Green Fleets: Five Practical Ways To Improve on Sustainability Efforts

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    FleetMangement

    Green Fleets: Five Practical WaysTo Improve on Sustainability EffortsMartin Demers

    Being green goes beyond

    hybrid trucks and uel

    alternatives. Its about

    getting to the core

    issuesputting in place

    sensible practices andreinorcing these with

    simple feet management

    solutions.

    26 WasteAdvantage Magazine April 2010

    In-cab touch screen forroute management anddriver direction.Images courtesy of Fleetmind.

    Green leets are not only more responsible

    eets, but more proftable ones as well. The bottom

    line is that i your eet is not managed eectively, you

    will use more uel and generate unnecessary emissions

    and excess costs that impact your proftability. Todays

    economic conditions and environmental concerns are

    providing ample impetus or more and more waste

    managers to implement green policies and solutions.

    Green eets are ocused on reducing uel consumption,

    mileage and exhaust emissions, and on driving more

    saely. Investing in new hybrid waste collection trucks

    and converting to alternative uelssuch as natural

    gaswill dramatically reduce emissions; however, these

    eet upgrades may be out o scope or many budgets in

    tight economic times. Further, this only addresses some

    o the issues and should not stop you rom implementing

    other green eet practices to make a positive impact on

    your operations and the environment.From driver behavior to vehicle maintenance to

    idling times, waste managers can set sustainability

    objectives and implement these or realistic and

    measurable results across fve key areas.

    #1: Improve Driver BehaviorOne o the greatest actors directly impacting uel

    consumption is individual driver behavior. From

    speeding to requent braking, aggressive driving

    does not actually reduce travel time; it creates greater

    accident risks and can increase uel consumption by

    more than 30 percent. Even the most uel-efcient

    vehicles will perorm poorly with an inefcient oraggressive driver behind the wheel. It is thereore

    critical or any green eet program to tackle driver

    behaviour frst and oremost.

    Deensive driving has traditionally been the basis

    or saety programs, but is now also undamental

    to uel consumption reduction. Deensive driving

    eectively reduces the three key components o uel-

    guzzling aggressive driving: over speeding, over

    accelerating and over braking. However, developing

    policies or deensive driving is one thingexecutingon them is another.

    To make this happen you need to have real-time

    visibility into driver activity and behavior. Fleet

    management technology solutions typically provide

    real-time monitoring o driver behavior and driving

    patterns, allowing eet managers to inuence and

    coach drivers on more uel and emissions-riendly

    driving approaches. All departments usually have

    access to centralized eet driving data or a completelytransparent representation o a drivers perormance.

    Fleet mapping technologies deliver a real-time map

    view o individual vehicles positions relative to towns,

    cities, highways and streets. Managers can select rom

    a number o layers which determine the level o detail

    and plot the vehicles position according to reported

    events. With eet mapping capabilities, managers can

    urther reconstruct the route taken by a driver on any

    given day, and view alarm criteria, such as exceeding

    a specifed speed limit. Managers can also identiydrivers that are deviating rom assigned routes or

    making unscheduled side trips. Understanding how

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    28 WasteAdvantage Magazine April 2010

    vehicles are being handled and identiying which drivers are generating alarms,

    enables eet managers to reward deensive drivers and urther train aggressive

    ones.

    #2: Improve Control of Idling TimesFor heavy-duty vehicles such as waste trucks, unnecessary idling can have

    a dramatic impact on uel consumption and carbon emissions. The extent to

    which idling impacts uel and emissions is dependent on drivers, truck types

    and the time o year; however, the American Trucking Association estimates that

    excessive idling increases yearly maintenance costs by up to $2,000 per vehicle.

    The best way to tackle excessive idling is to use eet management solutions

    that include real-time alarm and report capabilities. Fleet managers can then

    identiy and set idling thresholds that are within acceptable industry standards

    or as dictated by local laws. Such a system automatically notifes both the driverand management when these thresholds are exceeded. Alarms can frst be set

    to alert drivers in the cab o the vehicle when they have approached the idling

    limit. This allows the driver to respond appropriately. I the idling persists,

    a second alarm can be set to alert the eet manager. This allows managers to

    coach drivers individually to ensure compliance and improved perormance.

    In addition to the real-time alarms, eet management report capabilities

    will typically track and compile data on all engine perormance activity so that

    managers can identiy any behavioral trends and coach drivers toward desired

    outcomes. For example, these perormance reports can provide a variety o data

    including the total idling time and total engine hours or a specifed period. It

    then calculates the percentage o vehicle usage, which is the drive time over the

    total engine time. The more idling you have, the lower the usage will be.

    A eet manager can then query such a report based on the usage percentage

    and easily determine perormance trends that need improvement as well those

    that warrant recognition or compliance. This is a quick tool or managers who

    want to sustainably improve their eets perormance.

