BIG SAVINGS EXPECTED Direct container service formed

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32567, 29 March 1971, Page 16

BIG SAVINGS EXPECTED Direct container service formed

(New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, March 28. A revolutionary method of computer-controlled container distribution of goods direct from the manufacturer to the consignee will be set up through the formation of a society to be owned wholly by New Zealand manufacturers and wholesalers.

Announcing the registration of the Modular Distribution Society, Ltd, with head office in Hamilton, the interim chairman of the board of directors (Mr R. T. Doig, of Christchurch) said that on preliminary estimates the scheme might bring cartage savings of as much as 50 per cent of total distribution costs. Mr Doig, who is managing director of Suckling Bros, Ltd, in Christchurch, said that the society was the result of six years of investigation, research and design by Mr A. R. Griffiths, a former member of the Hamilton City Council. Mr Griffiths gave up his local-government interests to undertake the assignment Mr Doig said that membership of the society was being taken up by people who recognised the urgent need to control the distribution of goods to the consignee's door. “It is vital for the manufacturer and producer to get back into his own hands the control of all distribution factors that have such an effect on costs,” Mr Doig said. “In order to do this the society is setting up a multimillion dollar enterprise which will base its operations on a computer-con-trolled system. This will mean that all goods will be packed direct into mobile modular containers that will be transported by ordinary line haulage to the consignee without the containers being opened.” FIT TOGETHER The modular units would be steel-framed ply .containers in numerous sizes, but all fitting together to build into manageable units. Goods would be packed directly from the manufacturers’ shelves into the containers and out of the containers on to the shelves of the consignee. Where pallets were used, 185 of the newly-designed steel and fibreglass pallets could be stacked in the same area as 24 of the timber

pallets at present in use, he said. Containers and pallets would be easy to move in stores and between varying modes of transport. Mr Doig said that the new system had the blessing of the Minister of Transport (Mr Gordon) and of the management of the Railways Department, with whom many consultations have been held. POSSIBLE EXPORT “The method will become a major force in New Zealand’s internal distribution,” he said. “While the initial project is for New Zealand, it is inevitable that the society will look to extend this service elsewhere in due course.” World-wide patents for the various types of containers and the equipment which makes them mobile have been applied for by Mr Griffiths, ' who was described by Mr Doig as “the brains behind the whole thing.” “One of the major factors which emerged from my research is the realisation that containers in use now suffer from lack of mobility, they have to be mechanically lifted to be shifted, and too many have to be packed and unpacked on the backs of trucks,” Mr Griffiths said. "The system is very fragmented and consignors are not getting the full benefits 1 by way of reductions in cost ' distribution. TRIPS TIMED Mr Griffiths amassed much of his information by personally timing all types of cartage work in many parts of New Zealand during his long period of research. “It is possible, at present, for one parcel to be handled 28 times between manufacturer and consignee,” he said. “Under the new method the limit is 11 times. “Under the new system, on today’s costs, a saving of $26.26 per half ton on a consignment of 60 parcels could be made.” The interim board of directors is: chairman, Mr Doig; deputy chairman, Mr E. B. Stonestreet (general manager, I.G.A. Grocers United Stores, Ltd, Christchurch); Messrs E. P. Waite (secretary, Kaiapoi Petone Group Textiles, Ltd, Christchurch), K. C. Mullins (secretory, Mc-

Caul N.Z., Ltd, Auckland), P. J. Gunn (supply manager. Atlas Copco, N.Z., Ltd, Wellington). K. T. F. Harris (general manager, Lyte Aluminium Company, Ltd, Wellington), R. L. Whyte (general manager, Foodstuffs, Ltd, Wellington). The managing director will be Mr Griffiths.