PORT AS A ING FORCE
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Trade Rises After Bristol Metal Merchants Introduce Scheduled Delivery. Service : Need for Speed Delayed Oil Conversion,. but T'S3 Units Now Being Adopted
By Alan Smith
LAST summer, the Metal AgenCies Co., Ltd., Bristol, revised their transport operations, giving up a system whereby loads were delivered in accordance with vehicle availability and substituting a planned scheduled service. The result has been a substantial 'increase in turnover, gained because customers have come to rely on regular calls and order goods
accordingly. .
The possibility that undue waste mileage would be involved in running to a timetable, with load factors relegated to secondary importance, has not been realized. The greater amount of business attracted has ensured full outgoing loads, and vindicated a dynamic policy in which ancillary transport is regarded as a medium of sales promotion rather than an incubus upon it. The reorganization was another step forward after four years of amalgamated fleet operation. Previously, each company in the M.A.C. group ran its own vehicles. There are now 96 lorries and vans, mainly Commers, and 101 cars.
1,000-page Catalogue M.A.C. are, merchants to the building trade. Their 1,000-page catalogue lists goods as diverse as electric Lamps and corrugated Perspex, canteens of cutlery, rolls of lead sheet, refrigerators, horticultural appliances, milking machinery—even mortuary slabs. Equipment can be supplied, for almost any kind of building.
An old-established company, they operated from a number of scattered premises in the centre of Bristol until these were bombed. After the war, M.A.C. set up on a 22-acre site at Ashton, on the outskirts of the city. The buildings are modern, contemporary-styled, and inside are found all manner of labour-saving appliances. Clerical and secretarial routine is largely mechanized, Banda duplicators and Dictaphones being used. Social life centres upon the splendid Avon Club.
The largest building on the site is the M.A.C. warehouse. There are two conveyor lines slung from above, one circulating through the stores to bring light goods to B32 the packing bay, and the other to carry packages from the bay to the vehicle-loading hank.
Subsidiaries with premises at Ashton are the M.A.C. Engineering Co., Ltd., Avon Fireplace Co., Ltd., and Cotterell Bros., Ltd. M.A.C. Engineering are chiefly scaffolding contractors, but are also suppliers of .tubular steel and makers of products in this material, notably farm gates. Wrought-iron garden gates are also manufactured.
Avon Inake fireplaces and the fire-bricks they use are brought in by the fleet. This relatively small volume of incoming traffic accounts for the vehicles' only major return loads; nevertheless, empty running is only 45 per cent. of the total Cotterell Bros. are paint and wallpaper merchants. Another subsidiary, Service and Co., Ltd., builders' merchants, is at Plymouth and operates independently Much forethought went into the make-up of the distribution schedule, which is translated into Graphdex wall charts in executive offices. At a glance it can be seen which vehicles will be available for loading at certain times, which will be docked for maintenance, arid which rounds will be run on different dates. Each round and each driver is tokened, and so far as possible drivers are confined to a limited number of routes so that they can become thoroughly familiar with them and establish personal contact with customers.
This is important, because although the company's procedure is mechanically methodical from the time Orders are received until vehicles are loaded, the manner in which drivers make their rounds depends on their personal knowledge and initiative. They can make their drops as they themselves see fit, and not by direction.
Element of Flexibility
In this lies the element of flexibility which might he absent if the distribution system were totally run to a premeditated plan. The one round, one driver, system is not favoured, for if a man should fall sick he could not be satisfactorily replaced. Broadly, each driver specializes in three or four rounds. On the other hand, the one driver, one vehicle, principle is adopted. Labour turnover in the transport section is practically nil.
There is daily delivery within a 40-mile radius of Bristol and to certain more distant places such as Oxford, 70 miles away. Services of weekly or greater frequency cover the area extending to south-west of a line drawn from Dolgelly to just south of Birmingham, High Wycombe and Chichester.
Customers were advised of the regularity of the revised service at the time it was introduced and have since come to appreciate it, for they receive their orders with minimum delay. M.A.C. have, of course, to deal with last-minute demands, but these can usually be accommodated without detriment to the aim of carrying all loads under C licence. It is intended to increase the frequency of the longer rounds Soon after the war, M.A.C. experimented with conventional oil-engined vehicles but it was found that, although the cost per mile was lower, the cost per journey was much higher. Petrol vehicles, because of their faster acceleration, could complete multi-stop rounds much quicker and it was decided to continue to use them until a suitable oil engine was produced.
The preference for speedier petrol vehicles has not, however, caused excessive expense, as extremely long lives have been given by the 45 Commers with chromiuma33 finished engines. None of these units has yet been replaced, although each has covered at least 100,000 miles and two have travelled 230,000 miles. An engine stripped for inspection at 140,000 miles was found to have 0.004 in. bore wear and the crankshaft journals were still within makers' tolerance.
Negligible crankshaft wear is considered to be a corollary of slight bore wear because of the impairment to lubricating oil caused by combustion products escaping past the pistons. Castrol is used exclusively, on the scores of its quality, wide availability and the finding that past 15bricating troubles were caused by mixing brands.
