Tight timing worth V/2m a year to Midlands BRS
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Time is of the essence for new overn consolidation and distribution opera
by Martin Hayes
An assortment of containers and parts awaiting consolidation. Note the vulnerable unpacked front wing.
volumes are involved for each region.
Whether stock, or VOR, spares must be with each regional haulier (except in Scotland where delivery at 5am is accepted) by lam. MBRS will be in no doubt about the importance of accurate timekeeping because it takes over responsibility for local distribution in area four itself on Monday in another contract worth £160,000 a year. As a regional haulier it will receive bulk supplies of Austin-Morris spares at Middlemore where loads will be consolidated for daily distribution to BL MONDAY sees the start of an important new contract — worth £560,000 a year — in which Midlands BRS Ltd will play a vital role in speeding British Leyland car spares to distributors throughout the country. MBRS will be using a 3,995sqm (43,000sqft) warehouse at its Middlemore, West Bromwich, depot as the nerve centre of the operation which entails collecting spares for Jaguar, Rover and Triumph cars, consolidating them into area loads and delivering them to seven different regions for local distribution.
Time is of the essence in the operation because many of the spares handled are for Vehicles Off the Road (VOR) and are guaranteed to be delivered to car dealers within 24 hours of an order being placed.
The new contract follows a major reorganization of BL's service division, which is now controlled from the Austin-Morris division at Longbridge. MBRS has been night trunk ing JaguarRover-Triumph (or JRT, as the specialist car division is known) for a year since taking over the job from its sister company, Mortons BRS. However, the revamped service network — based on seven regions instead of six Austin-Morris regions and nine for JRT — has called for some sophisticated planning by MBRS in readiness for Monday.
Under the new system all AustinMorris and JRT car spares will be delivered to distributors by one haulier in each of the seven regions. Because of the large volume involved, it is economic for BL to trunk all the AustinMorris spares direct to the seven hauliers but it is the smaller quantity of JRT spares for which MBRS is assuming responsibility. These originate from five factories, Cardiff, Evesham, Tipton and two at Coventry, and MBRS is responsible for collecting spares from those points, consolidating them into seven regional consignments at Middlemore, and trunking them to the relevant haulier.
What makes the new contract noteworthy is the speed with which the job must be carried out. It is worthwhile looking at the VOR cycle to assess this; of the total 24 hours allowed, MBRS has only a small part for its part of the job.
A JRT distributor can telephone a VOR order to a centre in Coventry up until 13.30. The centre arranges for the relevant factory to pick and pack the correct component. At about 16.00 MBRS receives a "call-over" phone call to say a load is ready. With the spread of factories, arrival times at Middlemore vary, but most are between 17.00 and 18.30, though some are as late as 20.00.
Stock spares are more orderly, but MBRS does not know until 24 hours before it must deliver them, what garages in the Midlands, North-West and Wales. All the other six local hauliers, incidentally, are privately owned concerns.
To handle the traffic for both contracts MBRS has a day staff of seven warehousemen and 27 drivers based at Middlemore with six warehousemen and 14 drivers on the night shift. There are 15 24-ton-gross artic units, six 19ton units, 60 trailers and six rigids for local distribution. Both staff and vehicles are "dedicated" to the BL contracts; that is, no other product is handled by them. Given that the last VOR spa not arrive at Middlemore unt and that deliveries to haul Bingley, Leighton Buzzard, Oxford and Chepstow must be t lam and to Glasgow by 5am (ir a vehicle change over at an Mf station), it is clear that efficient at Middlemore will be essentia Six fork-lift trucks are locatt but handling problems in the ea of the contract will not be helpe variety of containers in use. On recently no less that 27 different metal container passed throug more. Many of these were supi the same size, though few I happily with other types. BL menting with collapsible pallets, which may make thin Other ways in which efficien enhanced over the next few mc the MBRS quote for the job c arranged amounts) are ti duction of VOR parts zoni factories, meaning less unsli Middlemore, and the introd planned order submission parts. This would prevent istically altering their orders rning.
ickaging may be improved, as will always be a problem. .n motor car has something individual parts and any of ,ave to be handled by M BRS. extra washers do not offer challenge, an unannounced complete Triumph bodyOR delivery might well bring iches. At present body panels wted loose and great care is o ensure they remain 1.
le national JRT contract is the most. important to MBRS in financial terms (it involves 25,000 tons a year and route mileage of about 900,000, incidentally) the local distribution in BL's parts area four requires at least as much detail planning. An annual route mileage of 400,000 is involved.
In its area, MBRS will be using five vehicles (one based at Warrington) for delivering VOR parts each day. These operate on five fixed routes of 125, 75, 150, 310 and 270 miles respectively. There are anything from seven to 27 drops on each route. While area four is slightly changed for MBRS, the company has been operating at 98 per cent efficiency on a largely similar area for the past year (that is, missing only two drops a week).
For stock spares delivery in area four, MBRS will be using five vehicles each day. Stock parts move on a five-day cycle. An order is received by BL on day one, it is "computerized" on day two, picked, packed and shipped on day three; outstanding items are shipped and all parts are consolidated at Middlemore on day four, and spares are delivered on day five. MBRS only receives the paperwork — and confirmation of total volumes — on the evening of day four.
Advance planning for local distribution has been precise. Regular drivers on individual routes have been sent out in cars to study all the factors which will influence their timings. Such factors as traffic _conditions, school opening and closing times, parking restrictions, best times at distributors, types of mechanical handling systems available have all been studied. Marketing executive Dick Bolton, who has been responsible for setting up the operation, explains that this is essential. "In an operation like this, local knowledge is crucial to success," he says. Such attention to detail was responsible for