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Turnover to new leaf

6th February 1982
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Page 23, 6th February 1982 — Turnover to new leaf
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Mike Rutherford meets an oil distributor who has been in business only three years but is already expanding

VHEN DRIVING towards the Isle )f Grain along picturesque C.entish country lanes, it is diffi:ult to remember that the area as a busy oil industry. Until, hat is, you take stock of the Ibundance of tankers on the oads and come back to reality. This is oil country. Even the retrol filling stations sell their uel cheaper than anywhere else or miles around.

On the Kingsnorth Industrial Estate on the Grain peninsula Oil processors Kingsnorth and Sara:en Fuel Oils, a division of OPK, an be found tucked away on 1.5 acres of land which once belonged to Barry Wiggins. At first glance, the set-up looks like so many others. But after digging a little deeper I found that OPK and the man behind it, Bob Boggis, are — if not unique — at least a rarity.

Bob started OPK Saracen in October 1978 after working for a while as a driver with a local oil company. Seemingly disillusioned, he bought a vehicle and set up on his own.

His first vehicle was a Ford D600 which was an ex removal lorry. Ten out of ten for ingenuity and originality — after buying some waste oil in two central heating tanks Bob "disposed" of the tanks by using them on the Ford chassis. He invested in a Sykes pump to go alongside the tanks and was in the waste oil collection business. To say that he has not looked back since is an understatement.

"I couldn't afford a proper tanker so I made one up," he says with a grin.

Bob's first client apparently took a liking to him and the way he operated. Because the client understood his cash-flow problem from the outset, it could be said that that client was instrumental in getting OPK off the ground. As a result, OPK Saracen still works for the same client and the two have, to this day, maintained a good working relationship.

Bob's next investment was a Bedford which proved to be less than satisfactory.

"I got a TK next and I'd never get another. Engine wise it was fairly good, but you couldn't work on it."

That, evidently, was only a minor setback for Bob Boggis and OPK/Saracen. In just over three years since its inception, the company, with Bob still at the forefront, now boasts a fleet of some 20 vehicles.

When I visited him recently on a cold snowy morning, the boss was not to be found tucked away in a warm office but was out in the yard — boiler suit, oil covered hands and all — with the workforce. Although he now sees driving as a "bit of a waste of time for me" he still takes out the occasional wagon to keep in touch. He is not content to sit back and simply watch others run his now successful company which is one reason it now has "more work than we can cope with", although he admits that that is not going to last for ever.

As someone who prefers to rent, rather than buy, the likeable six-footer (you would be a fool not to like him!) purchased the 1.5 acres of land where he is currently based, refused to ever rent again, and sees the site as an investment. He declined to rent some spare land to an interested party recently and sticks by a no-nonsense outlook.

"I won't rent off anyone or rent to anyone."

OPK/Saracen sub-contracts all vehicle maintenance currently and although happy with the service it receives, is looking to employ a fitter in the near future.

"We get a good emergency service," says Bob, who has reservations about sub-contracting from a financial viewpoint.

"It's hard to say what would be cheaper," he says. But a 52 x 48ft workshop with two 30ft pits is tentatively planned, with the groundwork already underway.

The company does not have a strict vehicle replacement policy, each one being judged on its own merits. Most of the fleet was bought secondhand, but now nothing older than a 1975 model is purchased.

Many of the company's tanks have been bought from large oil companies, often at good prices, and Bob's confidence in his entire fleet boils down to one simple fact.

"We don't buy rubbish in the first place."

Although most of the vehicle fleet is no older than six/seven years, a 1969 Ford 0800 can still be spotted in a corner of the yard and Bob Boggis still hangs on passionately to that first D600. It is in a delapidated state but sits close to his modestly equipped office and means a lot to him.

He recalled the early days when he was asked what he did for a living.

