Jack Richards benefits from recession

Peter Brown, MD of Norfolk-based full-load specialist Jack Richards & Son, says the firm has benefitted from the recession as smaller manufacturing companies have outsourced transport operations to focus on the core business.

Brown says the Fakenham transport firm has a number of enquiries in the pipeline for transport outsourcing, all in the £500,000 to £2m per year turnover bracket. "People are looking at what they are doing and because of the difficulty in obtaining funds; they are evaluating where to make capital investment in their operation.

"A new truck and trailer is expensive. If you are a manufacturing company, do you want to tie that money up in a truck or to invest in a piece of technology that will make your business more efficient?"

Outsourcing the transport operation will also help the company cope with fluctuations in demand, he says, as well as guaranteeing service levels.

Traditionally, outsourcing has been the preserve of large-scale manufacturing concerns. However, Brown believes the recession has made smaller companies reconsider their transport provision. Because the majority of this work is in the sub-£2m range, it has tended to be offered to the more traditional haulage companies rather than the 3PLs.

Last summer, Jack Richards had its first experience of outsourcing when it took on the transport operation of Manchester packaging company Rowpak. Staff - five drivers and the transport manager - transferred to Jack Richards under TUPE and seven trucks came across and were incorporated in the firm's Northwich, Cheshire operation.

As part of the switch, leases on trucks were renegotiated and six new pillarless trailers, for delivery next month, were bought through Cartwright Group.

One of the benefits of the switch is that the vehicles are now used more, says Brown, where previously they were only loaded one way.

Overall, Brown says the company has coped with the economic downturn. "It has been a tough recession but I am convinced that we are going to come out of the other side a stronger business."