Control anl of a Large, laintenance ttered Fleet
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N-.. 0 one who is acquainted with -I-iluehills Mine; the famous test hill on the London-Land's End trial for -cars and motorcycles, could fail to notice the resemblance between it andexit from a quarry at. Porthotistock„ Cornwall, up Which lorries must carry their
loads of 577 tons. '
This road has all the chahcteristics of the famous test hill. The sharp S bend up a slope of 1-in-4 might almost have been copied from the famous test hill. The actual length of this 1-in-4 section is 500 yds., and that is followed by 1,000 yds. of 1-in-12. Yet, from that quarry, a fleet of 20 lorries, mostly Dodge 5-tonners and Dodge Majors, takes an average of 700 tons of roadstone, shingle and tarmacadam per day, and has been known tcOmove 1,000 tons a distance of 11i miles, in a working day. .
When the present reorganization is complete, Mr. G. 0. Neil, the
• Charlestown manager • for the Amalgamated Road Stone Co., will have .in his charge upwards of 100 lorries engaged on road transport, and a considerable number operat,ing within the quarries, these being 7 engaged in carrying stone from the face of the quarry to the crushers
and stone mills.
Tli control and maintenance, from a central organization, . of so . large a fleet as this, presents a number of problems, and it is of interest to npte how they have been solved.
It would be convenient to treat the subjects of `control. and maintenance separately and to deal first with 'alit of control. A description of how this operates is probably the best way to explain it and, as an example. I propose to take the operation of the fleet at Porthoustoek.
At this place .there are 20 lorries and the control is vested in a foreman, an employee, of the Heavy Transport Co., Ltd., who is stationed at the quarry, where he has his own office-and telephone. He is, in effect, the liaison officer between the headqn.arters at Charlestown, the quarry management and the contractors. He is responsible for
making all the arrangements for haulage of the various materials from the quarry to any destination, and for the allocation of certain vehicles to particular work.
The drivers, most of whom are residents in Charlestown or St. Austell, or somewhere within approximately 50 miles of Porthoustock, stay in the neighbourhood of the quarry witil the week-end, when they return to their homes and if, as Is usual, there be a vehicle due for dock overhaul, then that vehicle is used as a conveyance, These drivers get, of course, the usual subsistance allowance : of 30s: to 35s. per week, and are paid wages which are due to them in accordance with the regulations under the Road Haulage Wages Act.
Running maintenance, and what I might refer to as " first-aid repairs," which are required in connection with • any vehicle at Porthoustock, are carried out on the premises of a garage proprietor at St. Keverne, near to Port
.houstock. A mechanic in the employ of the Heavy Transport Co., Ltd., is stationed there, and he can call
• upon the proprietor for assistance if, and when, hp requires it. A stock of spare parts and tyres is kept at this garage, being brought Up to a minimum standard each week when the week-end lorry, previously referred to, having returned to Charlestown,, for dock overhaul, is replaced by another on the Monday morning.
Obviously, the success of this system' is, to a large extent, dependent on the wisdom of the selection of the foreman,' and, in all cases, it is working satisfactorily. The work at Porthoustock is, more or less, stereotyped and comprises the conveyance of roadstone of various grades, shingle, and tarmacadam from the quarry to a works some 114 miles away.
At other quarries the class of work is not quite the same. For example: at Brays Croft the haul is over a distance of only 3-4 miles, and individual lorries are able to make 12 journeys a day carrying 606 yfis. of roadstone. At Penlee it is similar to that at Porthoustock, the principal traffic being over a 26-miles haul, but .there is a certain quantity of stone to he taken to the local railway siding four miles away.
At Treloggan the hauls vary in length •from a minimum of four miles to a maximum of 22 miles. In t1H majority of cases, the lorries are loaded from a chute, the load being tipped off the vehicle at the delivery Point. If the machines be not so loaded then a steam navvy is employed. • There are times, of course, when the steam navvy, is out of commission and the shingle, with which such appliances usually deal, has to be loaded by hand. This rather upsets the schedule of operations and, naturally, considerably increases the cost of hauling the material. In passing, it should be noted that, whereas not so long ago, the usual loading of the Dodge Majors was in the region of T tons, this, on realization of the pending shortage of rubber, was cut to 5 tons 10 cwt., and this weight, except in rare instances, represents the maximum carried by these vehicles.
