Common Sense at Chamberlain Transport

Chamberlain Transport of Crewe, which in 2004 celebrates its Golden Anniversary, is one of those businesses that still involves many of the family - the tradition goes back to grandmother doing a regular run down to London, accompanied by the family's pet dog. Today the business is managed jointly by the founder's grandsons, Simon and Mark Chamberlain. Their mother, Mary, takes care of the financial side and their father, Ted Chamberlain, is Chairman.

In its fifty years, Chamberlain Transport has built up a broad customer base, mainly in the north and west midlands region. Fittingly, one of its biggest contract operations is associated with Crewe's principle industry, the engineering support for railway locomotive and rolling-stock. Other customers cover food distribution, packaged goods and light industry.

Whilst the business has access to warehouse facilities, the main focus has always been on providing transport services. Simon Chamberlain describes it simply as general haulage. Currently, the company has a fleet of 25 tractor units, about fifty trailers and a number of smaller vehicles including a 3½ tonne van, plus 7½ and 17 tonne trucks.

A number of vehicles are dedicated to customer contracts. Drivers wear the clients' uniform and all the vehicles are finished in the customer's corporate colours. Apart from these, the rest of the fleet sports a distinctive livery of blue-grey cabs with gold lettering.

"Many of our customers have been with us for twenty years or more. Perhaps, today, it is more fashionable to call the operation "logistics" or "distribution". Basically, our business is about moving the customer's goods from their chosen collection point to where they want them delivering."

"We operate on two golden rules; the first being keep it simple and the second is to avoid being dependent on any single customer. Whenever we secured a big job, my father would do a quick calculation on the impact on turnover, congratulate us and then insist that we find another equally large contract to redress the balance."

In 1998, the business relocated from Haslington, to its present site on the Weston Gate North Industrial Estate, south of Crewe. Here, it has a purpose built office block and workshop, and ample space for larger vehicles.

The investment included a new fuelling system based on a 55,000 litre tank and a Merridale fuel management system, enabling drivers to draw fuel whenever it was wanted, 24 hours a day. Currently the fuel supply is replenished at the rate of five tanker loads every two months.

The Merridale system was selected because it was considered to be the best on the market. It was the only system offering a total solution, covering both software and hardware. The dispensing equipment has subsequently been upgraded, to incorporate the new Merridale Auditor FS - a combined pump and monitoring unit.

Chamberlain's fleet comprises a mix of ERF and Daf units, most of which are purchased new. Not surprisingly, as with most operators, fuel economy is an important factor when choosing new vehicles. Fuel usage is measured from tank to tank. Details of each fuelling transaction is recorded by the Merridale Auditor unit and downloaded, as required, to the office computer.

On the advent of on-board computers, Simon Chamberlain is ambivalent. "You have got to prioritise what is most important to your business. With these new technologies comes a growing risk of information overload. I could sit here with an office full of internal reports and very easily lose sight of a customer service issue, or some other external factor equally important to our performance."

"The Merridale reports enable us to track vehicle mpg figures. The reports show vehicle and fleet performance figures, how much fuel has been used and how many tanker loads have been supplied. The history of every vehicle can be tracked, with trends highlighting whether its fuel economy performance is improving or getting worse."

Interpreting the figures requires some experience. There are lots of factors that affect the fuel consumption. "If I gave someone a set of figures with fuel consumption and history, it would be difficult to see why it was dropping off."

"You need to take into account the operation, which driver, the age of vehicle, and what work it is doing. Some weeks, within general haulage, a vehicle can be running light or alternatively fully loaded at 44 tonnes.

"Initially I scan the report to see what the fuel consumption is for the week. Individual vehicles tend to fluctuate, so I look at the fleet average. That is an important figure to me because we are not doing the same job day in and day out."

"If a vehicle is below par we keep our eye on it for a couple of weeks. It may just have been on heavy work. If it is constantly low then we can reschedule the service interval or, alternatively, make sure the necessary checks on the pump, injectors etc., are carried out during the next routine service."