"I'm in the oil game. I used to tell people that I had my own tanker," he remembers. That first vehicle, despite its appearance, is in some ways of more value to Bob than the impressive Foden Fleetmasters that he has just bought. They are just part of a business whereas the Ford felt closer to him than that.

But what about those new Fodens?

"They're nice tools. It could be the Fodens' year," says Bob with sincerity.

And he is equally impressed by the Fodens E290 Cummins engines. "I'm a Cummins man and always will be," he says.

OPK/Saracen has its fair share of rivals (one is in an adjacei yard) especially in the area of c supply. However, Bob ca usually beat the prices of tf "the majors".

"We're up against the min majors," he says, and adds thi "the inbetweenies are the prol lem."

Sadly, he has some disturbin statements to make about sorn customers.

"It's fair to say that th majority of customers don't car less who carries and how sat their loads are. The majority ju:

Dn't seem to care.

"But we deal with major firms. owboy customers tend to use )wboy operators."

Like some of its customers, PK/Saracen is image )nscious. Painting and signriting costs a lot but in the long !rm it's worth it, says Bob Bogs, who claims that it is the ierious" customer that will loose his company.

"He'll see who spends the ioney. That's the customer we ant."

Safety is an area that, unlike )me of his rivals it seems, )neerns him greatly.

"You can't mess around with ifety. That's what grieves me ith other firms."

Bob feels that if anything, 3 fety legislation will get

lugher in future. It is only 'rough magazines like CM, he )ys, that people like him can ;ep up with the latest regulapris. To use his terminology: Ihe tanker game is changing so iuch."

The basic differences between il Processors Kingsnorth and aracen is that OPK tackles oil !clamation, collecting waste oil ld re-selling it to refiners as a ase oil after it has been

-ocessed, while Saracen connitrates on oil distribution —

Jpplying gas oil and black oil in ilk to small/medium sized inistry. All tanks that carry black I are lagged as the fuel needs to be kept hot in transit.

OPK is busier in the summer months while Saracen suffers a 50 per cent drop in activity as the demand for heating oil slows down. That is when OPK comes into its own with a tank cleaning service to the marine industry, in addition to cleaning tanks on land. It also clears oil spills and offers a 24-hour per day emergency service in some areas of activity. Split tanker hoses, for instance, are a common problem for which OPK offers 24hour coverage.

Although OPK/Saracen is based on the Kingsnorth Industrial Estate, there is an administration office at nearby Gravesend. And apart from acting as an operational base for the vehicles, Kingsnorth has storage space for 2,000 tons of gas oil and 1,000 tons for fuel (black) oil.

Despite its rapid growth in a relatively short history, Bob Boggis is cautious about expanding his operation too quickly. He does not believe in expansion for the sake of it.

"I only spend money that I have to and I only expand when I have to," he says.

"I don't want to be the biggest and I still want to be personally involved. "We might get bigger by about a third, I suppose. Who knows?"

There have always been cashflow problems, says Bob. "And there always will be because of the way we are expanding." Obviously, such an operator needs the help of his bank manager, the first of which was not very forthcoming with finance, though his current one is "marvellous", Bob Boggis also recognises the value of his workers, especially his two "excellent" working directors, James Prout and David Hiscock. A total of 20 drivers are employed, plus an office manager and secretary.

Although he is basically happy with his drivers, Bob looks to me like a man who knows what he wants from his workforce and is not afraid to ask for it. "I won't be messed about. I'm the 'guy

nor' and they work for me," he says in a tone that is utterly believable.

The turnover of drivers is small and all of them, says Bob, have a respect for each other's vehicles which is unusual, he feels. The biggest problem he faces with his drivers? That of complacency, he says.

Words like entrepreneur or tycoon would probably embarrass the modest Bob Boggis. But there is no place for modesty when, at 28, you have got a company that is expanding so successfully and boasting an annual turnover of £0.75m after little more than three years in business.

One of the most important things about running a company is that you still have to sleep at night, says Bob.

"And I sleep like a log lately," he says.


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