Brisk Off the Mark
Having tested the economy of oilers. M.A.C. were quick to adopt the Commer TS3 unit, which met the need for briskness off the mark. Three 7-tonners, six 5-tonners and seven Gamecocks incorporating this engine are returning 21 m.p.g., 23-25 m.p.g. and 26-28 m.p.g. respectively, with no performance handicap compared with petrol models, of which the 5-tonners averaged 9-11 m.p.g.
Of the petrol Commers, 26 are 6-tonners and 19 7-tonners. There are also three 25-cwt. and two 8-cwt. van i of this make, as well as a petrol Karrier Bantam and a Gamecock. All Rootes vehicles were supplied through the Cathedral Garage, Ltd. Four Gamecock oilers have Baico chassis extensions providing platforms 17 ft. 6 in. long—the same as a 7-tonner.
Other units comprise a • Bedford 7-tonner, two II-tonners, two 11-tonners and a 15-cwt. model, a Dodge 5-tonner and a 6-7-tonner, seven Morris-Commercial 10-cwt. vehicles, a 1-tanner, a 1 i-tonner, a petrol LD2 van and some LD02 oilers, also a Thames 2-tonner and 5-tonner. Hillman Minx, Morris Oxford and Minor and Ford Anglia predominate in that order in the private-car fleet.
Rubber Doors
• Inside the works area, six Electricar stiliage trucks, a Stacatruc 11-ton fork-lift truck and three 2-ton models are actively employed, as pallet-handling has been introduced wherever possible. Doors through which trucks have to pass are made of rubber so that the appliances can push their way through. Originally petrol fork trucks were employed, but were superseded because of electric units' lack of noise and fumes and their lower running costs. A Stacatruc 2-tonner with a petrol engine is kept as a reserve, however, and a petrol Conveyancer 10-cwt. continues in use by M.A.C. Engineering in unconfined spaces. Electric trucks are charged overnight on Westinghouse rectifiers. A midday charge is not found necessary.
In spite of the assortment of shapes and sizes of goods dealt with, mechanical handling is applied to the majority of lines. Goods are stacked on racks up to a height of about 15 ft. Asbestos sheets are delivered on pallets, but other goods have to be paIleted on arrival. Some which do not lend themselves to this procedure can nevertheless be carried straight on the forks of a Stacatrue or, failing that, on the platform of an Electricar appliance.
An interesting pallet has been made for carrying asbestos sheets. In side view it resembles a flattened E lying on its longest stroke. Forks may enter between the three cross-pieces to pick up the sheets direct, or in the main section for the support of pallet and load together.
Most of the bodies of the platform lorries have flush n34 light-alloy planking and were made by Bonaltack. Some older vehicles have wooden platforms, but their lasting qualities have been found to be inferior to those of aluminium. The timber available at the time they were made (soon after the war) was poor and as they become due for complete reconditioning, timber of better grade is used.
A feature of the company's vehicles is a tubular-steel horse at the front of the platform. A case of glass or Corroglaze may be carried in front of the horse supported in an upright position, and when steel tubes are placed on the platform they are arranged to lie at the sides of the horse so as not to roll into the centre. Hardboard may also be placed at the sides of the structure.
The spacious loading bay of the warehouse has recently been rearranged. There is now a series of cabinets, numbered according to rounds, on the loading bank. Throughout the day, parcels for delivery are brought out by conveyor from the packing bay and are placed into their appropriate cabinets. Larger items are brought out on works trucks and may be set down on the floor area by the cabinets. Previously these cabinets were disposed at intervals of about 10 ft. at right angles to the loading bank and on the lower level, but this entailed some sacrifice of space and with the new arrangement more vehicles can be accommodated at the bank at any time.
Prime Consideration If steel "tubes have to go out on a lorry, they are first loaded by crane in the tube storage section, after which the vehicles draw into the warehouse bay for the remainder of their consignments. The driver has the assistance of one or two loaders. Weight distribution is a prime consideration in loading, as the items carried are so varied, and this need has to be married to that of placing the " first-off " goods to the rear. Drivers' responsibility extends to loading. The company do not take out goods-in-transit insurance, as the incidence of damage is low.
Ten smaller vehicles, used for deliveries in the immediate locality, are loaded first, so that they may get away quickly to be able to return by midday for an afternoon's load. If heavy goods have to be taken, a bigger vehicle can be diverted from longer-distance operations. Morris LD02 vans are being standardized upon for town work. The Karrier Bantam van is employed for shuttling goods between Ashton and the Colston Street showrooms.
Long Platform
A number of LD02 vehicles has been fitted with seats to serve as personnel carriers for scaffolders. Another LD02 has a Hampshire Car Bodies straight-sided body which enables goods to be secured to the slats. When the tailboard is dropped 90 degrees and the space beside the driver is used, a length of body equal to that of a 5-tanner is afforded, enabling tubes or ladders to be carried.
Vans of this type to be acquired will be purchased without rear doors, and roller shutters will be fitted_ The special horse will be incorporated, also the specified tailboard, which, when let down level, is flush with the platform.
An account of the company's thorough maintenance and costing routines will be published next week. Servicing and overhaul routine is tied in with the operating schedule, and work is performed in a fine new garage with modern equipment.