The Freight Transport Association has been working with businesses across the UK to enhance daily logistics, maintenance of fleets with some incredible results; one organisation in particular saved £150,000 a year and maintained its in house transport workshop function whilst avoiding a proposed multi million pound investment.

When seeking third party advice, be careful…

Example

A district audit had suggested to a local authority to build an entirely new transport workshop as the current workshop was deemed unfit for purpose, costing an estimated £4million. To make matters worse, the council management team had been misled by results from another review. The external best value audit recommended the workshop function should therefore be outsourced and future vehicles would need to be procured through contract hire. Both these routes incur extortionate charges and yet could be avoided.

There is a dangerously increasing propensity for businesses to outsource. This can be an attractive route for workshop managers seeing the immediate face value as the cheapest option however neither of the methods outlined above are necessary, the FTA reported, following extensive analysis of reviews commissioned by the council referred to above. Therefore the FTA’s cost efficient solution is a lesser investment of just £25,000 in structural repairs on the existing premises. To ensure the investment succeeds, three main areas required the councils focus for improvement.

Plan of action:

• Reduce staff and redesign responsibility structure 
• Restructuring of pay reflecting industry average 
• Budget restructure for non routine maintenance rested with user departments 
• Address fleets age profile 
• Address efficiency of fleet, including fuel, overloading, repositioning loads and empty running 
• Tighter reign of maintenance using external contractors 

Using the basic points outlined above not only assisted the council out of its deficit, a healthy £264,000 surplus was created.

Changing attitudes

Changing attitudes in the organisation can also help the cost efficiency in relation to transport, which in recent times is becoming harder to avoid anyway as climate change is a key topic amongst global leaders and constantly in the press. Fuel absorbs around 30% of overall transport costs. To ensure all staff are aware of the importance of fuel cost efficiency, someone should be appointed to monitor fuel usage.

FTA Consultancy team
With escalating fuel duty rates and the extra focus now being applied to the reduction of operating costs, many operators are now seeking ways to improve fuel efficiency levels and use their stocks carefully, right across their fleet. In light of this, the FTA Consultancy team can offer tips on how to minimise costs while maximising fuel efficiency, such as:

• Driver training and awareness 
• Vehicle use 
• Vehicle age/spec 
• Outsourcing part or all of the transport requirement 
• Fuel management software programmes 
• Management buy-in and company procedures