PRESERVING THE "FAMILY )IRIT IN ROAD HAULAGE
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NO better examples of team work in industry are to be found than in the case of those haulage businesses which are faithfully described as family concerns. When road haulage was open to all, such businesses were to be found in plenty, and despite the fact that, in more recent years, many have succumbed to the bait of quick financial return and have been absorbed in big organizations, there are, fortunately, still quite a few of them left in the road-transport sphere.
What is more, they are mostly successful and goahead enterprises with—in normal times—a clientele which has been steadfast in its support, and mindful of the merits of personal attention which comes from dealing with individuals whose very livelihoods are dependent on the efficient service and fair dealing which they give.
It is upon a foundation of this kind that the progressive ousmess ot Messrs. Hine Bros., of Shaftesbury Road, Gillingham, Dorset, has been built. It was early in 1914 that Mr. H. Hine sensed What he thought was an excellent opportunity of providing a haulage service that would meet the needs of the locality and solve some of the problems of farmers and those ex,ploiting the sand and gravel pits in the neighbourhood. It must be stressed at this point that Gillinghamis adjacent to a belt of fertile agricultural land.
Road Motors' Value on Grain Transport
The character of the goods carried has, naturally, changed owing to wartime conditions, but prior to 1939 grain haulage and the transport of sand and gravel formed the backbone of the business. The carriage of grain is still undertaken, but much of this traffic has been transferred to the railways, except when the grain is regarded as being potentially millable due to dampness and has to be got to the mills with the least, possible delay; it is then that the speed and certainty of road motors come into their own.
As the firm have their own pits at Ringwood, it is not surprising that sand and gravel provide big tonnages for the fleet of 34 vehicles, roughly half of which are tippers. In addition, there are five ex-W.D. Bedfords allocated to the firm by the M.O.W.T., which were turned over in fairly good condition; the maintenance work. on these is tackled by Messrs. Hine Bros,, and charged up to the Ministry. The business is now in the hands of the founder's three sons, Mr. Jack Hine, who controls the transport side and is helped by his brother William, and Mr. Edward Hine, who supervises the quarrying side. Although the father no longer takes an active part, his interest in the firm's progress has in no way diminished, and his wide transport experience is often of -great help in the solution of any particularly worrying problems.
For the first seven years the business was run almost wholly by steamers-the first purchase. was a Burrell steam tractor and trailer—and most of the leading makes of those days, including Foden, Garrett, Tacker and Sentinel, were operated, 13 vehicles of the lastnamed make at one time figuring in the fleet.
Whilst acknowledging the yeoman service done by these machines, Mr. Jack Hine would not think of returning to steam vehicles even if they be available—he hinted at a new product of a leading maker being on the stocks —because of troubles associated with picking lip water and the raising of steam, apart from the inability nowadays to get the right kind of driver. The last-named point is one of some importance, for in these times the largest proportion of men are merely drivers, whereas, in the days of the
steamer's popularity, the driver was often a man with a useful knowledge of steam engineering. As a type, the steam-wagon. driver no longer exists.
The firm have always moved with the times, and they were the first in the West Country to buy an oiler of foreign make, which proved to be a sound investment, especially as no tax was then payable on oil fuel. This experience, however, provided a yardstick for the future, and now more than one-third of the fleet consists of oil-engine vehicles.
The present fleet is very mixed, due, in some measure, to the fact that, in the early days of the war, 13 vehicles were requisitioned by the military authorities. There are 22 vehicles based on the firm's headquarters at Gillingham, and 12 at :their pits at Ringwood. The former consist of four A.E.C., four Dodge, three Albion, three Foden, three Scarnmell low-loaders, two Bedford, two E.R.F. and a Leyland, and the latter of four Foden, three Dodge, two Bedford, an A.E.C., a Leyland and a Morris-Commercial.
The vehicles stationed at Gillingham operate under A licences, whilst those at Ringwood are run under C licences. The petrol vehicles are mainly'used•for Light-transport duties, whilst the lowloaders are engaged o,n carrying such
equipment as scrapers, graders, excavators, bulldozers, etc., and have, dur:na. the war, been largely employed on aerodrome construction.
As the work upon which the vehicles are engaged is so varied in character. not only in respect of loads, hut also as regards the roads travelled, little purpose is served in comparing the fuel returns of different makes and types. but these m.p.g, details, taken at random, are of pass ing interest : — Albion 6-ton petrol lorries, 10; Dodge 5-ton petrol tippers, 10; Foden ton oil tippers, 1415; A.E.C. oil eight-wheelers, 10; Scammell 15-ton
articulated lowloaders, 9.
