the roll-pallets in large numbers, a large marshalling area. has been built. Dock plates will facilitate the loading of the pallets into the vehicles.
Vehicle scheduling has been based on three runs a day for the vehicles in the existing fleet. These will be washed and serviced in docks provided with fuelling and air check facilities and maintained at the Society's central garage.
There will be a saving in the company's ability to take advantage of the economies to be achieved through bulk buying.
It has been unable to capitalise on this facility in the past because some 60 per cent of the groceries bought have been delivered to individual branches by the manufacturers' vehicles in comparatively small lots.
The vehicles at present engaged in grocery distribution from the existing warehouse comprise five tractive units and two spares with seven trailers. These will be increased to 10—five large and five small —when the new system starts. There are also five 3iton payload boxvans being used currently.
It was interesting to learn that articulated vehicles are being used to assist with servicing branches with restricted access, being more man oeuvrable than boxvans. Although it might have been thought that artics in these circumstances would have more difficulty in obtaining access, , this is not so. It is, however, one of the reasons for the use of smaller trailers which increase the ability to manoeuvre in tight spaces. Though about 90 per cent of the company's business is transacted within a radius of 10 miles of the new site, it does have branches as far away as Edenbridge in Kent. Thus, it was not possible to predict With any degree of certainty what effect the operation of the new warehouse would have on the grocery distribution fleet.
Therefore, though the majority of the fleet units had become due for replacement about 12 months ago, this had been delayed till a more objective assessment of the revised working could be made. It remains to be seen how the replacement policy will be effected. The loading and despatch of fleet units should be expedited by the roominess and mechanical handling facilities at the new warehouse so that it should be possible to handle increased traffic with a similar number of units. Alternatively, because new methods have a habit of generating increased business, fleet numbers and types might need reviewing after a few months operation under the new conditions.
Till the reaction of the fleet becomes apparent, the present units, augmented by three additional trailers, will continue to service the branches.
Trailers which have been loaded in the late afternoon will be parked overnight in the inwards bay and, at the beginning of each day, there will also be five boxvans and one trailer awaiting loading in the dispatch area.
The inwards bay must be cleared early so that instant access is available for vehicles bringing in goods for storage. The first priority, then, is to dispatch the loaded trailers from that point. The five boxvans will also be loaded in the dispatch bay as quickly as possible and these too will be on their way as soon as practicable.
The remaining trailers will then be positioned in the dispatch bay for loading ready for the tractive units returning from the morning delivery to pick up for the afternoon run. Similarly, when the boxvans return, they will have brought back empty collapsed cartons from branches. These they will discharge and then be repositioned in the dispatch bay space just vacated by the trailers loaded during the morning.
While the vehicles are out during the afternoon, those trailers which have not been unloaded of the cartons picked up at branches will be taken to the cardboard baler and then positioned in a loading bay. These will be replaced by a boxvan should one of these vehicles return before the trailer is loaded. The priority t this time is to get the boxvans to the loading bay and loaded as quickly as possible.
Thus, by careful planning of the intake and dispatch and the handling of the vehicles, it is hoped that the present size and make of fleet will be adequate. In the retail grocery business, with its surges of business engendered by the incidence of "special offers" with which the shops must be serviced quickly, the provision of transport is a matter which needs constant reappraisal. When this is allied to the advent of a new warehouse which will inevitably increase the amount of traffic to be carried, the situation needs to be monitored very carefully over several months operation so that the savings can be maximised.