Growing a haulage company in the country
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Operators do not need to be situated in an industrial area to make a living. Indeed there could be better opportunities in rural areas. One haulier in Devon is expanding in contrast to the national trend
Above; Gregory's 32-ton artic units are no strangers to the quiet Devon lanes despite the countrywide distribution service which the company maintains.
ROAD haulage companies can grow and flourish in some quite surprising areas. Time after time one finds going concerns in country settings which seem miles from anywhere, However, in these days of financial stringency — when operators are more likely to be contemplating reducing their fleet rather than buying more vehicles—to find a rural operator who is expanding is at least unusual.
This is what is happening to the Devonshire-based company of A. J. Gregory and Son, It has been fortunate enough to find that a brand new factory has only been built a quarter of a mile away from its North Tawton premises.
Work from the new factory and the traditional carrying of human and animal foodstuff has meant that it has relinquished some of its former traffic and now varies its activities in order to preserve a viable manageable fleet.
The company is more than 50 years old and has grown from one vehicle carrying agricultural traffic in the 1920s to a fleet of 35. It includes 14 artic units and 15 trailers, seven rigid local delivery vehicles and three grain blowers. The principal traffics are eggs and meat, cheese and rice pudding outward and animal feed inward.
Mr Jack Gregory, the " son " of the company title, told me that he thought that, for a company such as his, a fleet of somewhere in the region of 30 vehicles was about the optimum for good management. If the fleet became any larger it tended to become unwieldy and difficult to control.
No tips
It was for this reason that, when the new Express Dairy Ltd, cheese factory was constructed only a few hundred yards away from the Gregory depot and the extra traffic had been secured, the carrying of livestock by the company was relinquished. A further factor in controlling the fleet size had been the discontinuing of the company's former tipper operation.
Despite these measures, the fleet had been augmented by five vehicles only recently.
Part of the present operation involves the transport of raw material for cheese making to the factory and the carrying of the finished product to a store, where the cheese is allowed to mature over a period of several months.
A further movement of the product accrues to Gregory when the maturing process is completed, for the cheese has to be returned to the factory for the process to be proved and then distributed nationwide.
Rice pudding is another profitable source of revenue for the company. The rice is imported from Canada in containers and though Gregory is not involved in the movement of containers from the port to North Tawton, it does store the rice in bags in its own house adjacent to the der All other movements co: ted with the rice and finished pudding is a plished by Gregory's veb however. These compri. daily 20-ton load of rice the warehouse to the fa( where it is processed canned. The canned rice ding is then stored and buted throughout the coi by Gregory.
The rest of the work prises the transport of and meat in temperature trolled conditions. To ba the operation, return low animal feed are carried fo surrounding farms.
Driving force
As Jack Gregory pa out, both animals and hu have to eat despite the / bility of hard times. transport of food for bo1 therefore, likely to con whatever the future t Moreover, the inward t carried by the company vides the wherewithal fo: animals to produce that v must be carried on the out — a perfect production Tory undertake the roupreventive maintenance periodic servicing them;, but the repairs and major items are contrac) a local garage.
Gregory confessed that id been appalled at the which he was getting for vork each month. He de, therefore, to keep a 11 check of what had been during the year and to or carefully what work )eing undertaken.
er a year he was quite ised to find that the total )r the period was only in egion of £2,000. To emsufficient fitting staff to e same work and to prothe facilities and tools to e them to do it would much in excess of this aid would be a continuing St. The decision was , therefore to continue the existing procedure. ,t'e was also some evi, that the driver supply ion was becoming some easier in Devon. The er of skilled experienced • available had been ,re ad though Gregory was a }er of the local group ng association. Devon port Training Ltd in ExeIn addition, those emd sometimes left a great :o be desired. Mr Gregory told me that since the principle of £40 for 40 hours had been conceded, and not before time in his opinion, the attitude of drivers had changed and they were much more amenable and reliable.
Declining traffic in other areas had also induced some operators to lay off drivers and there are more of the better type of driver available for employment. He admitted that he had been somewhat slow to learn the worth of a good driver, but circumstances had demonstrated this to him and he was quick to acknowledge his debt to his present driving force.
What of the future ? This seems to be secure enough for Gregory with a management which has the ability to recognise the need to vary and adapt the company's activities to changing circumstances and conditions.
I asked Jack Gregory if any of his three sons would be following him into the business. He said that he did not think so nor did he wish them to do so. He obviously had ambitions for his sons to become professional people and though he admitted that the haulage industry certainly needed a more professional approach, he did not think the rewards were adequate, especially for an unlimited private company such as his own.