t ET
Page 48
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Bob Beckham
Bob Beckham, distribution director of RHM Foods Ltd, who was elected president of the Freight Transport Association on Tuesday, believes that management's understanding of physical distribution is abysmally low — and with Bob Beckham's experience in transport and distribution his opinion is always worth attention. Asa member of the board of the Centre for Physical Distribution Management, he feels that they have perhaps been speaking to the right people but not telling them the right things. "We haven't impressed upon them the true cost of distribution or how it can be effectively reduced."
He believes that an approach to government to include distribution as part of education for the "reluctant 1 6year-old schoolboy" could meet with success. "I'm not yet sure whether the Government assistance should be fiscal or financial. It should be part of industry's contribution to the national economy to offer extensive distribution training courses to young people."
Turning to the FTA, Bob Beckham believes — and here he emphasises that this is a personal opinion — that the FTA must extend its activities beyond even its present wide boundaries. He believes that sales, production, warehousing, distribution and transport are all functions in which members should be involved.
In his own organization depot managers work closely with all other functional heads and even have the authority fo Override the computer! CPDM's philosophy is the total involvement of the transport manager with everything which impinges on the profitability of the company. Bob Beckham, who -has travelled America and Europe studying PDM, believes that in Britain we tend to look too much at the detail and lose sight of the objective.
In addition to his CPDM activities he is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Transport, a member of the British Institute of Management and of the Institute of Grocery Distribution. He lists as his hobbies driving through France and Italy and oil painting. I.S.