The preparation and deliveries of the all-new SsanYong Rexton 4×4 vehicle in Britain is being undertaken by automotive logistics provider Walon UK. The deal heralds the return of the brand to the UK market with new importer SYUK Cars.
The first shipment of 150 vehicles arrived at Walon’s West Dock site at The Royal Portbury Docks, near Bristol, and underwent pre-delivery inspection (PDI) and preparation, before being delivered to dealers nationwide.
Walon is processing the Rexton SUVs using its state-of-the-art Manrider conveyor system at the West Dock facility. Vehicles are carried down one side of the warehouse where they receive initial checks from qualified Walon technicians and undergo any changes required to match UK market specifications. Johnson Apparelmaster, the workwear rental specialist and part of the Johnson Service Group, is seeing “substantial savings” in collection and delivery costs now that its transport network has been reorganised. The company has been working with logistics and digital mapping business Kingswood MapMechanics, which supplied the TruckStops routeing and scheduling system to remodel the fixed delivery patterns and help with a “customer migration” programme involving accounts transferring between branches.
Operating from 17 laundry and distribution bases throughout Britain and Northern Ireland, Johnson Apparelmaster serves about 40,000 customers using a fleet of 275 vans.
An initial demonstration project was mounted using GeoConcept. Colour coding was used to highlight the disposition of customer locations in relation to a sample group of Johnson Apparelmaster branches, giving some indication of the potential for transferring customers between them. Having confirmed the opportunity for savings, the group then evaluated several routeing and scheduling systems to get the “best for the job”. The company’s corporate strategy director, Simon Moate, says: “TruckStops offered the best return on investment relative to initial cost, and also seemed to us the best structured in terms of its ability to model fixed delivery rounds.”
It is using the latest TruckStops Roads version which can plan routes in relation to a digital map network as well as by its time and distance method. The Route Reporter module, which generates a line of route report for delivery schedules, is also be used by Johnson Apparelmaster.
Moate comments: “So far the savings are in the order of 4%, which with our volume of business is substantial.”
Contract hire, rental and fleet management provider Fraikin has supplied a Daf 85 Series drawbar to Wolverhampton-based G&P Batteries, which collects waste lead acid batteries nationwide. The drawbar, which has joined a fleet of about 20 commercial vehicles, is the first of its type to go into service with G&P.
The vehicle – it is on a five-year contract hire agreement, was picked for its flexibility of being able to offer a high volume with a heavy payload. It is expected to cover up to 100,000km a year.
G&P managing director Michael Green says: “Our work is very seasonal and this latest vehicle will allow us to operate at 26 tonnes during quiet periods in the summer, but with the benefit of an extra ten tonnes with the drawbar trailer when necessary.”
All the batteries that G&P collects are fully recycled. The lead plates are sent to a smelter for recycling, the plastic cases recovered, and the waste acid is despatched for safe recycling or disposal.
NYK Logistics subsidiary New Wave Logistics (NWL) is continuing its fleet expansion by taking 20 new trailers on long-term lease from Transrent. The trailers, 13.6m tri-axle box vans, are being used for deliveries nationwide from NWL’s distribution centres at Milton Keynes and Northamptonshire, as well as its Bristol and Southampton depots.
Andrew Manning, group distribution manager at NWL, comments: “A large proportion of our 300-strong UK distribution fleet is now supplied by Transrent. We opt for leasing our trailer fleet because of the extra flexibility it provides us.”
