The haulage industry has a reputation for evolving  to meet changing circumstances. Nothing could be truer of Armstrong  Distribution. Established in 1989, the Amesbury based general haulage business and freight forwarder had built up a loyal customer base and grew to run a commercial vehicle fleet of 32 trucks, mainly a mixture of curtainsided artics and rigids. Given  its geographic allocation in Wiltshire and the lack of a local  manufacturing base, the haulage business always had a strong presence of subcontracted hauliers,  mainly to fill the gaps in its mainstream business. Faced with a  continual driver shortage, initially offset by bringing in drivers from  Poland, Armstrong Distribution's freight business found that this solution was only a temporary fix. Driver churn was a  constant issue and the business had more issues trying to meet its own  requirements with its commercial vehicle fleet than the work that was sub-contracted out.

This led Paul Armstrong to take the bold step of reducing the commercial vehicle fleet of 32 to 12 and managing the remaining volume through a high quality and efficient operations with subcontracted hauliers managed from its Amesbury depot. Having run a successful freight forwarding arm of the haulage business for nearly 20 years, Armstrong Distribution had built up a large  database of quality operators throughout the UK including those who  specialised in particular market sectors. This industry knowledge  proved to be thesound base on which the current haulage business has been developed. "Our haulage partners all have one thing in common.  They are fair honest and reliable and want to do a good job," added  Paul Armstrong.

The Haulage Exchange has fitted perfectly into Armstrong Distribution's new freight business strategy. As orders come into Armstrong distribution'straffic office in  Amesbury every day, they choose the ones that cannot be satisfied by  their bank of committed subcontracted hauliers. These freight loads are put on the Haulage Exchange. Some will be same day and others day one for delivery on day three. "Haulage Exchange has given us a broader range of opportunities to meet the timed  requirements of our customers, says Paul Armstrong. At the same time,  it has widened our scope of contractors." Haulage Exchange has proved invaluable on adhoc work for Armstrong Distribution linking in with the company's knowledge of its operation and matching hotshot and return loads in the UK at any time.

Paul Armstrong has 'dabbled' with other freight exchange providers in the past but found that paying for each load put on the site was not good for his haulage business. Paul Armstrong says he likes Haulage Exchange's  simple up front single annual subscription payment scheme giving  visibility to every load and available traction is ideal for his freight business. This approach, Paul believes, encourages operators to be pro-active and use the freight exchange to work for them. He also enjoys the contact with the Haulage Exchange team. This, he believes, is a very important added value aspect of the freight exchange's service. The regular contact helps Armstrong Distribution's traffic office staff keep Haulage Exchange in the front of people's minds. "You only get out what you put in and Haulage Exchange needs to be used as a business development tool and not just a PC sitting on a desk," adds Paul.

So having taken the big step of reducing his commercial vehicle fleet, building up a net of quality operations with subcontracted hauliers, supported by Haulage Exchange, Paul Armstrong say she has not lost one customer. Turnover is also up, overheads are down and his haulage business has expanded to include DIY and building products. Customers also  appear to be happy as well as on time deliveries for customers are  running at record levels and the cost of each freight delivery remain very competitive. In short Paul believes he has created a win-win situation for his haulage business and his customers and Haulage Exchange is playing a key role in achieving Armstrong Distribution's business goals.

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