A Job! Specialists
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riE justifiable pressure being applied to road transport to raise maintenance standards, plus an ever-increasing demand on the road vehicle in terms of productivity, availability and serviceability are beginning to overwhelm many organizations, large and small alike.
Some workshops may be badly run; more often they have been badly assessed.
A case in point is the workshop unit which has loyal and diligent staff but is just not big enough, or equipped adequately to function efficiently. This is by no means unusual in some quite large organizations and may well stem from the feeling that maintenance is a necessary evil.
During the past year The Commercial Motor has visited nine different types and classes of operator in various parts of the country and an analysis of the articles (a list of the dates on which they were published is given below) serves to confirm that for the majority of small haulage fleets, maintenance presents a problem that is fast becoming insuperable without assistance from larger specialist repair organizations. It is evident that even if a small company carries out its own running repairs, it cannot hope to provide facilities for crash repairs, unit overhauls and fuel equipment servicing, because in the main these types of operations require specialist craftsmen as well as special equipment. Obviously both must be fully employed if they are to be an economical proposition, but the small operator just has not the amount of work to justify such luxuries.
From the evidence gleaned during our visits to the companies, it must be assumed that vehicle repair is at least as big a business as haulage. The industry must recognize this if it is ever to surmount the problems facing it. Either it must set up within itself adequate repair organizations or it must be prepared to spend large sums of money to have the job done. No matter which path is taken, the end result will be beneficial to both the public and road haulage: greater safety, reduced delays and more economical operation.
It stands out in the reports, that frequent vehicle inspection is the basis of a good maintenance scheme. Whether this is performed by fitters during servicing, or by a specially appointed vehicle inspector, depends largely on the size of the fleet in question; but, it remains an important first requirement.
Absolute control of vehicle availability by the fleet engineer was favoured by the majority of firms visited. This, they say, is the only way to achieve a really good record with regard to vehicle condition.
Preventive maintenance is high on the list, but at least two of the concerns relied on intimate knowledge both of the vehicles in the fleet and the men handling them. In all cases the quality of drivers employed was said to have a great effect on the availability of the machines. Because of this one company had been compelled to sack 54 drivers in less than six months. They found that this had paid handsome dividends. Attending to faults that were reported by drivers, or which had shown up through the vehicle records, had enabled one company to achieve fantastically low repair costs-per-mile without detracting from the condition of the fleet. This firm, however, trained all its own drivers and fitters and managed somehow to keep them on its strength once trained. Constant attention to vehicle records and the provision of spare vehicles to enable operational strength to be kept up, come what may, are essential; the results of this system spoke for themselves, one machine having covered almost 500,000 miles at a repair cost of only 2d. per mile.
Assess Needs Accordingly A company visited in Eire had set up a self-contained organization, even going to the length of manufacturing its own springs. I recognized here that "needs must when the Devil drives" just about sums up what every haulier should take into account when deciding how best to maintain his fleet. Each need should be assessed on its merits and catered for accordingly, even if this means going to greater lengths than at first envisaged.
For instance, if based in an area where spare parts can be acquired easily, -then there is no need to store large stocks. Alternatively, should location be such that getting spare parts entails long and costly journeys, both in time and mileage, then it becomes economical to set up what at first sight seems to be an unnecessarily large and costly stores department. If this will not provide the service needed then it may be necessary to resort to manufacturing parts, like the Irish concern.
A company engaged in severe operations on open-cast coal sites had devised a decentralized system for its maintenance on the principle that a small unit is more intimate in operation than a large one; that there is greater trust between driving and fitting staffs; and so that distance between site and workshop can be kept down, go saving valuable time. The number of 30 vehicles was suggested as the maximuni that it was desirable to operate under any one roof if high standards were to be maintained. A monthly inspection and service period lasting from 2-4 days was considered necessary, as was the provision of spare vehicles.
A shortage of fitters would, it was thought by a high official of this company, gradually drive a lot of C-licence work onto the plate of the professional haulier. This, it was said, was because of the increasing difficulty in getting good staff, and in keeping up with the more stringent requirements of the MoT examiners.
Delegate Responsibility Only one organization visited worked to a policy of early vehicle replacement, and this only in the lighter class of machine. The same firm did not keep spare vehicles in its fleet but provided for vehicles-off-the-road by hiring. A lot of faith was placed in a system of keeping everybody in the organization informed as to what was going on and why. The chairman of the company had devised a means of bringing -home to drivers the cost and causes of mechanical failures, and how best they could be avoided. Complete delegation of responsibility was said to be an important factor in the success of the system operated and from what was seen of the fleet it can be held that it was extremely successful.
In most of the workshops extensive use was made of factory reconditioned units where possible. Only in the very large organizations were unit reconditioning operations carried out. Where this was done it was significant that fitters were moved from job to job as required and that there was no recognitipn of demarcation of duties. Unit reconditioning then became a job to be done in slack periods and consequently an economic proposition. In exactly the same way, fuel and electrical equipment were mostly put out to specialists because the quantity involved could not justify the installation of the necessary equipment.
Bearing in mind that regulations will in due course require that commercial vehicles be inspected yearly and carry a certificate of fitness, a visit was made to the premises of a p.s.v. operator to see how a section of the industry that has for long been subjected to these requirements tackled the problem. Here was foreshadowed a taste of things to come for the haulier. No longer will he be allowed to "run on with a vehicle that is far from fit, with the hope that it might not be stopped by an examiner. No longer will the "putty and paint" overhauls so beloved by some be sufficient to get a machine through a spot check. Instead, regular and extensive checks made at the garage, which itself must be adequately constructed and equipped to cater for the needs of the fleet it serves, will ensure that, at least, the haulier directs a fair proportion of his earnings towards maintenance.
The needs of the organization visited had been filled by the setting up of a completely self-contained unit to enable it to overcome any problem that might arise whether from mechanical failure, accident or fair wear and tear. Obviously this entails employing more staff than is needed all of the time. To overcome the extravagance in labour, non-urgent repairs were taken from other operators. As with the unit reconditioning mentioned earlier, these became slack-period fillers. In the body shop of the firm, mini-bus conversions were carried out as a spare time job to ensure that the staff could be kept employed economically. There was complete reliance on the company's electrical and fuel equipment shops, both of which sported a considerable stock of reconditioned units to cover most eventualities so that a vehicle arriving at the depot with a fault could invariably be put right in quick time.
To sum up it may well be said that a large section of the haulage industry does not have adequate facilities to keep its machinery in a reasonable condition. The section that has taken the necessary steps to provide the required facilities has found that it has at first sight been an expensive exercise, but has eventually paid handsome dividends. Understanding had developed between the engineering and operating sides of each company visited; this would seem to be one of the first essentials to a successful maintenance organization. R.D.C.