Commercial Vehicles - Assignment Example

1. How would you plan deliveries into a large and congested Centre to replenish stocks of cakes and biscuits at 30 small shop outlets? With 20 commercial vehicles, it is required to replenish the stocks to 30 small shop outlets. Since the deliveries are to made in a large congested city, a clear sketch indicating the location of the shop outlets is required. For example, if the delivery locations are divided into four regions/sectors (East, West, North and South), allocation of five vehicles per region will be the usual plan to carry out the replenishment in the extreme case of requiring the usage of all the vehicles. Since the deliveries are to made inside the city, the shop outlets may not be located far away from each other. To minimize the usage of vehicles, a record of data such as shop outlet location, distance in kilometers and quantity of the stocks can be maintained in a sheet which will be very useful in planning for the deliveries. If any two shops require the stocks and if they are located nearby to each other in the adjacent sectors (east and south), then one vehicle will be sufficient to replenish the stocks to the two shops. The same can be extended to two, three, etc., number of shops considering the distance and the load. Another most important factor to be considered is the traffic in the city which will delay the delivery resulting in the dissatisfaction of the customers with the factory. The distance of the shop outlet to be recorded in the sheet must be the shortest distance with free of heavy traffic. A delivery to a shop outlet can have various traveling path but while locating the path for the delivery, it should be taken care that a traffic free path is chosen which will be better than getting into traffic path. In case, there are many shop outlets located in a single sector (any one region), then the number of vehicles to complete the delivery will be reduced. From the above points, it is very clear that the delivery plan depends on four factors namely location of the shop outlets, number of shop outlets in a location, various travel paths and distance of the shop outlet from the factory. 2. Explain the techniques used to retain firm control of transport costs? The transport costs can be controlled by efficiently planning the deliveries with respect to the shop location, number of outlets in a location, travel distance, travel path, availability of vehicle and availability of vehicle drivers. Each time when a delivery is initiated, it can be made a regular task of recording the start time, distance in kilometers traveled acknowledged by the shop outlet to the factory so as to be aware among few drivers who will simply record more distance for higher pay. A cost benefit analysis can be made with these details on periodical basis which will be useful to track the cost controlling. The recording of kilometers will help to minimize the diesel fuel cost and also avoid being cheated by the drivers. The pay to the drivers for delivering the stocks should be reasonable. At the same time, it should not be the case of committing a unreliable driver who is ready to accept low pay. The pay should be made in such a way that driver is reliable all the time. The vehicles should undergo periodical maintenance to reduce the cost on repairs. Even if the vehicle is operating for a long time (beyond one year) without any problem, the maintenance on the particular stipulated date should be done and reported since it might result in accumulated repairs which will result in increase of the maintenance cost per year. The training cost for the drivers should be the least one and for that drivers who are well trained and aware of the routes in the city can be selected. This may include some cost of testing the driver. The temporary use of staff will be affecting the costs more since the drivers demand more pay when they are asked to make an immediate delivery. At that time of demand, it becomes essential to use them so as to satisfy the customers and to retain their contract with them. To have a control on this, an agreement can be made with a vehicle sourcing company for emergency usage specifying the reasonable driver’s pay. The same goes with the vehicle hire which will be the foremost one. Again to have a control on these hiring costs, a solution is that factory can again have some secondary vehicles if there are high demands to be met. To rate the above factors, vehicle hiring takes first place followed by temporary staff. The third one is vehicle repairs and maintenance followed by driver’s pay. The fifth one is fuel cost followed by the last driver’s training. 3. How would you avoid unnecessary annoyance to your neighbors living near to the factory? How will you try to prevent unnecessary pollution caused by your commercial vehicles? Noise is unwanted sound caused by the vehicles and the noise levels vary when vehicles move out of factory and come into the factory. Depending on the level of noise and the duration of exposure, varying degrees of annoyance or difficulties are caused disturbing the relaxation or sleep and have adverse health effects including damage to the hearing. The most effective way of reducing noise is usually to use a quieter machine or process. Unfortunately this is often not practicable. However, there is some scope for noise reduction at source. The sound horns in the vehicles should be mild. This noise may be as a result of worn out bearings in the vehicle parts and low quality fuel used. The smoke coming out of the exhaust is due to the malfunctioning of the fuel system, engine control system and worn out of piston rings and valves. Periodic checkups of vehicle engine with proper maintenance will prevent the unnecessary pollution with reduced exhaust emissions. The replacement of a dirty air filter can reduce emissions and save fuel. The other preventive steps are to follow periodical replacement or cleaning of the air, to employ proper crankcase ventilation in the vehicle, to maintain cold start system, to use moderate fuel system which will not result in the earlier worn out of the engine parts. The Spark plugs and the spark wires should also be periodically replaced and the vacuum leaks should be checked if any. 4. Discuss some of the particular difficulties associated with recruiting, motivating and controlling a team of drivers for the companys commercial vehicles. Recruiting drivers is