As Australia’s largest sensitive freight specialist, COPE Sensitive Freight has a depot in every Australian capital city and operates in every state, territory and major regional area of Australia. This privately held road transport company was established in 1989 and has its operations divided into road tailgate service and site-to-site service for high value goods. Within these divisions, the premier services include handling, packaging and distribution of sensitive freight for industries like healthcare, telecommunications and high-end consumer goods sectors.

COPE is one of six businesses, including Federal Group businesses, trading under Mulawa Holdings Pty Limited. Greg Farrell has been the Managing Director of Mulawa Holdings and Federal Group since 1989. With a Bachelor of Economics degree from Sydney University and the completion of a three-year executive program from the Harvard Business School, Farrell is highly qualified and successful Director of these organisations. He explains the unique business model that is driving COPE to the forefront of the transport industry.

PERSONALISED SERVICE, NATIONAL NETWORK

COPE strives to be either No. 1 or 2 in the industry sectors in which it operates. To make this possible, COPE has a unique business model that gives it an advantage over its competitors. It is large enough that COPE has a national presence in Australia within every major population centre. It is also small enough to offer its clients highly personalised service that others of its size cannot. This model has allowed COPE to become highly successful over the last couple of decades.

“Our competitors tend to fall into either very small and highly personalised businesses not able to offer a national network,” Farrell says.  “Or they‘re huge businesses that can offer national networks but because of their size and scale are unable to match us on our personalised service and relationships; so it’s a unique business model.”

Another advantage COPE has over its competition is the experience of their employees. Seven out of the nine members of COPE’s senior management team have been with the company for 20 years or more. This demonstrates the quality and commitment of the people who work for COPE to upholding the high standards and values of the organisation.

“It’s quite remarkable the number of long-term people who remain with the business,” Farrell says. “The business has a huge amount of corporate knowledge and a huge amount of customer understanding. That is again very unique.”

As a private, family run company, COPE has a different structure and approach to others in the sector. This also reduces the number of levels that typically separates employees who directly service customers and the key top executives and owners of the company.

“There is a level of access to the owners and the leading executives of the business that is greater than many other companies of similar size,” Farrell says. “I think this leads to people having a greater sense of purpose and understanding not just about what they do but why they do it.”

Because COPE is positioned largely as a market specialist in the transport industry, the more than 550 employees working for COPE receive recognition as being a high-quality employee group within the industry. Employees replicate the status of COPE by working for it.

“Many of them, I think, feel that way, and that is why they go about their job maintaining COPE’s position in the industry,” Farrell says.

HANDLED WITH CARE

The supply chain for COPE is focused on employee and customer needs; this explains why uniforms, equipment, buildings and vehicles are so clean and well maintained. The primary capital expenditure at COPE is on vehicles and the business’ premises.  COPE operates in owned and leased premises around Australia.

“COPE is not so much about maximising or increasing the size of business,” Farrell says.” It’s about maximising the performance of the business. Size is a more irrelevant thing. The business will get larger as new customers are drawn to the quality service and existing customers grow but COPE is not driven by growth like many other transport businesses.”

The typical standard for operating a transport business includes automatic sorting with significant machinery involvement that includes the use of conveyor belts. COPE does not operate in this typical fashion. Full-time employees drive COPE owned trucks that are a part of the largest tailgate fleet in Australia, four times bigger than the nearest competitor. All of COPE’s freight is palletised. The freight is placed on palettes and shrink-wrapped. It is then loaded onto specifically designed vehicles using hand trolleys and pallet jacks, the employees are always very close to their freight and hence extreme care is taken. Care that is difficult to replicate using motorised equipment, such as forklifts. The freight is then delivered to the customer utilising the hydraulic tailgate to lower the freight to the ground and again hand held equipment to move the freight into place.

This process ultimately reduces the potential for freight to be dropped or jarred. The trucks themselves are equipped with E-ride and Air-Ride suspension capability, which ensures lower number of concussions to freight while being transported. Other features include internal rub rails, load locks for adjustable straps, racking mechanisms, security cages and anti-skid floors. During the entire process, the trucks and freight are under significant supervision to ensure they are loaded and constrained to receive the least amount of damage.

 “It is a very professional, but also caring process that reduces the amount of damages,” Farrell says. “This means our customers’ freight gets to their display or to their warehouses in the best possible condition with the least amount of potential for returns.”

ORGANIC GROWTH

COPE encourages growth by investing in quality trucks and facilities across Australia, attracting customers to its quality and personalised service offering COPE is continually looking for areas of improvement that will enhance its offering and maintain its lead over competitors. COPE continuously reviews and upgrades equipment and assets to improve the way it conducts business.

Sustainability efforts, as well as commercial upgrades, are a part of these reviews to find better solutions. COPE’s Clean Fleet Program is a great example. The program is a fully independently audited program designed to improve air quality while fulfilling four key outcomes:

1.      Clean fuel:  Fuel used by members’ vehicles must be free of contamination and meet fuel quality standards.

2.      Engine settings:  Engines must meet manufacturer’s specifications, particularly fuel pumps and injection timing.

3.      Maintenance schedules and methods:  Members must establish periodic maintenance schedules with identified service periods that describe the tasks to be completed.

4.      Fault identification and repair:  Members must provide for the identification, assessment and action on reported emission contributing faults.

COPE also maintains a good understanding of broader economic conditions, both nationally and internationally. This understanding ensures COPE is aware of the types of products and the demand for transport services across Australia and enables COPE to respond with its unique transport approach.

Presently, COPE is allowing the business to grow organically, taking full advantage of the significant points of difference between COPE’s business model, people, values and service and those of its competitors.