We may now turn to the maintenance side. With the exception of running repairs, all reconditioning and maintenance are carried out at Charlestown. It is effected, in my opinion, under a handicap, inasmuch as the buildings and premises were' not designed either to house motor vehicles or to provide for their maintenance and repair. The layout is by no means convenient or appropriate for the purpose. It is, therefore, to the credit of Mr. G. O.
Neil that such excellent results have come from efforts to maintain the fleet on the road.
Keeping the Vehicles on the Road a Paramount Object I attribute his success to two main principles. One, that he has firmly fixed in his mind the importance of keeping a vehicle on the road. A day when a lorry is out of service means a monetary loss far greater than that which is inctirred in closely following a preventive maintenance pnlicy.
The second factor is the almost lavish use of garage equipment. There is no doubt, in my mind, that the vehicles would not be repaired and overhauled', and put back on the road, anything like so qpickly if it were not for the way in which Mr. Ned uses such equipment to supplement and accelerate the efforts of the maintenance staff available to him.
"...Amongst the equipment is to be found such items as a • cylinder-boring bar, crankshaft grinders, a 50-ton hydraulic press, tension wrench, electric vulcanizer and a host of other appliances and small tools to make the shop practically self-contained in 'respect of even major repairs and overhauls._
' Until quite recently, Mr. Neil worked to a close schedule of routine periods for dock overhauls :and-the like. There is no pOint in 'going into detail, but I would -like to mention two matters and to dwell upon them. One is that crankcase suinps are emptied, and replenished with fresh
." Oil; after eVery 2,000 to 2,500 Miles' miming, as may be found convenient. That is to say the 2,000 and 2,500-mile figures are the lower and upper limits within which that operation is carried out. At 20,000. miles, engine sumps are removed, oil strainers cleaned, oil pipes ,checked for tightness, and oil pumps.overhattled: At 40,000 miles the. :vehicles dock for a thorough overhaul.
Importance of Lubrication is Given Prior Attention
Pursuant of his policy of striving alwffys to keep to a minimum the number of days per annum that a vehicle is off-the road, Mr. Neil pays special attention to the subject of lubrication. He believes in that combination which I have more than once recommended, and that is, the use of a by-pass filter of the cartridge type on the engine—Mr. Neil prefers the Frani-Land a filter in the garage through
• which crankcase oil can be passed to make it again usable. For this 'purpose a Stream-Line instrument is used.
A point that Mr. Neil makes here is in-iportant in its relation to the general principle enunciated. Accepting, as undeniable, the advantage of changing the oil at appropriate periods, he points Out that, if the crankcase must be replenished every time with brand-new oil, there must be a natural reluctance in the mind of the operator—who does not own a filter—to effect that replacement before it is absolutely necessary. At the end of the appropriate 2,000 or 2,500 miles the operator may think the oil seems fairly clean, and then he will leave it a little longer.
Such postponement becomeS, more often than not; indefinite, especially if the harm which can be done to bigend bearings and main bearings by dirty oil is not fully realized. On the other hand, if there be a filter in the garage, ,whereby . oil. is reclaimed, the operator knows that some 95 per cent, of the three or fpur gallons which be
takes out of the crankcase, will go back again. Therefore, he is more likely to drain the crankcases at frequent intervals.
In carrying out dock overhauls, Mr. Neil keeps the-same prilltiple in mind. For example, in the case of an engine crankshaft he will not reduce it below 0.010 in, of the standard size. The possibility of fracture is, in his view, thus diminished, and it is preferable to fit a new crankshaft rather than "to run the risk of one breaking and the vehicle being off the road for several days, as would be the case.
