Archive
Managing Director, Colin Wynn, is pleased to announce that he will be in attendance at the forthcoming DevReach 2012, held in Sofia, Bulgaria during October 4th & 5th.
DevReach is an annual conference, with 2012 being the 7th consecutive year. This year over 40 prominent speakers from 10 countries on 3 continents will deliver 60+ sessions in 6 parallel tracks covering a broad range of topics.
Tracks include: Web Development, Mobile Development, Agile & Testing, Architecture and Cloud.
Thankfully DevReach will be recording ALL sessions, making them available to VIP attendees, that’s over 60 hours of recordings!
Colin will mainly be attending the Web Development, Mobile Development and Architecture sessions as development of Move Administer 2 is already underway, and Web and Mobile will play a prominent part in its future.
The July 2012 issue of Removals & Storage is out, and if you haven’t received yours yet then feel free to view it here.
Before heading to the BAR Annual Conference in Windsor, Bray and Son’s classic vehicle was in North Berwick, Scotland, filming “The Railway Man”. The vehicle, nicknamed “Eric”, was used outside the film location on the sea front, and was used as a removal vehicle. The vehicle was loaded and unloaded as part of the story line and hopefully this will be seen in the final screening of the film.
2012 marks the twentieth year of the Maidmans and Basil Fry relationship, with Maidmans signing a new 3 year agreement.
Some BAR Members celebrated the Diamond Jubilee showcasing their vintage vehicles to a massive crowd at the Surrey County Show where Specialised Movers and Bray and Son participated.
Specialised Movers & Bray and Sons
After 3 years as a Directly Elected Director, and nearly twenty five years as a BAR member, Gary Wheadon of Sully Removals, has now taken on the position of BAR Vice President, a role that will see him visit every BAR area over the next 2 years to update members on BAR and industry developments. Over the next 2 years Gary hopes to; talk, listen and respond. We wish him well.
The July 2012 issue of The Mover is out, and if you haven’t received yours yet then feel free to view it here.
Maidmans and Basil Fry insurance brokers have signed a new 3 year agreement topping off a 20 year relationship between the companies. Maidmans is now a major player in the south of England having developed the business dedicated to commercial moving, domestic moving and self storage, winning DMotY in 2011.
Alexanders Removals & Storage of London NW10 were one of only seven finalists shortlisted for Small Business of The Year at the Business Excellence Awards 2012. 
Sam Pope (second from left) & Alex Pope (right)
Director Alex Pope said “To be finalists in these awards is an amazing recognition and one that everyone who works at Alexanders deserves. We know that the key to success is to have an impressive product, which for us means an excellent removal service for every customer, and this is what all our staff help to deliver“.
APAK Removals & Storage – Is allowing a bankrupt company to change its name and continue as a BAR ATN in BAR’s interest? An interesting topic indeed, but one can only suggest that sour grapes obviously still remain with one of APAK’s closest competitors. One would have to ask the question of whether the said competitor would have contacted The Mover if they had purchased the assets of APAK, as I’ve no doubt they would have immediately requested a BAR ATN being a BAR member themselves! We’ll watch this space to see if anything further develops on this story.
The BAR Southern Area held their annual Golf Competition on Tuesday July 10th. The event, kindly sponsored by George Lambert & Son, took place on a wet and windy morning with tea off time for the 9 entrees starting at 10:30AM after bacon sandwiches!
Administer Software Ltd are pleased to participate in donating prizes for Nearest the Pin and Longest Drive, we even entered Richard into the competition! Nearest the Pin winner was David Bigglesworth from Britannia Leatherbarrows with Greg Wildman from Basil Fry & Co. winning Longest Drive, both winners each receiving a Nike Practice Golf Ball Holder and a dozen Titleist Golf Balls.
The BAR Southern Area meeting took place after the Golf with prize giving at the end, before everyone tucked into a hearty BBQ spread.
Congratulations once again to the winners.
The June 2012 issue of The Mover is out, and if you haven’t received yours yet then feel free to view it here.
Britannia Sandersteads have recently installed state of the art CCTV equipment in a move to further enhance security and health & safety at its depot in Godstone.
And keeping with Britannia Sandersteads, they have just taken delivery of a new Euro 5 DAF 65 truck as part of their programme to comply with the London Low Emissions Zone (LEZ) requirements. The 6 container, 18 ton, 2400 cubic feet vehicle brings the fleet up to 15 now, however, an additional order has been placed with DAF for two smaller 4 container, 12 ton, 1600 cubic feet vehicles which are due for delivery in September.
The Britannia Annual Conference took place in April in Newcastle. Our congratulations go to Mark Lane of Britannia Lanes of Cornwall for abandoning his car for the weekend and cycling from Land’s End to the conference, all in the name of charity! As is tradition with the Britannia Conference the final event is the annual awards ceremony to honour the best performing Britannia companies in a number of categories. Our congratulations go to Britannia Sandersteads for being awarded Top Shipper, Britannia Ryans for being awarded Outstanding Sales Support and Britannia Sandersteads again for being awarded Outstanding Quality of Service!