The oilers tackle the brunt of the heavy work, and Mr. Jack Hine pays glowing tribute to the efficiency of the A.E.C. and Gardner engines with which they are powered. He pins his faith to this type for the future, and thinks that lot his firm's class of work the 7-ton pay-load vehicle is the best. He stresses the point that makers should give more attention to the potentialities of this.type.
He is strong in his condemnation of the policy of reducing unladen weight to gain increased pay-load capacity, and says that it simply results in greater maintenance and servicing costs.
Excellent Service from A.E.C. Vehicles
We think we are justified in making special reference to the A.E.C.s run by -the firm, because 10 such vehicles have been bought over a period of 14 years, although only five of this make are now being run. If Mr. Hine's tribute to the efficiency of these machines is an index of the firm's future intentions, then others of this make will assuredly be bought.
A particularly notorious climb which is tackled by the large A..E.C.s is Zig Zag Hill, on the Shaftesbury-Cranborne road, which has a ruling gradient of 1 in 12, at least five difficult and dangerous turns, and an incline in some parts of 1 in 6. To drive a Mammoth Major over this hill, rising 600 ft. above sea level, calls for real skill and judgment at the wheel, and, in addition, plenty of stamina from the vehicles, but the -A.E.C.s regularly climb this acclivity without faltering when they travel' between Gillingham and Ringwood, where, as we have already mentioned, the firm have extensive gravel pits.
Trailers arc not favoured by the firm mainly because they involve loss of time in negotiating awkward sites from which loads have to be picked up, and their use was abandoned when a decision was taken to discard the steam vehicles.
Now that the firm are a controlled undertaking, the weekly tonnage is much less than in pre-war days, and amounts to approximately 2,500; but, despite this fact, it is reassuring to learn that they experience little empty running under the Ministry's Road Haulage Organization; incidentally, Mr. Jack Hine is unit controller for. Unit No. 6T6.
'Before the war, the fleet covered something like 1,000,000 miles per year, some individual vehicles registering as many as 50,000 on their mileometers.
As we have said, Messrs. Hine Bros. are a family concern, with lour members, but they are really a much bigger " family " than that, for every employee is regarded as part of it. The whole business has a friendly atmosphere about it, and the masterand-man cleavage does not exist. It is nOt to be wondered at, therefore, that the average length of service of drivers with the firm is 17 years, whilst two of them joined soon after the firm started 30 years ago. The Hine brothers know the worth of toe men to the business, and watch their interests closely. For instance, although the business is in a Grade 3 area for wages payments, the men get the rates which apply to a Grade 2 area.
A feature that the drivers appreciate is their allocation to a specific vehicle. a policy which is rigidly observed, except in special circumstances, such as illness or when maintenance work is in progress. More than 50 per cent, of the drivers, who were previously employed as mates, have been taught to drive by the firm. The social side of the men's livesqs not forgotten, and a recreation room i§ available for their use, a full-size billiards table being part of the equipment; this facility is much prized by the men, especially in the winter months.
Satisfaction from
Synthetic Tyres The firm's experience with synthetic tyres has been satisfactory, and one of the Dodge tippers we inspected had Firestone equipment of this kind, its record sheet showing that six such tyres had each covered 6,900 mites; moreover, the amount af tread pattern remaining suggested that they were good for several thousand miles more. Before the war, Dunlop and Goodyear 'tyres were used, and a life of 25.000 miles was considered to be -exceedingly good. bearing in mind the nature of the work undertaken.
The firm undertake all their own maintenance, except certain precision tasks on the oilers, which are entrusted to specialists. Amongst the equipment installed can be mentioned electric drills, boring bar, lathe; Black and Decker valve refacer and a hydraulic press.
All body renovations are carried out and the firm build some of their own bodies, although that work is somewhat difficult under prevailing conditions owing to the problem of getting well-seasoned timber.
The vehicles are taken out of service at regular intervals for routine maintenance, and that, in itself, reduces to the minimum the risk of enforced breakdown on the road. Apart from the inconvenience of such happenings, it may register a black mark against the firm's good reputation, which the brothers seek to protect in every way possible. As their business is almost wholly obtained from local industry, and no trunk services are operated, the repercussions that might follow in the wake of such events—if they occurred regularly and no effort were made to check them—could well prove calamitous.