Present-day Petrol Has Upset Maintenance Schedule
In dealing with the important subject of maintenance, I said that, until recently, Mr. Neil had been able t work to a definite schedule. His experiences," however, with present-day petrol are such as.,to upset that routine. He tells me that the difficulties arising from the .use of this fuel have been considerable. Instead of top overhauls being undertaken at intervals of approximately 10,000 miles, they now have to be carried out after 2,000 or 2,500 miles. • Moreover, the state of the valves and cylinder heads is such that, rin the majority of cases., valves need renewal and,. in many cases, cylinder heads have td be replaced. The consumption of materials has gone up by from 100 to 300 per cent, and the labour expenditure has risen by 50 per cent.
This is accompanied by a serious deterioration in the general state of fitness of the yehicles of the fleet because, man-power being limited and so much time having to he spent on top overhauls, the machines have to forgo the usual docking periods. The situation is one which calls" for immediate action and I understand that in the near future, steps are likely to be taken to improve the position. To facilitate the carrying out of repairs and maintenance operations, and to ensure a minimum of delay, a considerable stock of spare'parts is kept. This stock is Maintained by the familiar system of keeping records 'of the minimum to which it must he allowed to fall and the maximum which is required for each iteni. The storekeeper has full charge, and is 'concerned with the entering of the labour involved in any particular operation.
Check Kept on Maintenance and Repairs Expenditure
The system whereby track is kept of expenditure on .maintenance and repairs is quite good. A stores chit must be presented for every issue of material, which is booked out to the vehicle. At the same time, each mechanic fills in a garage daily report sheet on which is included his name and the number of the vehicle needing repairs, statements of the work done, the materials used; and the labour
employed. • • This system is adopted right through the whole establishment, even in the outlying places like that just described at St. Keverne, Where one of the ,company's mechanics Works on the premises of a local motor agent.
The storekeeper checks these daily report sheets, especially as regards the materials used, so that he may be sure all the stores chits which he has issued during the day are properly entered on the re,port sheets to which they belong. These debits are transferred to the appropriate columns in the lorry costs-sheet, which is completed, weekly, with all the items for the fleet. The costs sheet, by the way, has no fewer than 25 headings.
, As showing the thoroughness with which periodic dock overhauls are carried out, it is of interest to note that, when an engine is taken down for overhaul, the carburetter is removed and despatched ta the agent in Cornwall for that make of instrument and it is his job to check it over and overhaul it.It should be mentioned that when it is sent to the agent, particulars of the engine from which it was 'removed are also sent.
Having in mind this procedure With regard to carburetters, it is significant that the average return for petrol con sumption works out at 8.8 m.p.g. In considering this figure, regard should be paid to the nature of the country and the fact that many of the vehicles work in and out of rough quarries and under conditions 'similar to those described in refer&ce to Porthoustock.
Incidentally, there is a separate shop in vekich spare
engines are reconditioned ready tib be Used whenever they are required, thus,' again, diminishing the time which a' vehicle needs to be off the rod when it is undergoing any sort of overhaul. The cost of the 'reconditioning of a particular engine is carefully recorded, and the'arnount debited -against any vehicle to which it is fitted.
The company has its own bodyworks, adjacent to: the main repair depot, and here, besides executing repairs, the :carpenters build-complete bodies for' the vehicles operated. In particular, they execute this' work for the " intornal vehicles to which I have referred, and they take advantage of the fact that 1 cwt. or so in the weight of the body is of no consequence, inasmuch as the vehicles, operating as they do on the premises, are not taxable and•there is no point in a1templing to keep within the 3-tons unladenweight limit. The bodies for this work are particularly robust. The timbers used are substantial, and the framing is of steel because of the tough nature Of the work inside the qUarries.
On the whole, there is no doubt that Mr. Neir is to be congratulated on the way this fleet is operated, and on the results he obtains'. I look forward to meeting bins again in: the not-too-distant future when he ,isas taken Control of the whole fleet of 107 road-tiransport vehicles.