John Menzies plc group - January 2009

John Menzies plc group, one of Scotland's largest companies, was established in 1833 and its head office is in Edinburgh. Menzies Distribution is part of the John Menzies plc group, a time-critical logistics company with two operating divisions, Menzies Distribution and Menzies Aviation. Menzies Distribution is a leading provider of added value distribution and marketing services to the newspaper and magazine supply chain in the UK, with about a one-third share of the total UK market.

Back in 2002 Menzies called on the services of FTA to help measure, control and benchmark their vehicle fleet condition and maintenance systems.  Through the use of FTA's Audits and Fleet Management Information, Menzies Distribution continues to improve on compliance with the company's comprehensive transport procedures.
 
The winning depot within the Menzies Distribution for 2008 is its Newbridge Distribution Centre based just outside Edinburgh. Newbridge was the clear winner with an exceptional performance in vehicle maintenance, driver defect reporting and compliance with maintenance systems.
 
Allan Hughes, Logistics Support Manager for Menzies comments "Newbridge is very deserving of this award. Our transport manager at Newbridge, Steven Muldoon, has put in a lot of effort to achieve the results that have made them the clear winner. All our sites have performed better than their sector average so on the whole we are pleased with the divisional results of the audit."
 
Stephen is pictured along with FTA's David Wylie presenting his award.

National Express West Midlands, Acocks Green, January 2009

National Express West Midlands (formerly Travel West Midlands), operates a 1700 strong public service vehicle fleet and has used FTA's Vehicle Inspection Service for in excess of 10 years.

FTA undertakes quality monitoring vehicle inspections on 10 per cent of the fleet and a bespoke maintenance system and records audit at each location, three times per annum.

To provide further information and analysis of the results of the inspections and audits, management information reports are produced following the completion of each of the three phases of work. From this information, it has been possible to establish that over a 12 month period, Acocks Green were the best performing location within National Express West Midlands due to it having the lowest average number of defects found. This means they are the winners of the 2008 FTA Roadworthiness Award for that company.

Bryan Bannister, National Express Internal Communications Manager, said this award recognises the hard work of all the staff at Acocks Green and is excellent for morale.

The picture shows members of the engineering team and in the foreground Graham Livesey, Engineering Manager National Express West Midlands Acocks Green, being presented with the award and certificate by Alan Osborne, FTA Director of Audit Services, on Tuesday 20 January 2009.

AG Barr, Cumbernauld, February 2009

AG Barr has been a soft drinks business since 1875 making, marketing and selling some of the UK's best loved soft drinks brands. The company's biggest brand is IRN - BRU which is seen by many as part of the culture of the Scottish nation. They are a national business with strong roots in Scotland and the north of England but with a growing consumer and customer base throughout the UK and further afield.

AG Barr uses the FTA Vehicle Inspection Service to audit the condition of the road fleet and warehouse lift trucks used within its distribution operation. The audit results are contained in regularly produced FTA vehicle condition management reports for presentation to the senior transport management team.

AG Barr Cumbernauld was identified as the group winner of the 2008 roadworthiness award for having the lowest average defects per vehicle. Robert Bryson, Transport Services Supervisor, who was pleased to receive the award said "The standard has been achieved with the help of all parties within A G Barr Cumbernauld and from the assistance of our local FTA Area Engineer, Stan Sweeney".

Robert Bryson is shown receiving the award from Robert Higgison Contract Manager, FTA Audit Services.

ABN, Gainsborough, March 2009

ABN, part of the A B Agri group of companies, is the leading British manufacturer of pig and poultry compound feeds and complementary solutions to the pig and poultry livestock industries. ABN is working in partnership with pig and poultry producers to meet supply chain objectives with respect to innovation, for example carbon footprinting.

Core to its business is the ABN transport function comprising of some 100 hgv's and trailers operating from nine feed mills nationally. ABN uses the FTA Vehicle Inspection Service to audit the mechanical condition of the fleet and also the vehicle maintenance arrangements at each of the operating centres. The audit results are collated and presented to ABN in a concise detailed management report. Ken Hardgrave, Fleet and Manufacturing Support Manager said "The FTA service is valuable in terms of providing information in the key areas of compliance and being able to bench mark us against similar transport operations is a very useful yardstick to measure our own performance by".

ABN Gainsborough was chosen as the Roadworthiness Award winner of 2008 for having the lowest average number of defects per vehicle within the group. Trevor Humphreys, Transport Co-ordinator who received the award said "I am very pleased to receive the award which really recognises the team effort over the past 12 months".

Left to right: Ken Hardgrave, Trevor Humphreys and Robert Higgison (FTA).

Sunlight Service Group, March 2009

Established in Fulham in 1900 as the 'Sunlight Laundry', the Sunlight Laundry (Loud & Western) Ltd merged in 1963 with the National United Laundries Corporation to form National Sunlight Laundries. In the1980s, Sunlight extended its operation and commenced providing services to hospitals and other healthcare institutions. Now part of the Davis Service Group plc, the Sunlight Service Group is the UK's market leader in textile rental and laundering services for industry, commerce, the NHS and public sector, with 9,000 employees working at over 60 sites, and serving many thousands of organisations in all sectors of the economy.
 
Sunlight has worked closely with FTA for a number of years, using audit services to help Jonathan Phippen and his department monitor their transport operation, thus ensuring compliance throughout the whole of its UK fleet. Mossley depot and Roy Zazzarino, the Transport Manager, received one of FTA's Roadworthiness Awards as they had the best overall company performance taking into account FTA inspections, VOSA encounters and MOT pass records. Jonathan Phippen and Val Knight were pleased to be involved in making this decision for a worthy award which is an outstanding achievement for all at the Mossley site.

SITA UK, Ashford Depot, March 2009

SITA UK is a subsidiary of SUEZ Environnement a world leader exclusively dedicated to water and waste services, operating on five continents with 120 years experience and 62,000 employees worlwide. It has operated for some 20 plus years as a waste recycling and waste management business from household collection to business premises, with some 300 locations throughout the UK.

SITA UK has worked closely with FTA for a number of years, using audit services and the FTA's Driver Daily Walk Around Check (gate checks) to ensure compliance throughout the whole of its UK transport operation, auditing in house and external workshop operations helping Mark Forster, SITA UK Group Fleet Compliance Manager and his audit department to monitor all transport operations.

SITA UK Ashford depot received the Roadworthiness Award as it had the best overall score taking into account FTA inspections, audit scores, VOSA encounters and MOT pass record. Mark Forster was pleased to be able to utilise SITA UK's internally developed scoring system to highlight what is an outstanding achievement.

The presentation was made by Theo de Pencier, FTA's CEO to Cliff Payne representing Ashford depot, also present was David Palmer-Jones, SITA UK CEO.