War-time Transport at a Shadow Factory
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G. L. Bottomley,
M.1.T.A., Transport Manager of the Bristol Aeroplane Co., Ltd., Accrington Engine Factory.
WITH. the cessation of hostilities, much has already been made
• public concerning the activities of various departments and organizations, and the valuable part that these heve played in bringing -the war to a successful conclusion. In making reference to the R.H.O. of the 1‘1.0.W.T., the Minister of that department, then Lord Leathers, paid tribute to the clerical and driving staffs for the good work performed by them during the emergency. Nobody can deny that such a tribute was earned by these people, in view of the duties which were performed under the most arduous and exacting conditions.
At the same time, Press publicity has been given to other transport sections outside that Ministry, these, in the main, being those departments attached to the various Services; they, also, have performed successfully an equally arduous task under similar conditions. Then, again, let us-not forget the war years prior to. the inception of the RHO., and for which period of successful transport we must thank the staffs of the private-enterprise concerns which did an admirable job.
It might not be generally realized that, during the whole period of the emergency, in fact, at the present time too, there has been a considerable number of transport vehicles operating on long-distance journeys, apart from those under the control of the R.H.O. The concession for this liberty has been granted to the various operators and .60vernment departments, etc., in view
• of extenuating circumstances governing the job upon which they are engaged.
Women Drivers' Good Work
As an example, I quote the numerous shadow factories throughout the country. As transport manager at one of these factories engaged in the manufacture of the Hercules engine (one only 'ofmany works producing this unit), I am in a position to deal with the functions of the transport .department over which I have control.
Initially, I must make mention of the fact that, included in Vas driving staff is a high proportion of women, whom, by virtue of the manner in which they have disposed of their duties, call for nothing short of the highest tribute. Let us remember that these drivers were drawn from all walks ot life, in particular, from behind office desks, shop counters and, in many cases, from domestic duties.
Not only are these women engaged in driving light cars on local journeys, but, as in the case of the A.T S., are given charge of commercial vehicles with a carrying capacity of 50 cwt., on varied journeys, including destinations up to 250 miles distant. In paying this tribute to them, I would emphasize that, at all times, I have met nothing but a devotion to duty and fulfilment of all which was required of them,
628 under extremely adverse conditions, particularly of weather and the blackout.
I would like to correct a mistaken impression which I am sorry to say is prevalent amongst the chiefs af most factories, this being that transport is non-productive. Taken literally, their view is, of course, a correct one; but I should like them to imagine the situation which would exist if there were no road transport available. Obviously, the result would be that production could hardly be commenced, let alone maintained.
Road Transport the Key This fact applies particularly to factories situated some 21. miles distant. In this article I propose to offer from statistics, figures of both tonnages and mileages which I am convinced will, after having been duly, digested, be a means for demonstrating that road transport, although, in the true sense of the word, non-productive, is the essential means to that end.
Although within the confines Of a factory, the transport department can readily be likened to a modern road haulage undertaking 'by virtue of its being self-contained and fully comprehensive. As to the fundamentals, let us cast our minds back to 1940-1941, when danger from air attacks was imminent. It was necessary, but of respect for production, to disperse our factories, and, by so doing, minimize the risk of damage train such attacks. For this reason also, sub-contractors were employed (in our case some 200 strong) in the manufacture of numerous components. These contiac tors were, in the main, small manufacturing concerns. In many cases the works were garages refitted for the particular job, and were situated in country districts. In order that a slight idea may be formed as to the disposition of these sub-contractors, one must visualize the three corners of a triangle, superimposing upon these Glasgow, London and Tiverton (Devon).
To indicate fully the tasks of the transport department at this factory it will be necessary for me to throw light on the functions of the sub-contractors. They were engaged upon one of two things—either the entire manufacture of components or the completing, by various operations, of semi-finished components. It is essential for this purpose that a continual flow of raw
material in respect of the former, or partly finished Components in respect of the latter, be maintained between factory and sub-contractor,
It will be well remembered that during our darkest hour the one cry was for aeroplanes and more aeroplanes. and in view of the extent of the production of the aero-engine the supply of components at that time by no means met -adequately the demands of the many factories engaged thereon. Additionally, -apart from maintaining the outward deliveries, equal or great,er importance was attached to the urgent delivery to this factory of these numerous items as and when they were completed.
It was fully realized by me and by all my staff that no delay must be occasioned between the time .of availability and collection, and, similarly, between collection and ultimate delivery to this site Therefore, readers will be quick to realize that the transport department had to be organized in an endeavour to reach .a point almost approaching perfection. This point I can say was reached, as has been proved by the ultimate results.
Regular services with the company's _ fleet of 24 commercial vehicles, ranging from l0-cwt. vans to 6-ton lorries, all of normal type, were operated between this factory and the London, Bristol, Coventry, Birmingham and Yorkshire areas, and, in order that all those concerned were aware of the times of despatch and anticipated arrival of the vehicles employed, a schedule was compiled and circulated throughout the whole of the factory and, its. dispersals.
Thorny Problem Solved!
An important point which must be mentioned is that each outward load comprised between 15to 25 widely separated deliveries; in the main, each delivery point also constituted a collec-. tion point. Nevertheless, on numerous occasions additional urgent collections arose, and, in order to meet these onetime frequent demands, it was essential that the difficulty of. keeping in constant touch with all drivers must be overcome. This thorny problem was solved by instructing the drivers ato the sequence in which deliveries must be made, which, of course, meant oading the vehicle in .that rotation.