Simon Bray of Bray & Son, Maidstone sent in the following photograph of his grandad, Frank Bray who started the company after leaving his wartime service in 1946. His first vehicles were converted army trucks. According to a note on the back of the photograph it was taken just after being loaded ready to head off to a job in Bromley. The photograph was taken sometime in the 1960s. Bray & Son now run a fleet of 10 vehicles from 3.5-36 tonnes!
The June 2012 issue of Removals & Storage is out, and if you haven’t received yours yet then feel free to view it here.
Alexanders have been shortlisted as a finalist for the “Small Business of the Year”. Alexanders are up for the Business Excellence Award for companies in South Hertfordshire, South Buckinghamshire and North and West London. Read how they go on here.
To remain compliant with the new London Low Emissions Zone, Britannia Sandersteads have just taken delivery of another DAF 65 series, 18 ton, 6 container, 2400 cubic foot truck! And add to this another two DAF 45 series, 12 ton, 4 container, 1600 cubic feet which should be due in August and September!
Great to read that Gary Wheadon of Sully’s has been elected as BAR Vice-President. Gary will hold this role for the next two years, before becoming BAR President!
Winning the DMotY (Domestic Mover of the Year) 2012 award was M J Christophers & Son of Newquay, however, a Certificate of Merit was awarded to Maidmans Removals & Storage and included in the three finalists were Matt Purdie & Sons, Bathgate and Kilmarnock Removals International (Matt Purdie & Sons).
Again, congratulations to Specialised Movers of Sheffield for being awarded the CMotY (Commercial Mover of the Year) 2012 award. The rules were shaken up this year and the judging procedure changed. Fifteen members of the CMG applied, and as every entrant achieved a score within 80% of the winner’s total everyone received a certificate of merit, including Maidmans Removals & Storage. You can view a video of the announcement at the BAR Conference recently held in Old Windsor here.
A BAR Vehicle Exhibition & Competition was held at the recent BAR Conference. The exhibition was like a tour of the industrial revolution from the perspective of the removals industry, starting with a horse drawn tunnel van and a pair of pantechnicons, followed by an amazing Foden steam van and then a wonderful array of vans from the 1940s through to the present day. Our congratulations go to Kilmarnock Removals for winning Best Mechanical Modern, and Britannia Reeves for winning Best Bespoke/Innovative.
During the Gala Dinner at the BAR Conference held on Saturday May 19th in Old Windsor, the winner of the coverted Commercial Mover of the Year (CMOTY) 2012 was announced.
Making the final 15, in alphabetical order were: BCL, Business Moves Group Ltd, Company Moves, Delivery Services, Ede’s UK Ltd, Greens Removals & Storage Ltd, Harrow Green Removals, Johnsons Business Moves, JY & Sons Relocations, Maidmans Removals & Storage, P.Fahey & Sons, Premier Moves, Rose Removals, Specialised Movers and Xpress Relocations.
Our congratulations go to a worthy winner, none other than Specialised Movers of Sheffield, well done everyone.
During the Gala Dinner at the BAR Conference held on Saturday May 19th in Old Windsor, the winner of the coverted Domestic Mover of the Year (DMOTY) 2012 was announced.
That winner is none other than M.J.Christophers & Son of Newquay, who fought off stiff competition from both the Kilmarnock and Bathgate depots of Matt Purdie & Sons in the final three.
Our congratulations go to M.J.Christophers & Son who now go on and join an elite list of past winners comprising of Maidman’s Removals & Storage, Matt Purdie & Sons and Luxfords of Weybridge, all very worthy winners indeed.
Congratulations to all 3 DMOTY finalists, Matt Purdie & Sons Ltd – Bathgate, Matt Purdie & Sons Ltd – Kilmarnock and M.J.Christophers & Son.
We are delighted as Matt Purdie & Sons are a Move Administer users, and so far every DMOTY winner has been a Move Administer user! Need we not forget M.J.Christophers & Son too, as they are a previous client of ours who still uses Remstar, although we hope they upgrade to Move Administer in due course.
The winnder of the 2012 DMOTY will be announced at the BAR Conference on Saturday 19th May 2012.
Congratulations also go to last years winners Maidman’s Removals & Storage for being awarded a Certificate of Merit.
May we take this opportunity to thank everyone that took part in our Digital Pen Questionnaire.
The results of the importance of digitizing the following forms are:
Inventory = 115 points
Survey = 110 points
Waybill = 100 points
Service Specification = 76 points
Crate Docket = 64 points
Archive Docket = 63 points
Warehouse Movements = 62 points
Self Storage Licence = 29 points
The results of the importance of adding the following sheets to the Waybill are:
Crewsheet = 119 points
Vehicle Defects = 86 points
Timesheet = 83 points
Questionnaire = 80 points
Although no forms have been designed at present we have been in further discussions with Destiny to discuss the technicalities and to get some draught costs on our ideas. The first thing we had to take into consideration was whether to use Dynamic or Non-Dynamic forms.
A Dynamic form is where data is passed from Move Administer to Destiny in the first instance. This then allows Destiny to not only print this data onto the digital forms but also merge and display it once data has been received from the Digital Pen.
