PROJECT ABOUT TRANSPORT
Here, you can see clearly the logotype of the enterprise reflected on the truck.
Name: Zenón Santiago Muñoz Abad. Enterprise: A.M.A. S.L Economic activity: Freight road transport.
In this photo, you can see the interviewed person and the office where he works.
The economic activity of this enterprise belongs to the tertiary sector, specifically, to freight road transport. It’s a medium enterprise, because it has more than 50 workers and it’s a private limited company as well. At first, the name of the enterprise was “Gregorio Muñoz Panadero”, later it was “Gregorio Muñoz Panadero e hijos C.B”, afterwards “Tracima S.L” was created and, at the same time, another enterprise called “A.M.A” which means Alberto Muñoz Abad. Finally, in 1996, “Autónomos Manchegos Agrupados” was created with the anagram “A.M.A S.L”. They kept the former name. The last one absorbed all the others, merging them and becoming only one. It was a family enterprise, and it continues to be nowadays.
Building of the enterprise from the outside.
It began with a social capital of 3,000€ and several increases occurred. At present it has a social capital of 2,500,000 € including reserves. It has received some subsidies for investments in equipment goods and for maintenance of permanent workers, but these subsidies were not very important. In the company there are a 3% of subcontracted workers, a 96% of permanent workers and 1% are temporary workers. There are 63 truck drivers, but there are also 3 mechanics and 4 administrative workers. There are not big differences between their salaries. Each one on its branch has similar salaries. But there are salary differences between drivers and administrative workers and mechanics. They are all qualified workers and they don’t belong to any union. The working schedule of the workers is changeable. They have got 30 days of holidays and regulatory breaks, as established by law. They’ve got collective agreements with the bosses too. The increase of salaries is usually established according to the C.P.I (Consumer Price Index). And the workers can go on holydays all year round, except in winter. The main activity of the enterprise is freight transport. Its clients are large surfaces and big shopping centres. They transport products mainly for El Corte Inglés, UTISA and Alcampo.
In general, the products they transport are packages and vegetables and fruits in refrigerated trucks and they transport clothes sometimes. After being loaded, trailers are sealed in order to avoid the manipulation of freight during the transport. Although the trucks are sealed, sometimes it’s possible to see the freight inside them.
Here you can find a truck with wooden freight.
It’s a competitive enterprise and it makes big investments on equipment goods to keep on being a competitive and modern company. Competition in the tertiary sector is aggressive. But it is specifically high in road transport, because of the few supply of services and abundant demand, as in every business, although there is a hard period in transport, due to the excessive appreciation of petrol. A.M.A S.L offers competitive prices to their clients. In order to keep their clients, they offer an adequate relationship between quality and price, by giving them a valued and recognized quality in their services. To achieve this purpose, they make a detailed study about their clients and about the services the clients demand and finally they get to know their necessities better than the clients themselves. To get this, they make frequent arrangements between the three involved sectors; they are: - vehicle maintenance and monitoring, directed by José Gregorio - traffic, directed by Alberto - administration, directed by Zenón.
In these periodic planning meetings they organize the work schedule, so that they provide every client with the most accurate service, according to his necessities. They don’t have any commercial agent who contacts with new clients. There are three main shopping centres for which they provide the services. The managers have meetings with them and they speak about their necessities. The other enterprises which receive services from the enterprise, usually contact with them and demand their services. These contacts are only by phone and they don’t have arrangements with them. All the trucks belong to the enterprise, except for those owned by the subcontracted workers. The fleet of trucks is normally renewed every 4 years.
A parked truck inside the building of the enterprise.
At present, although the country’s economic situation is not very good, the company is still obtaining benefits. The owners of the company have the perspective of enlarging the firm when the situation improves and when there is more demand for services. The main problems that this economic activity can have are the increase of the fuel’s price and shortage of demand for services. The increase of fuel’s price is affecting them seriously; because it’s their principal expense, followed by salaries and goods´ depreciation. In their case, they have suffered freight robberies and accidents, and loss of freight for different reasons, but in a small percentage compared
with the volume they work with. In order to avoid these problems, the company has got an insurance, which covers up to 240,000₏ for robberies, accidents and natural disasters. The service they provide is mainly national freight, but there is also a small part which provides international freight transport. Speaking about national freight, products are transported to all Spain. The South of France and Portugal are usually the main international freight’s destinations. The enterprise is thinking of enlarging the international part to more European countries. They use a programme to control all the trucks and to know where they are and at what time they arrive to their destination. They know that because every truck has a GPS. This programme is really useful to avoid problems with lose of freight, accidents and traffic.
In the photo above you can find a truck located in Portugal
Here you can see the different places where the trucks are located around all Spain.
Trucks cover around 250,000 or 300,000 km per year.
Here, you can see the different parts of a truck: the trailer and the cab.
The biggest enterprise growth occurred between 1995 and 2008. In these years the company grew in a 25% cumulative every year. From 2008,
it hasn’t grown, due to the economic situation. Turnover has become a bit lower, but workers have been maintained.
The trucks’ backsides.
In this image, the truck is refueling, but it’s not possible to see it.
By: Laura Muñoz Díaz-Meco