a tedious process since the drivers are those who account for the business in the factory and revenue. The drivers may leave the factory when they wish as if there is no agreement between the driver and factory with service period. The agreement between the driver and the factory should be specified in clear terms including the service period, pay, etc. The recruiting process should test the driver’s knowledge about the routes which may increase the cost of recruiting. Recruiting does not reveal the situational behaviors of the drivers. The time when they are being tested, the tolerance level will be high. But it may not be the same throughout their service period. Also, if the recruiting process is not effective, there might be some accidents due to the rash driving at some situations resulting in resource loss, customer dissatisfaction, company loss on the account of the vehicle damage and stocks. The foremost is the trust on the driver to hand over stocks of high value. This will have a much impact since it will affect the factory in all the aspects, especially loss of stocks, drop in revenue due to customer dissatisfaction for crossing out on-time delivery. Motivating is the process of making the driver’s satisfied with their work in the factory and getting their involvement. Practically, it is impossible to motivate drivers in all aspects. But it can be done in few aspects. Motivating drivers will have an impact on the costs of the factory since money motivation is the one which drivers expect at all times. It is not possible to satisfy each and every driver at all times with each one having their opinions differ in the way they like to work. Motivation includes increased salary, incentives, bonus, etc., which will have the ultimate effect on the overall profit of the factory. Controlling the team is also difficult one since there will be certain requests or demand like increase in pay, bonus, etc., from the drivers. It is obvious and it can’t be avoided and also it cannot be granted at all times since the revenue of the factory should also be taken care of. There will be certain difficulties while assigning a delivery to a driver to a location which is far away. At these times, customer demand will be seen without considering the driver difficulties whether it is feasible for the driver to make the delivery. 5. Describe four items of modern equipment in vehicles which enables the driver to be more efficient and effective. As a transport manager, the four items which enables the driver to be more effective and efficient are audio system, mobile phone for communication, petrol card and route map. The drivers are also human beings who need relaxation and satisfaction with their work. Music might be one of the ways by which the drivers can be relaxed. Music is an entertainment that attracts everyone and relaxes all. With the provision of the audio system in the vehicle, the drivers would work with free of other distractions and feel relaxed. Relaxation will bring in the efficiency and effectiveness in a work. This audio system will make the drivers not to get bored with driving when they are carrying stocks to a farthest customer place. The mobile phone for the drivers would be necessary for communicating with the factory in case of any emergencies such as vehicle repair, break down or any accidents. This will also make the driver to feel that he is almost secured and provided a way to get help in case of emergencies. This would really attract many drivers to get into the factory as they would feel it is more secured with the protection equipments. The petrol card is the most important thing for a driver since he can’t spend his own money every time to get the fuel and get all those money at the end of the month as salary. This will be useful for the driver not to search for money in case of fuel needs when he is assigned for long distance delivery. When a driver is engaged with a long distance delivery or if he is very new to that particular location, then it is required for him to know the routes by which he can reach the outlet so that he delivers the stocks on time to the customer. A route map would be very useful in that case and will satisfy the driver that he is not given an unknown task to perform. 6. Commercial vehicles are manufactured in 2 shapes and sizes. Identify the main criteria that should be used to select the most appropriate vehicles for the company? Assuming there is demand for more stocks from one shop outlet and the first shape and size vehicle is too big and the second shape and size vehicle is moderate. First let us take the case of the delivery happening inside the highways of congested city for which the first vehicle would be preferred. Since the delivery to the customer is to be made through highways, the first shape can carry more stocks and it can accelerate faster enough to deliver the stocks to the customer on time. Also there will not be frequent traffic signs along the highways in the city. Suppose if the stocks needed are less, then vehicle 2 can be used. Secondly, the delivery happening in the normal roads of the city where frequent traffic signals will be found. In this case, if the delivery is not bulky, then vehicle 2 will be preferred since it can enter into the small streets inside the city so as to complete the delivery within the stipulated time or even before the delivery time, satisfying the customer to the extreme level and retaining his/her contract for the next time. If the delivery is bulky, it is definite that vehicle 1 has to be used which can accommodate more stocks. From the above points, the criteria by which the shape and size of the vehicle depends on the quantity of the stock and partly on the delivery location. If the delivery location is situated at a longer distance from the factory and more stocks are to be delivered, the bigger shape and size vehicle (Vehicle 1) is preferred. If the delivery location is situated near by the factory and moderate quantity of stocks are required to be delivered, then the smaller shape and size vehicle (Vehicle 2) is preferred. If the delivery location is situated at a shorter distance from the city and more stocks are to be delivered, the bigger shape and size vehicle (Vehicle 1) is preferred. If the delivery location is situated at a shorter distance from the city and less stocks are to be delivered, the smaller shape and size vehicle (Vehicle 2) is preferred. Read More