A Non-Dynamic form has no interaction from Move Administer and cannot print onto the digital forms. However, Move Administer can print data onto the digital forms, but please note, this data cannot be merged or displayed with the data received from the Digital Pen.
Due to the fact that there is not a huge requirement for data to be transferred, printed and merged from Move Administer to Destiny, and the fact that a Dynamic form adds £1,500 to the form design, we have decided to go with Non-Dynamic forms.
Therefore, we would like to explore the design, digitizing and implementation of the following:
The Inventory
We see this being a single page form where Move Administer prints your company branding. Once the data has been sent from the Digital Pen to Destiny it can then be exported for import into Move Administer in the format of a Customer Inventory, together with a PDF of the completed handwritten digital form which can be stored in the Customer Repository.
The Survey
We see this being a multi-page form that probably has more pages than you will ever need, but due to the minimal cost involved in adding additional pages we believe it best to cater for everyone’s needs, and should you chose not to use a certain page or pages then simply do not complete them.
Unfortunately, we do not see value in adding a page for the Service Specification due to it mainly being a duplicate of your Survey forms. However, we do believe in making use of some of the questions asked from it.
We do however see value in adding a single page to deal with the Agility (MOD) contract, merging the 2 current pages into 1.
Once the data has been sent from the Digital Pen to Destiny it can then be exported for import into Move Administer in the format of a Customer Quotation with Events, together with a PDF of the completed handwritten digital form which can be stored in the Customer Repository.
The Waybill
We see this being a 3 page form consisting of a Waybill, Questionnaire and Worksheet (name subject to change).
Even though Crewsheet came out on top as a form to digitize and make part of the Waybill, we do not see value in digitizing this form. What we propose is that you continue to print your Crewsheets from Move Administer, however, they will be altered to no longer print any declarations (which will form part of the Worksheet page of the Waybill).
As the Waybill and Questionnaire will be forms presented to the Customer they will require your company branding (especially the Waybill, as confirmed by QSS for those who have obtained BSEN12522), therefore printed by Move Administer.
The Worksheet would contain the necessary declarations from the Crewsheet and we propose to add sections such as time sheet, vehicle defect, accident report, container usage, etc.
Once the data has been sent from the Digital Pen to Destiny it can then be exported for import into Move Administer, however only as a PDF of the completed handwritten digital form which can be stored in the Customer Repository.
The Warehouse
We see this being a single page form to record container movements within the warehouse(s). Once the data has been sent from the Digital Pen to Destiny it can then be exported for import into Move Administer where the relevant containers have their locations updated. A PDF of the completed handwritten digital form can be stored in a newly created Warehouse Repository section.
The Archive Docket, Crate Docket & Self Storage Licence
We have decided that the cost currently outweighs the number of users of Archive Administer, Crate Administer and Self Storage Administer, especially as the Dockets would need to be Dynamic forms.
Costs
It was suggested at the meeting on February 21st that we become the single point between you and Destiny for ordering Pens and Stationery, to which we agree. However, we will not supply mobile telephones.
Digital Pen
The cost with a 2 year 2nd line support contract with Destiny (we being 1st line support) will be £490.00. The cost for years 3 onwards is merely an annual 2nd line support contract with Destiny (currently £70.00 per pen).
Stationery
Once forms have been designed we can get a more accurate printing cost, but we don’t see this being any more than a normal print run of 1,000 sheets, however, these can only be printed by Anoto licenced printers.
Pen Administer
We obviously see the need to develop a Pen Administer module which will enable the import of data exported from Destiny. Please note that the following costs are estimates and actual costs will be provided before any financial commitment from you will be required.
The Inventory – A cost of £350.00, with an annual support contract of £115.50.
The Survey – A cost of £900.00, with an annual support contract of £297.00.
The Waybill – A cost of £350.00, with an annual support contract of £115.50.
The Warehouse – A cost of £350.00, with an annual support contract of £115.50.
Mobile Telephone
You can obtain a list of compatible mobile telephones from here. We do not believe that a mobile telephone is required for the Warehouse form and that the docking station will be suffice.
Where Next?
Well the attendees of our recent meeting gave the following feedback on the advantages of using Digital Pens within the workplace: “Improved paper trail for documentation”, “Speed and prevention of documentation loss”, “Saving on surveyors time”, “Knowledge that important paperwork is instantly saved”, “Immediate transfer of data from point of collection to our databases”, “Time saved avoiding manual data entry of survey, job and inventories”, “Instant communication”, “Nothing ever goes missing”, “Speeding up processes”, “Improved staff efficiency”, “Clients receiving quotations quicker”, “Will result in more accurate volumes”, and we hope you also share these views.
You now have an idea of where we would like to take this technology together with the cost of investment required. We are looking for a minimum commitment from 10 companies per form.
To entice early commitments we will offer a considerable discount on Pen Administer mentioned above, but before then we really would like to have your feedback. Please, email us your feedback together with which forms you are interested in. We really want to take this forward, but we cannot do it without you, please, your feedback is crucial to this proceeding.