Logistics Director, Adam Smith sits down with us to talk about the industry, its evolution and the introduction of technology to the business.
BSI Transport began with Barrie Smith as an owner-driver. Over the past 25 years, Barrie has successfully expanded his haulage empire into a family-run business with 18 trucks. The general haulage professionals are based in Northampton and have a varied workload that ranges from collecting and delivering print and construction machinery, as well as sound, light and stage equipment for exhibitions and concerts.
Today we sit down with Barrie’s son, Adam, who is now the Logistics Director of BSI transport and discuss his work, the transport sector and the impact technology has had on the business.
HaulTech: Can you tell us about your time in the transport sector and what your role is now?
Adam: Sure, I was raised in this sector. My father began the company (BSI Transport) a quarter of a century ago and because of that, I knew I wanted to work in transport growing up. So I began by doing deliveries driving a van and then I obtained my LGV license and worked on that side of the business for a while. Then after getting more knowledgeable, I stepped into the administration side of things and now as Logistics Director, I oversee the transport and warehousing side of things.
HaulTech: So you’ve grown up in this industry and have watched it change throughout the years, what are some of the biggest evolutions you have noticed in transport?
Adam: That’s a big question, but at the end of the day the largest thing to impact the sector is technology. Whether you are a driver and have had tracking or cameras installed, work in the office with computers and transport software or are a customer who wants to book some work; technology has changed everything. 25 years ago, if there was a car accident with an HGV involved, the chances are the HGV driver was getting blamed, now cameras can prove their innocence. We used to work with pen and paper but now have the technology and use a Transport Management System to help us deal with our admin side of things, meaning we are working smarter and not harder. So I would say the biggest evolutions in transport are because of technology and its definitely for the better
HaulTech: That’s an interesting observation, what would you say to people in the transport sector who are hesitant about technology?
Adam: There is a lot of hesitation and understandably so, no one likes change. But soon enough, technology will just become the standard and no one will bat an eye. If it advances the way you work, which for us it has, why wouldn’t we make use of it?
HaulTech: You mentioned that technology has advanced the way you work, can you tell us more about that?
Adam: Previously, like a lot of companies in our sector we worked with pen and paper but now we realise that wasn’t a sustainable process. Paper is easily lost and it is difficult to share the workload when you have to physically hand it to one another. Now, we have a Transport Management System and a Warehouse System which allows us to do our work so much faster. We don’t drown in paperwork anymore and everyone in the business can have access to see where things are up to. Even better, the warehouse and transport systems are integrated so it’s easier to manage the work, we don’t have to duplicate anything.
HaulTech: How was introducing a system into your business?
Adam: It’s not an easy process and it does take some getting used to but that initial period of adapting to the system is worth it in the end. It’s almost difficult to explain the relief I feel now we have a system because things just work so much better, as long as the effort is put into getting the system up and running. It helps that we had full support along the way from an onsite trainer. He helped to make the process go smoothly.
HaulTech: How long did it take for you to get fully set up?
Adam: In total, it probably took us two months. To break it down the training took us a few weeks and then to get the full business relying on it took a bit longer.
HaulTech: What would you say to other haulage companies looking at a Transport Management System or Warehouse system?
Adam: Go for it, it’s saved us so much time. It’s hard to think of working a different way and it was challenging to accept but now we’ve made the move, we wish we would have introduced this technology years ago. We work faster, we don’t miss anything and we get invoices done effortlessly. It’s worth it.
We’d like to thank Adam for his time and we look forward to supporting BSI Transport on their technology journey.
If you are interested in enhancing the way you work, similar to Adam and his team at BSI Transport then contact the HaulTech team today by clicking here, calling 01782 662244 or saying hello@haultech.co.uk. Want to know more? Visit the Transport Management Software System page.