This became a fine art, with the result that we were able to contact the driver at almost any point within approximately 30 minutes of our being notified of an urgent need, the contact being subject to prompt telephone connection. As an additional safeguard, each driver was under instructions that he or she must, in no circumstance, leave destination territory before having obtained a 'telephonic clearance from head office.
• It is agreed that, at one time, when the telephone service waS rheavily loaded, anything up to two hours'
delay might be incurred, although invariably the call was booked by the driver immediately on arrival at the last point of collection, the loading operation therefore being performed during the waiting period. It was, of course, unavoidable that, on occasions, the delay might be termed wasted time, by virtue of a small amount only being collected Even accepting this, bow. ever, this bore no comparison with the delay that would have been occasioned in production, or, additionally, the extra fuel that would have been required for a special ehide if the instruction had not existed, and the driver had been free to leave on completing the loading operation.
To maintain the high standard ol operational efficiency, the transport department was functioning seven days a week and 24 hours a day, and, as a further aid in • maintaining this standard, it was, of course, essential that all vehicles must be kept in a Atate of road-worthiness. This object was achieved by putting into operation a 24-hour maintenance service and adhering to a rigid servicing programme.
The maintenance section, under the control of the transport department, was responsible also for the maintenance of 10 private cars, together with 32 electric and petrol-driven internal works vehicles, to say nothing of A.R.P. equipment, i.e., trailer pumps and ambulances, etc. The task of repairing the vehicles has in no way been lightened by the short supply of spares which has existed throughout the war, and which, to a large degree, still exists.
The value of this efficient servicing programme,. which includes complete overhauls, has made itself quite apparent; in so far as on only three occasions during the past 41 years has it been necessary to bring a vehicle into the depot on tow. In one such case, this was due to an ,accident and the damage caused precluded the chance of getting the vehicle home under its own power.
Likewise, on only two occasions dur ing the same period has it been necessary tO empty relief vehicles for the purpose of trans-shipping loads. Other cases, such as broken springs and wheel studs, and brake, electrical and petrol faults, have been dealt with by mechanics on the spot.
One point which I must stress is that of minimizing light running, this, of course, in furtherance of the conservation of fuel and rubber. It has been euggested from time to time that trifleport managers in this and other types of Government factory, who were privileged to operate vehicles outside the control of the M.O.W.T , had not attached sufficient importance or given careful consideration to this question. So far as this factory is concerned. however, I emphatically deny such a suggestion.
During the past four years the 24 commercial vehicles referred to have successfully made some 10,000 :ouncl journeys of teeth a local and long-die. lance. character, involving a figure approaching 3,000,000 miles. When point out that the percentage of return journeys made with the vehicles loaded beloiv 75 per ,cent. of their capacity tonnage is less than 1 per cent.. I think it will he agreed that due cognizance has been given to the Government's warning as to the need for conserving fuel and rubber.
Mention must be made of one par ticular period when it was necessary. by virtue of an urgent situation, for a vehicle to be available at the premises of a sub-contractor in the London district every evening for 10 consecutive days to coiled a number of components which were for inclusion in the following day's works programme. Ont of these 10 occasions, on only four of them was it found necessary to despatch a light van for the purpose of making the collection, but, even then, this van, in each case, was loaded to capacity for the outward journey with deliveries in the near vicinity of the collection point.
The remaining six occasions were catered for by the normal London service vehicle. During the whole of this period, the Urgency of the situation demanded that the driver should return immediately to the factory, •so as to arrive in the early hours of the following morning, thereby allowing sufficient time (or the components to pass through the various departments and to be available for production on the arrival of the morning shift of that day.
Prior to the inception of the m.o.w.T. road haulage scheme it April, 1943, all engines were despatched by hauliers under contract to the Air Ministry, but since that date this clearance to R.A.F. stations and maintenance units in all parts of the country has been successfully dealt with by the R.H.O. To give some idea of the extent of the programme, I should like to point out that, during the two years of control, or, rather, to May 31, 1945. no fewer than 5,700 controlled vehicles have been loaded. Coupling the amount of the tonnage carried by these vehicles with that cleared by the vehicles which we operate, shows a total, over a 4f-year period, of something like 160,370 tons.
At all times the closest cooperation has existed between my, department and the Unit Controllers, for whore I have nothing but the highest praise. We have, of course, assisted them in every possible manner by taking int, consideration the value of, whenever possible, completely loading a vehicle for one district, or, if this be not prac ticable, arranging the balance of a load with suitable deliveries destined for points en route to the ultimate destination, With the prevailing conditions, additional functions have been imposed upon the 4ransport departments of these factories, and I am mentioning two instances only, both due to petrol rationing.
It is, of course, well known that the Minfstry of Fuel and Power has given consideration to employees who sought an allowance of petrol to enable them to travel between their residence and place of business. Numerous were these cases in this large factory, with the result that the Ministry dealt with all their applications under the " Bulk Issue Scheme," and we were responsible for the issue of these allowances.
A further responsibility was the issuing of petrol against an allowance fixed by the Air Ministry for use in company staff cars or the private vehicles of employees when engaged on the company's business. To all transport managers who have had this petrol control imposed` upon them I must offer my deepest sympathy, as this essential function, by virtue of the rigidity which has had to be obseeved, has been the means foe making such managers the most unpopular figures in . Itho factories