A n articulated tanker, full to the brim with hot liquid
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chocolate, has to be the ultimate fantasy for any confirmed chocoholic. But to Phil Yates, logistics manager at leading chocolate manufacturer S&A Lesme, it is everyday business.
S&A Lesme is the UK's largest independent bulk chocolate manufacturer, conveniently located next to the M40 at Banbury.
The company manufactures about 50,000 tonnes of liquid and solid chocolate a year, which needs to be distributed to a wide range of customers across the country and on the Continent.
Solid chocolate is delivered by a third party haulier in curtainsiders to a lot of small customers. Liquid chocolate is delivered by an inhouse fleet of 12 tractors and 22 specialist tankers, organised by Yates.
The tankers go to about 10 major confectionary manufacturers in the UK, including Birds Eye Walls' and Jacobs, and also to the Continent.
Until two years ago the whole tanker fleet — a mixture of ERFs and Volvo Fl Os — was owned by S&A Lesme. But as the fleet grew older the economic climate was deteriorating, and Yates' bosses were cautious about shelling out for new vehicles. "Finding the capital to buy vehicles was the problem," says Yates.
"My bosses wanted to put more money into the factory, not into trucks," he explains. "Distribution isn't their business."
With this in mind he began to research the contract hire route and tested the water with a contract hire truck from Volvo Truck Finance.
This was a logical choice for Yates as he had a local Volvo dealer and felt that as he was dealing with a manufacturer, maintenance services would be on-hand and also to a high standard.
Yates immediately found clear advantages in his contract hire vehicle.
"If you took the strict operating costs of the contract hired truck and the others there was not a lot in it, but you would not be comparing like with like," he says. "We would all prefer to run new vehicles and this gives us an opportunity to do so without the outlay." The firm now has three Volvos on contract hire; two H-reg FlOs and a J-reg FL10. They were phased into the fleet over nine months and the result has convinced Yates to convert the whole fleet to contract hire vehicles within three years, selling off his old trucks to the companies which give him the contract hire deals.
The vehicles are on five-year contracts, which allows accurate cost predictions. Yates' deal with Volvo Truck Finance includes maintenance, carried out to an agreed timetable, and emergency breakdown cover.
Some of the other vehicles, which are still owned by S&A Lesme, are contract maintenance deals. This so helps cut down on unexpected )sts, says Yates, but does not go r enough.
rhe only things which aren't covered by Yates' contract hire payments are drivers and el: "Contract hire means that the ng-term risk of having any expenye vehicle is on the shoulders of 31vo and not us," he says.
An added bonus of the contract red vehicles is that they keep the ivers happy.
The Volvo tractors are nearly ,Av and are well maintained at the :al Volvo dealer, Dawsonfreight )mmercials.
"The drivers frequently urge me to sort out more contract hire vehicles," says Yates.
He does not believe that having his liquid chocolate delivered by another haulier would solve his cashflow problems in the way that his contract hire vehicles have done.
The tanker operation is highly specialised; S&A Lesme's different chocolate ranges have to be kept at different temperatures and staff have to be trained to deal with this. They also have to be very polite to a small number of important customers.
Bringing in a third party to do the work could put this professionalism at risk, says Yates.