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TESCO THEN
Page 100
Page 101
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ADRIVE by the Tesco Group to open large supermarkets in the major towns up to the Scottish border called for a new northern springboard. This materialized in mid-summer last year in the form of a £500,000 warehouse strategically sited in the ManchesterLiverpool overspill town of Winsford, Cheshire. It is equipped for a distribution area ranging from South Wales to the Border Country.
With the expansion plans being based on the opening of a new supermarket every ten days, there was a need for an equally rapid increase in the road transport fleet. The eight York Freightmasters that were in use in spring had doubled in number by mid-summer and trebled to date. Currently, too, there are a dozen tractive units to haul them, compared with five earlier in the year.
These figures indicate the expansion that might be expected from the spectacular organization that has contributed so much to the revolution in Britain's shopping habits.
"But", say some hauliers, "the bigger they get the longer we wait to unload." And certainly this appears to have been the case at some supermarket central depots around the country, the greatest irritation perhaps being that suffered by the man with a parcel or two of sweets who is held up for hours behind a multi-ton, individually packaged, load.
SuCh a problem should not arise, however, at this ultra-modern Northern headquarters; those operators who help themselves by adopting the most efficient methods of carriage should reap the greatest rewards.
Tesco urge customers to palletize as much as possible for a quick turnround. If necessary they will come to the rescue with a supply of pallets. On arrival at the warehouse, drivers are asked for details of their loads and are directed to the appropriate receiving bay. There are four of these: one for express loads, the qualification being up to 100 cases; the second for manual unloading of larger consignments; bays three and four are for palletized loads, There is no question of floating from one bay to another should there be a temporary lull in the flow of one type of load; Tesco have their stacking organization geared to the various bays.
Inevitably some drivers arrive, discharge their goods and get away while the man with a big load for manual handling is still awaiting his turn. I gather that some of those drivers who know that their particular consignment could also have been palletized are, on return to their company-, being quite vociferous about the unnecessary delay !
Conditions at the warehouse come into the luxury class. The central heating and air conditioning designed to keep the merchandise perfect can also be enjoyed by the transport personnel because there are no loading banks, the vehicles being driven right into the building—whereupon the shutters are rolled down on the outside world.
Goods are unloaded on to the pallets and moved to a reserve stacking area. Forklift trucks complete the transfer to the steel racking that varies in gauge and structure according to the type of goods to be stored. The maximum utilization of stacking space has been achieved by going up into the apex of the roof. This permitted four lines of four-tier racking, with a three-tier line on each side in each bay.
Indoor loading prevails, too, for the dispatch of stores which are collected on hand trucks and assembled at the end of an electricallyoperated conveyor that runs up into the trailer. At first eight conveyors were installed and space was provided for additions should they become necessary. Already one has been added.
Deliveries Transport manager and warehouse controller A. Almond has the Tesco name set on panels that are riveted to the bodies of the trailers, the lettering being giant size in Scotchlite, red fluorescent facings at the side and front, reflective facings at the rear. They really stand out and the initial extra cost is considered well worthwhile. The delivery fleet is easily recognized as it streams out along the M.6 en route for the supermarkets on Monday and Tuesday, and to the self-service stores on Wednesday and Thursday. The fifth day is kept clear other than for emergency or second delivery.
Mr. Almond belongs to a family that has a remarkable history in transport in the North. It began in Irwins, the long-established chain of grocery stores controlled from Liverpool and taken over by Tesco. The 53 years' service that Mr. Almond's father gave to the company included a long run as transport manager. The son is chasing this record and already has 40 years with Irwin-Tesco. In addition his brother, daughter and a son-in-law are employed at the new depot.
It is a point of interest, in respect of an organization that has made such a fine art of bulk buying, that Mr. Almond handles his own fleet buying. He has built up on a basic policy of fifth-wheel articulation and four-in-line trailers of 24 tons4 g.v.w., with rigid vehicles as needed. A 26 ft. body of 1,400 Cu. ft. capacity, Mr. Almond feels, is ideal for his requirements.
Two people are needed to handle the contents; so the policy is to use a main driver and a second driver who, in time, should become a main driver.
Life is not all new vehicles and buildings at Winsford, for acquisitions• have to be absorbed economically. Only a fortnight after beginning the move, from what the company refers to as its oldfashioned four-storey warehouse in Liverpool, Tesco took over the Adsega 50-store supermarket chain.
Over the Pennines
This brought six articulated outfits, as well as a number of rigids, into the fleet. With the outfits already mentioned the combined Tesco-Adsega tractive force, including a spare and a shunter, now totals 19: a Leyland Super Beaver which gets the toughest run of the week over the Pennines to Leeds; four Seddons, two Dodges, the remainder Bedfords.
The rigids total 17, from 5 to 7tons capacity, 10 of them are Adsega vehicles based on Liverpool for greengrocery work. In addition to the commercial fleet there are 80 company cars for general use, which are maintained and repaired when possible, and a further 50 management cars which are changed annually and thus require little attention.
The workshop is now fully equipped, and virtually anything except regrinding of crankshafts can be tackled. Reconditioning of assemblies, for long an Almond policy but for two years necessarily curtailed, has now been resumed. A Laycock lubrication bay and a 3-ton car lift and run-off ramp help to keep five mechanics in action at Winsford. There is a sixth man in the old Liverpool workshop, to keep an eye on the vehicles still based there.
Operators who know the Tesco warehouse at Cheshunt, Herts., that was referred to as the most modern in Europe when opened in 1959, will appreciate the comment that the new northern nerve centre with 100,000 sq. ft. of warehousing and a 25,000 sq. ft. office block is built on the same lines, incorporating the benefits of experience gained in the south. It is on an industrial estate that will have an outlet to a by-pass 'scheduled to skirt the expanding town, which with a present population of 16,000, will grow to 32,000.