AT THE HEART OF THE ROAD TRANSPORT INDUSTRY.

Call our Sales Team on 0208 912 2120

management

2nd March 1973, Page 52
2nd March 1973
Page 52
Page 53
Page 52, 2nd March 1973 — management
Close
Noticed an error?
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.

Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

matters by JOhn Darker,

Should transport managers hold an HGV licence

WHEN Mr Jack Burrell, chief fleet engineer of Sainsbury's, addressed a seminar on fleet costs at Southampton recently he began on the theme of training. He felt that good shop floor training was essential to develop craftsmen, without whom vehicle maintenance to proper standards was impossible A few well trained mechanics would make the grade to fleet engineering posts he said.

Mr Burrell suggested that the recruitment by the Government of a force of experienced vehicle examiners to undertake roadside inspections would have been an alternative — and perhaps a better alternative — to the setting up oftesting stations. (Perhaps Mr Burrell's view was coloured by the high standards of vehicle maintenance in force at Sainsbury's for many years prior to the Plating and Testing regulations coming into force.) When he asserted that all transport managers should hold a hgv driving licence . because without it they would not readily gain the respect of drivers he aroused keen interest. How many transport managers or senior traffic clerks supervising drivers are

qualified to drive? Should they be? Would it pay every road haulage firm to insist that its managers are hgv driving licence holders regardless of age or circumstances?

Mr Burrell said he was often required to arbitrate to determine responsibility after a vehicle accident. If this duty was delegated to an assistant not in possession of a hgv driving licence some drivers objected strongly. One had said to him, after a recent accident: "I want you to hear the case, I'm not having Bill Bloggs tell me I was at fault — he can only drive a Morris Minor!"

Mr Burrell instanced driver training to hgv standard for a traffic clerk employed by SPD. Mr 0. R. Johns, personnel and training manager of United Transport Company Ltd, said his firm had trained 350 drivers including 20 managers whose job titles ranged from assistant general manager to depot manager. Although some large firms in the industry, including British Road Services, have long recognized that young trainee managers should undertake driver training as part of their training curriculum I suspect that many traffic staffs controlling drivers are not themselves qualified lorry drivers. The age of the manager or traffic clerk concerned seems relevant since the mere acquisition of a licence which is unlikely to be used much could be criticized as a meaningless and possibly a dangerous token.

Drivers attitude Experienced fleet engineers like Mr Burrell do not often "let their hair down" in public on the vexed matter of vehicle selection. He amused his listeners with a brief tale about a London brewery who found it economic to do local deliveries with horse-drays. "The horses cost £200 and £4 a week to run — and you can recoup what you put in the front end at the back!"

More seriously, describing Sainsbury's experience with a fleet of vehicles purchased four years ago which had involved massive outlays and downtime due to engine, gearbox and chassis faults, he concluded that the choice of the wrong fleet could involve a company "in an additional 9p per mile running cost — sq we've changed to another make".

Mr Burrell said he believed it was worthwhile to pay perhaps £2000 more for a vehicle which could have a 10-year life and cost less to run. "We run 24-ton artics and the fleet does 12m miles a year. present mpg with an expensive machine 10.6 and two comparable models give 9.6 and 8.4 mpg respectively. Vehicle fleet selection can therfore save you a tenth or a fifth of fuel costs. Taken in conjunction with less downtime you soon recover the initial extra cost of £2000 — and you may choose as we do to depreciate over seven years, not 10."

Instancing the importance of driver attitudes to vehicles, Mr BurTell said cab comfort and driving visibility was increasingly significant. One make of vehicle very popular three years ago was now anathema to drivers though at one time they would have gone on strike had the model been withdrawn.

He favoured the use of cab radios for trunk runs if the equipment could be withdrawn from cabs easily by the driver but he hesitated to recommend radio as a standard fitment because of the risk of cab damage through theft. He had experienced cab doors being forced to steal a radio with loss of use of the vehicle during repair.

On the merits of tachographs, Mr Burrell was dubious. He had heard of a driver who had hung a heavy magnet over a tachograph with the result that speeds over 40 mph were not recorded. "Until we have to fit them through legislation I — and 90 per cent of operators — don't consider tachographs worthwhile."

Noting the return to favour of draw-bar trailers, Mr Burrell said the "trail" of a draw-bar outfit was less than that of a comparable artic. The problem of reversing in a confined space could be overcome if a pulling hook was fitted to the trailer.

Test vehicles Mr Burrell provided an apt comment on the resourcefulness of Continental operators. Two maximum length vehicles from Europe delivered to Sainsbury's Basingstoke depot. One developed an engine fault and was towed to Harwich by the other vehicle, using a draw-bar, after an improvised welding repair had been done. "The drivers pretended they had no knowledge of English and off they went to Harwich, as happy as larks."

Large fleet operators are well placed to strike a good bargain in the selection of tyres or equipment after a trial of competing brands. Mr Burrell said tyres could be purchased at varying discounts and some factors fitted them free. Several thousands of pounds could be saved annually on a large mileage fleet given the• best choice initially.

He favoured the testing of more than a single vehicle — three vehicles provided a better cross-section of typical productionline 'quality and the more drivers concerned in the testing the better. By no means all manufacturers were prepared to offer trial facilities, though they were anxious enough to sell their vehicles and would obviously profit from a proper evaluation.

Marginal savings Some interesting figures were given of the additional maintenance costs resulting from the use of refrigerated vehicles and vehicles equipped with powered tail-lifts. Sainsbury's refrigerated vehicles cost 1,-Ip per mile more in maintenance than would similar capacity box vans. The extra maintenance costs for powered tail-lifts worked out at 0.7p per mile — though the extra productivity more than justified the cost.

Mr Burrell was utterly scathing in his comments on the EEC's proposed qualifications for lorry drivers. These should be rejected by the DoE as completely inappropriate.

On the pay and status of transport managers. Mr 13urrell's comment was thought-provoking. "We can't show a profit — only a saving in maintenance costs. So we should know what these are now and were in the past and try to demonstrate relative improvement in cost-efficiency. Always look for marginal savings: if you can forecast spares requirements you may get a 10 per cent discount for quantity ordered. There arc small cost savings if you have 5000 gallons of fuel in one drop at night."

Another speaker at the seminar, Mr George Wilmot, a CM contributor, said he had recently visited the European Commission in Brussels and had learned with amazement of the huge subsidies given to railways. In Germany this amounted to £1325m — equal to two thirds of German defence expenditure. In Italy the rail subsidy was some £265m; in France, £865m, and the Netherlands bolstered rail with £50m — all compared with some £100m in Britain. Some Commission transport officials regarded the British as "hatchet men" for their attitude to rail subsidies which were seen in Europe as a social matter or a support for rural life.

Mr Wilmot, as chairman of the • Education Co-ordinating Committee (for road freight and industrial transport management), agreed with Mr F. R. Pywell, director of the Institute of Traffic Administration, that there was much to commend a qualification system for transport managers run by the industry and not by Eurocrats. Mr Wilmot said the British were a long way ahead in their scheme for voluntary registration based on existing qualifications. The Minister for Transport Industries had been reminded of this and asked to commend the British scheme if the EEC Commission called for qualifications for transport executives.


comments powered by Disqus