Leading the Way in Distribution

Just three years away from its 50th anniversary, C M Downton, the Gloucester based haulage contractor is now under the management of the founder's three sons Andrew, Richard and John. The family business has grown into a premier league player, operating some 140 vehicles, most of which are articulated trucks and trailers, plus a number of rigid HGVs and light delivery vehicles.

A subsidiary depot has been opened in Wales and a joint venture operation has been acquired recently in Dunstable. Expansion on the Gloucester site includes plans for the construction of additional warehouse facilities.

An important aspect of the company's growth has been in the development of its information technology systems. In two years the company has made the transformation from a few 'creaky' PCs and a daily email transmission, to a fully integrated business management system and communications network wired up to a dedicated Internet service provider.

"Many transactions with our customers are by electronic data interchange (EDI) format," explains IT manager Karl Lansdown. "We see our business as an integral part of our customers operations and that means setting standards for performance and making sure these are achieved. All our key customers are able to monitor the status of their deliveries from their own computer desk-top simply by logging onto to the company's Internet page."

As in many businesses today the IT development has been driven by the need to monitor quality performance and improve productivity. For a transport business this means keeping a close watch on fuel consumption, which accounts for a major share of the operating costs.

"We are in a highly competitive industry and in order to tender for contracts we need accurate mpg figures to assess profitability and support quotations for new business," said Karl Lansdown.

The information is drawn from a computer database, which is updated every time a CM Downton vehicle is fuelled. The database is incorporated into the Merridale fuel management software package supplied by MIS Fuel Monitoring of Wolverhampton. This is loaded on a PC server which communicates with the company's in-house fuelling facilities through a direct cable link.

Diesel is purchased in bulk and stored in a single 80,000 litres capacity tank. The fuelling point is equipped with two Merridale commercial dispensers. A Merridale Auditor monitoring unit controls access and records every transaction. Drivers help themselves to fuel by using a pre-coded key to turn on the pump.

Fuelling transactions off-site are charged to a fuel card service provider. Details of these transactions are supplied by e-mail in a format, which can be imported directly into the Merridale database.

Details of every transaction are logged against a specific vehicle together with date and mileage information. Account details are set up against the access key. This enables the system to capture all the information required for attributing fuel costs to particular client and details can be analysed for management reports. A core requirement is the fuel consumption for each vehicle. This is used to assess the suitability of vehicles for different duties and ultimately for disposal, when the vehicle has reached the point where it has become inefficient to operate.

By recording mileage, the transport office can also balance the usage of vehicles in order to spread total mileage across the fleet. The information is also used to schedule servicing and support fleet management.

Maintaining such detailed records would not be feasible without some form of computer assistance. To give some idea of the scale of the operation, the system records over 300 transactions a week. Tank contents are also monitored by the Merridale system to ensure that a minimum stock is maintained according to consumption. Deliveries are currently running at around five tanker loads of 30,000 litres per week and this is expected to increase.

Summarising the benefits of the Merridale system, Karl Lansdown, stressed the need for the rapid distribution of management reports.

"The additional facilities for e-mailing reports that have been incorporated into the latest software release will help speed communications. Other important functionality includes the facility to lock out any key. This allows the traffic office to prevent a vehicle from refuelling, for instance in the case of a rental vehicle being taken out of service."