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On-the-road work stud!
Page 78
Page 79
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pays off
Eric Willoughby investigates the background to the BDH/TGWU productivity agreement
L,ULL company control of transport and
distribution methods; a six-man saving in a 49-staff fleet; the cutting of drivers' working time by 10 hours without loss of pay or output; and better utilization of vehicles. These are some of the main advantages claimed for a productivity scheme just introduced by The British Drug Houses Ltd. To discuss this in detail I visited the main BDH pharmaceutical plant in Islington, London, last week.
Mr. P. Gordon-Warren, group personnel manager, told me the story from the beginning. In March 1966, BDH drivers put in for a pay rise one of several they had made—and this led the management to instigate an investigation into drivers' pay and conditions. A meeting was held a month later to discuss the procedure for a productivity investigation, but meanwhile the men were given an interim pay increase.
It was put to the drivers that work-study techniques could well be applied to their work and there was, perhaps surprisingly, little dispute on the part of the drivers.
Work study was then started a nd o nti nu ed right through the summer. It began with a team investigating the actual deliveries: an analysis was made, with no details overlooked. An interesting point arising from the analysis was that a driver's paperwork could be cut by delegating it or reorganizing the delivery methods.
The work-study team then went on the road. Members sat beside drivers in their cabs and became as drivers, but for the actual driving. They went so far as to lodge with them, eat with them, and share the drivers' way of life.
In February this year an interim report was published which made the point that the organization and set-up of the transport system was "over elastic and not sufficiently systematized". And it described the running of the distribution of transport as "rather haphazard". Three essential aspects of reorganization were considered necessary, affecting drivers' work, activities in the loading bays and yards, and route schedules.
On this basis Mr. C. Fairfoot, senior personnel officer, Mr. R. Vass, transport manager, and the work-study team set out to draw up a detailed productivity scheme.
In June the first proposed draft of a pro ductivity agreement was shown by Mr. Fairfoot to drivers' representatives; and on October 10 the actual three-year agreement was signed. (COMMERCIAL MOTOR, October 20.)
That, briefly, is the genesis of the BDH productivity deal as told me by Mr. GordonWarren and Mr. F. C. Creber, both instrumental in its formulation.
To what do they attribute the achievement of such a radical change in distribution practice only 18 months after getting started? "We have had the drivers' full co-operation all the way through, and the Transport and General Workers' Union has been notified and consulted every step of the way," said Mr. Gordon-Warren.
Unusual?
Some may think it unusual for drivers to agree to accept efficiency investigations of this nature, but they appreciated that a major objective of the scheme was to cut their working hours without undue loss of pay—yet with the same amount of work— by profiting from work-study techniques.
Mr. W. J. Packer, regional trade group secretary of the TGWU, said when he put his pen to the agreement: "We welcome the signing of this agreement because it is a practical demonstration of the efforts that we, as a union, are making to increase the nation's productivity and thereby its prosperity. It is our policy to co-operate to the fullest with managements on productivity agreements which we consider to be to the benefit of both the company and our members".
Briefly, the agreement—set out here in full —is this: drivers will work on a basic wage plus a productivity allowance of £4 10s a week to form a consolidated transport rate, with built-in weekly increases at 10s a year over a period of three years. Their work will be in keeping with recommendations laid down by the work-study team in the form of scheduled journey times. These schedules are realistic, allowing for such misadventures as punctures and jammed starters. A fiveday week of approximately 50 hours is incorporated in the scheme.
The employment of work study has cost BDH more than £6,000, but one important result of the findings, and the application of the recommendations, is that the future cost of distribution can be forecast. "Distribution should cost us no more at the end of the agreement (1970) than it did in March 1966", said Mr. Gordon-Warren.
The BDH transport fleet from the London and Poole depots distributes to wholesalers and customers over most of England and Wales, using 44 Bedford Vans of 5 to 7+ tons capacity. Redundancy has not arisen, and certainly it was made clear by BDH at the outset that it was not to occur. Indeed the company's caution over the introduction of the productivity scheme has been prominent throughout all negotiations. Four of the original 45 drivers have left the company since the introduction of work study, but have not been replaced. This wastage has been allowed for in the productivity scheme, which is fully operative with 42 vehicles and drivers. "In the three weeks we have been running the new scheme, the schedules have easily been kept to", said Mr. Creber.
Welcomed Both drivers and the union have welcomed the introduction of a productivity agreement. It has, of course, had its teething troubles —but there is no indication of serious displeasure with it. The company hopes to introduce work study to other departments and this scheme was itself preceded by the success of a productivity system in another part of the company.
The managing director of BDH group, Mr. F. W. Griffin, has said he understands the scheme to be the first to successfully include on-the-road work study.
Certainly it is by such forward-looking companies—and co-operative staff—that transport costs can be contained and distribution efficiency raised.