1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164 
KAM ,mbats the
Page 43
Page 44
Page 45
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
backyard image
Keeping on top of the cos-s is K&NA answer to the 'cottage induslY charges levelleo against tipper orcr-ors. Aan IViiiar reports
KING AFTER the pennies so the pounds look after lselves may seem a bit of a e in these days when inflahas turned the industry's ghts into hundreds of thouIs and million-pound muls. But there is still no subte for close attention to deas I discovered recently n I visited the Hucknall, inghamshire premises of K M (Hauliers) Ltd, a British Company subsidiary with ehicles, 36 of them 30-ton )rs.
irector and general ager Peter Atkinson sums he company's attitude by "There is no point in g at the bottom of the th Division when you can : the top of the First. And if are not at the top, you Id strive to get there."
(ith his tippers engaged on itive merry-go-round work ing coal from Nottingham Derbyshire, and South shire coalfields to Trent
power stations and -n load traffic with sand jravel, he can afford to feel he is on the way up and is ming conceited when he "We deal in excellence." le of the most striking signs and M's attention to detail individual vehicle costing m which helps keep rates led to a very accurate level.
• allowing for initial lase price, all expenditure Tes, fuel, and general re is logged against each le in record files.
ich an accurate set of figallows the company to adts rates very quickly when crease in charges is levied against it. For instance, it would take only minutes for management at Hucknall to be aware of the effect, to two decimal places, of a 4-p increase in the cost of diesel oil.
Beyond that, the information from the costing system helps to highlight inefficient running by drawing attention to excess tyre wear or a troublesome engine. Where eight outwardly identical vehicles show average tyre costs of five per cent, but one begins to show cumulative costs of eight per cent, management should look for a reason and try to eliminate it. If repairs do not cure the problem, then K and M would dispose of the lorry.
In general, the company aims to operate on a 10 per cent downtime basis, and becomes concerned when this figure rises over 12.5 per cent. When I visited K and M, the figure was running at about six per cent, a tribute indeed to its policies.
Peter Atkinson believes K and M's costing system is an important weapon in the war against much of the haulage industry's "'backyard"' image as one of this country's last great cottage industries. "In one way. I wish the industry would get the costing message. It could make all of us gird our loins and become more efficient, and could lose cheap-rate operators," he says.
His own policy of achieving success through excellence is underlined by the fleet policy of buying Gardner-engined eightwheel Fodens with Michelin tyres and Wilcox bodies. The tractive units in his bulk tanker fleet are equipped with Rolls Royce Eagle 265 diesels, but experience has proved that the Gardner 6LXB and 6LXC is perfectly adequate for the tipper fleet.
K and M obtains six to seven miles per gallon fuel consumption figures from its Gardner engines, and feels that the extra power available from the Rolls Royce would be used on the rough ground covered by the tippers. While the engine would suffer no damage, the rest of the vehicle might, and costs would be bound to rise out of all proportion to any savings achieved through faster road speeds. The company is aiming soon to run only Fodens, and has moved recently from S83s to S10 Haulmasters which it believes are suited ideally to its purposes. A few Atkinsons taken over with a smaller business are still in use alongside a few DAFs which were bought when K and M was operating tractive units to Europe. It felt then that European vehicles would be a better answer on international work as spare parts would be more readily available away from home.
Its choice of Wilcox highsided bodies — designed to cut out the need for sheeting on most runs — was governed by a desire to give bodies a second life, and so reduce capital replacement costs. The bodies also have sealed tailgates to take slurry on return loads.
Vehicles are replaced after five years, and are subjected to a meticulous preventive maintenance programme throughout their lives. Vehicles are washed at least once per week in an automatic washing gantry at Hucknall, and are put through an independent inspection routine on a monthly time and mileage basis. Peter Atkinson believes that this pays dividends. "Is it expensive? Yes, in terms of cost, but it is cheap in terms of the total downtime cost."
Aided by a good tyre purchasing policy, maintenance costs have gone down and tippers are working now at 2.2p per mile, whereas many general haulage operators would be happy to return figures of 2.5p per mile.
A recent maintenance inno vation has been thespecification of automatic lubrication equip ment for the tippers. Those fitted so, far are working without any trouble, and, helped by K and M's intensive maintenance methods, are cutting several hours from downtime, despite the fact that the vehicles are running over quagmires of slurry, dust, sand and grit. The equipment is far superior to troublesome auto-lube units tried in previous years, and the company hopes to make greater savings when the vehicles fall due for plating and testing.
Most of K and M's drivers have been with the company for at least 12 years, and are rewarded well by high wage rates and a favourable bonus scheme. The tippers work mainly within a 40-mile radius and there is no call for overnight driving. Peter Atkinson knows he can trust his drivers and that they will go in search of coal if none is available at the colliery to which they have been directed.
K and M has not recruited any drivers since February 1972, and points proudly to a long waiting list of men prepared to join the company. The longest-serving driver has worked on lorries for over 40 years.
Few hauliers are as fortunate as K and M in having as spacious a site as its former World War I aerodrome in which various buildings have been refurbished over the past five years. Large wooden hangars have been converted into warehouses, while another part of the site is being used as an up-to-date insulated maintenance area.
The workshop incorporates several pits for inspection, heavy overhead cranes for lifting off bodies, cabs, engines, and other major units, and a spare parts store which carries £30,000 worth of items on K and M's account in addition to other items required to meet the firm's commitments as a Foden sub-agent. The sub-agency, the firm insists, is a spin-off from its vehicle policy and did not dictate its decision to standardise on Fodens.
Peter Atkinson says of the facilities at Hucknall: "They are a transport manager's dream. It is easy to give a customer a good service when you can work in conditions like we have. Our first-class back-up is imposed on good staff."
K and M has used its quality
back-up to guide it successfu. through the 1970s recessio and although it has reduced fleet from 60 tippers to 36, tlhas been partly through ti reduction in downtime achievE through greater maintenani efficiency.
In 1970, the fleet cornpris( 16, 24, and 28-ton tippers,,ar was large enough to cater f breakdowns. Now there are on 30-tonners, and the sophis. cated costing system hi allowed the company to we out its poor contracts and wo to full capacity. When I was Hucknall, the only vehicles o of service were awaiting routir maintenance.
Despite being part of a maj, group, K and M is very much z• individual firm which takes i own decisions on day-to-th operation. Reflecting Schi macher's "small is beautiful theory, BFC leaves policy de( sion to managers on the grouni and this is carried on throughoi the company to the extent the for instance, the fleet engine and transport manager hal., considerable scope for runnir their own divisions of K and M Tippers may not be the mo glamorous lorries on the road but they can earn good returr for their owners when run meticulously as those at K an M. Many others in transpo could learn a great deal from tlcompany's belief that it shoul keep every part of its operatic in close check. That way, tightly-run ship sails on to betto horizons.