How you can save on ffi a, delivery costs

I!{EDUTIES of any manager are to

I plan, execute and monitor the assignments the company has made with the personnel and assets provided. In the case of the dispatcher, the people are drivers, yard men or loaders, and the assets are trucks andlor fork lifts. The major planning steps in managing delivery zue listing and logging what is to be delivered, when, where and to whom, load planning and make-up and, finally, routing and scheduling to accomodate the customer and, at the same time, minimize company costs.

The Delivery Log, plain and simPlY, is a list of things to be delivered along with to whom, when and where. It's a listing of things to be done recorded at the time they are received by the dispatcher. It gives anyone in the company a ready reference on what's to be delivered. It is the framework of a load planning process. It need not be complicated. Lined sheets with columns for date,/time received, customer, location, order and time/date needed are adequate.

Load Sizes & Make-Up Very fewordas placed by one customer for delivery to one job site at one time will fill a 16' to ?I' flat bed or dump truck. Major exceptions to this are framing loads andlor full house sheet rock orders. These ordinarily occur on average in less than 2090 of all the deliveries made. The dispatcher needs time and support from top management to plan full truck loads going in one general direction or carrying, if not fully loaded, at least enough of a load for four stops, and more if possible. The fuller the truck, the lower the cost per delivoy.

Taking an order by phone, putting it alone on th€ frst available truck and sending it out to satisfy one customer will probably do just that, but it is the most expensive delivery to execute.

Scheduling & Routing A reasonable delivery policy provides for orders received in the a.m. to be delivered in the p.m. and vice versa. This allows not only time enough to enter, pick and stage an order, but also should provide for enough orders going in the same direction to fill one truck or have at least four stops on it. Since most contractor customers begin their day at 7 a.m., do€sn't it make sense, if your company wishes to serve your customer best, that you begin your daily delivery scheduling to coincide with your customer's work day? Think about it. Such planning by the dispatcher makes more delivery time available daily. Furthermore, it will make the picking, staging and loading a routine matter and should, if properly executed, insure that the company's trucks and drivers are productive.

"Monagement Sumeys the Block Hole of Delivery," divided into threeseporate dollor volume monuols, under $2 million, S2-5 million and over S5 million, is avail' able Jor H5 from Builders Express Inc., 11550 Plono Rd., Dollas, Tx. 75243.

Atlenlion: Wally Lynch.

lNC.

Sawmills and planing mills at Placerville, Sebastopol and Napa, C5. Dry kilns at Plcerville, Ca.

Specialists in redwood, cedar, pine and Douglas fir products

Redwood and Douglas fir timbers most any size up to 32 feet

Dry, air-dried or greg,n pattems

Long length redwood and fir dimension

For your inquiries call:

Rick Rosa, Davc Snodgrass' lowell Wall

Steve Hagen, Karl Drcxel, Tom lhippcn

Foresl Products Sales Rise

North American Wholesale Lumber Association members distributed $7,175,527,397 in forest products in 1983, an increase of over $1.7 billion in their sales of forest products in 1982.

Figures compiled from a comprehensive annual sales survey of 340 wholesaler members active in 1983 showed direct sales of $4,569,759,669 representing 63.7V0 of 1983 sales. This total includes sales out of reload centers, remanufacturing plants and treated wood sales, which are arbitrarily defined by NAWLA as direct shipments. Sales out of regular distribution yards stood at $2,ffi5 ,7 67 ,728 , or 36.3% of sales.

In 1982, direct shipments accounted for 67.5V0 of sales, while 32.590 of sales were out of distribution yards. In addition, although sales dollars out of remanufacturing plants rernained fairly constant at 5276,325,554, footage through wholesaler remanufacturers increased by 15Vo to 915,229,5'70 board feet.

As the dollar value of forest products distributed by NAWLA wholesalers increased in 1983, so did the daily investment in receivables and inven- tory. On June 20, 1984, NAWLA wholesalers were providing over $700,000,000 in accounts receivable and nearly $500,000,m0 in distribution yard inventory, representing approximately $ 1,200,000,000 of financing to the forest products industry on a daily basis.

Investment in inventory by NAWLA wholesalers increased by nearly $100,000,000 over lasr year. This is attributed to the growing trend among distribution yard wholesalers towards a higher value product mix. In addition, NAWLA wholesalers who are 10090 direct mill shippers indicated that they have inventory investments totaling $23,000,000, which suggests they have reload center ownership or material at treating plants on a daily basis.

Trucking was the primary mode of transportation used by NAWLA wholesalers in 1983 to distribute forest products, accounting for 48.690 of all shipmentsi rail transportation, 28 .4Vo , followed by piggyback, l2.6Vo. Deliveries by truck out of reload centers represented 6.1 9o of forest products shipments; water transport stood at 4.3V0.

The NAWLA 1983 Sales Survey

Green Dooglor

Dimension lumben, studs, timbers to 40'. Unitized also provided a profile of the association's wholesaler membership. As of October l. 1984. 3890 were direct mill shippers; 16.490 indicated 7590 or more of their sales were out of distribution yards; 12.990 were 5090 direct mill shippers and 5090 distribution yard shippers. A nearly equal number of NAWLA wholesalers, 16.3Vo total. said that 6090 or 75Vo of their sales were direct mill shipments. Only 7.390 said that they were l009odistribution yard shippers. In all, 2l I firms operate a total of 4M distribution yards, with average annual sales per yard of nearly $6,500,m0. NAWLA wholesaler members also operate 68 remanufacturing plants, 10 more than in 1982, and I I treating plants.

Sawmills located at Molalla, Tillamook, Toledo and Clackamas, Onegon, with shipping via Sp, tnuck, ocean bange and fon export.

ctAsstFtEDs

Call (714) 852-1990