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The self-made man
Page 55
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The first thing that strikes you about AFS managing director Andy Seagrave is his modesty. He started out as a sole trader in 1984. using a van for local deliveries. Some 23 years on, this self-made man's firm is turning over E4.5m.
AFS has been characterised by steady growth and a policy of diversification. As Seagrave says, life for small-to-medium transport firms is uncertain: "In our industry, small players like me could struggle. The bigger boys get bigger, there are fewer smaller boys."
Over the past two decades, Seag rave has often seen the unsavoury sight of other hauliers buying too many trucks too soon and going bankrupt.
He is a realist. By spreading from transport into training and recruitment; he has built up a "one-stop shop' That sad, his plan is to chase business with relatively small companies. "You can't compete with the big boys or you go bankrupt," he warns.
Seagrave advises smaller operators to join pallet networks. Interestingly, this is not directly for the extra profits but because they increase a firm's customer base. He sees them as a component to an existing road transport operation rather than an easy route to riches.
AFS is based near Southampton, with its large container sector. But to be a serious skeletal operator, he says, you need in the region of 50 tractive units.
Delegation is another of his strategies. This does not mean passing the buck, but giving the divisions space to breathe and develop: "The staff I have have allowed me to diversify; they work together but they are all allowed to do their own thing."
Personnel get on with the lobs, Snag rave "will have a quiet word if someone has overstepped the mark". Staff turnover is low. Driver John Onyon, due to retire shortly, has been with AFS since 1987.
With the four AFS divisions in place, we wonder if the group's structure is complete. No, says Seagrave: "We are looking at going into freight forwarding," AFS is seeking to take an existing forwardfig operation into the fold rather than develop one from scratch.