In the big top! - MAN inmotion

Industry Operating challenges
perhaps a cautious estimate in these difficult times. Based
on these figures, operators face the prospect of either
having to increase turnover to achieve enough 3% margin
simply to stand still, or find more economical and efficient
ways to operate. In such tough economic times, both
represent significant challenges. However, Des Evans argues
that some progress is possible.
Cost...
With fuel, at c. 40%, the major factor in any operating cost
table (the truck itself is less than 10%) Evans says this is
where to begin the quest for cuts. He is dismissive of the
chances of any Government assistance, and argues that
selecting a fuel efficient truck to begin with is vital. He
points to the MAN TGX achieving
9.27mpg in its recent two-day
Commercial Motor road test as a
prime example. However, he then
says, drivers are actually ‘the
biggest influence on whether a
truck, any truck, will achieve its operating potential’.
“Training and performance monitoring are key,” says
Evans. This belief has become his passion, with his UK
operation pioneering MAN EcoStyle, the driver and vehicle
performance monitoring hardware and software rapidly
making its presence felt in many major fleets. At the time of
writing, Maritime and Saints Transport have just taken
EcoStyle on all their trucks, and both are looking at similar
MAN systems for their trailer fleets – almost 2000 assets in
total for these two operators alone. This, in addition to some
7000 vehicles already equipped.
Of course, you need to set standards before you begin to
monitor performance, or you risk simply watching a poorly
performing fleet continue to cost you money. It is why
16
inmotion
1|2012
With legislation bearing
down on the industry ever
more heavily, managing
compliance is costing
operators increasing time
and money.
“We have rapidly
become a bank that
also makes trucks...”
Evans has made MAN ProfiDrive
training days part of every MAN
truck deal that includes R&M.
Drivers get an excellent grounding
in efficient driving and the day
also counts toward their driver
CPC. ‘Before and After’ figures
from ProfiDrive show fuel
improvements per driver of 15%-
20%. And it isn’t only fuel that
improves; repair, maintenance
and servicing bills also drop
dramatically under the combined
ProfiDrive/EcoStyle influence.
....Credit...
The banks are everybody’s whipping boy these days, a
position well-earned by their often unhelpful approach to
the problems they largely created for us all. Des Evans
wonders just how much they’ve really changed though,
asking another big question: “What is the true state of bank
lending?”
Sir Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England,
accused banks of ‘harsh treatment’ and of failure to help
British business with the funds needed to survive and grow.
In February he noted bank lending fell in almost every
quarter of the past three years, despite Government
instructions to the contrary. More recently he said they need
to face up to their failings. Accusing banks of hypocrisy, he
claimed they preached to others about
the need to live with market disciplines
without doing so themselves. He cited
the financial crisis, which immediately
prompted bank bosses to ask for
bailouts. He said: “Market discipline
can’t apply to everyone except banks,” noting that given
their behaviour in the run-up to recession, anger against
banks was “very real and wholly understandable”.
As an antidote to the traditional banks and their failures,
Des Evans points to rising manufacturer funding, with MAN
Financial Services backing some 60% of all the company’s
new sales and 40% of used sales last year. “We have rapidly
become a bank that also makes trucks,” he said, and, while
an amusing view of modern life, it is increasingly close to
the truth. MAN offers highly competitive options across the
acquisition spectrum, with its 36/7 lease packages delivering
6x2 26.440 TGX tractors for as little as £236/wk on a typical
five year lease - with Three Year Warranty included and 24
hour a day back-up, 7 days a week. It isn’t just finance that