    #3: Improved Maintenance

    Another important element or greener eets is regular vehicle maintenance. Awell-maintained eet improves uel efciency, reduces long-term maintenance costs

    and curbs emissions.

    Central to eective eet maintenance is maintaining average uel consumption

    and adhering to pre-set maintenance schedules which control breakdowns. Onboard

    computing solutions can help control costs by monitoring vehicle maintenance anduel data. Onboard computers record real-time vehicular and driver data using

    sensors to perorm remote management and unctionality updates, and download

    and upload inormation automatically between vehicles and the terminal.

    For example, i two vehicles o the same type with the same engine are used or

    the same task, but show dierent uel economy, this can be either a driver issue or

    a truck issue. I it is a truck issue, eet managers can go back to the manuacturer

    to have the truck tuned to ensure consistent and optimal uel perormance.

    Another approach is to provide odometer updates to a maintenance system.

    That eliminates the need to manually note individual truck inormation orcollect it rom a drivers run sheet. Many onboard computing systems can provide

    odometer inormation daily so you can plan the maintenance o the vehicle based

    on mileage. Onboard computing may also be able collect ECM codes (engine

    malunction) so that engines can be repaired beore problems escalate. A healthy

    engine burns less uel and is less prone to malunction when on the road.

    Good driver communication is also essential toward eective vehicle

    maintenance. Most eet management systems provide handheld or in-cab

    touch screen units or drivers to send instant messages or updates. Drivers

    should have the ability to ag real-time engine issues and capture images o

    any truck damage to ensure appropriate maintenance and saety.

    #4: Improved Route ManagementReducing overall mileage urther cuts uel consumption and reduces harmul

    emissions. Route and eet management solutions are proven to reduce uel

    consumption with efcient routing and by monitoring vehicles and drivers. The

    savings can be huge. ABI Research cites such benefts as more than a 12 percent

    increase in service proftability, a 13 percent improvement in vehicle use and a nearly

    15 percent decrease in travel time with eet and route management solutions.

    Driver direction technologies can automatically provide driving directionsto the trucks next stop based on run sheet data without driver input. These

    solutions can urther provide a graphical view o the calls to the driver, and

    automatically re-calculate routes when a driver selects an out-o-sequence

    manual stop. This ensures that each route is optimized or time and distance,

    thereby reducing overall mileage.

    Real-time positioning eatures present a map view o your vehicles current

    positions, letting you know which driver is closest to a new pickup assignment,

    who can take the work a driver cannot complete and the drivers proximity to a

    customer location.

    Most driver direction solutions are designed to provide eatures similar to those

    o a GPS-equipped carspecifcally, textual and audible driving directions or the

    driver. Ongoing route locations and directions are based on the drivers schedule and

    provided automatically. These could be the next stop in a predetermined sequence, or

    a driver-selected stop should he elect to run his route out o sequence. This ensures

    that both the drivers time and the trucks usage are used as efciently as possible.

    #5: Improved Fuel Consumption ManagementFuel costs account or a major portion o the total eet operating cost.

    Thereore, managing your uel consumption is a critical part o green eetmanagement. Studies have shown that eet management solutions can reduce

    uel costs by 4 to 10 percent.

    G : v pcc W iv su e

    In-cab driver direction for optimal routing.

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    Given that by simply increasing speeds by fve to eight miles an hour you

    increase uel consumption by up to 20 percent, setting thresholds or speeding

    can have a signifcant impact. Setting alerts or speeding, engine over-revving,hard braking, rapid acceleration or excessive idling let drivers quickly modiy

    behavior and sends alarms to managers or requent violations.

    Driver direction capabilities also play a role to optimize each trucks routes

    to reduce time spent on the road and the number o engine hours per day. For

    residential routes, driver direction provides valuable assistance or new drivers

    and in the event o breakdowns or re-routing. For roll-o routes, real-time

    optimal routing will shave o unnecessary mileage and uel costs.

    The ultimate uel saving is achieved by having a truck generate more or similar

    revenues in less time. Specifcally, driver direction can increase density so that ittakes less time (and thereore uel) to service customers and optimize your routes to

    use less uel and driving time.

    Going BeyondBeing green goes beyond hybrid trucks and uel alternatives. Its about getting

    to the core issuesputting in place sensible practices and reinorcing these with

    simple eet management solutions. First and oremost, addressing driver behaviour

    with progressive training and ongoing monitoring will have the biggest impact.

    Running greener eets is everyones responsibility. Provide your drivers with the

    direction, training and tools to do their bit, and make sure that they do it every day.Your bottom lineand your environmentwill thank you or it. | WA

    Martin Demers is CEO o FleetMind (Montreal, QC).He is a proven C-level technologyexecutive with more than 20 years o experience in the technology and communications sectors.

    Previously, he served as President and COO o Radialpoint, CEO o Interstar, and as CMO

    o ACE*COMM. Martin has also held a number o leadership roles at Teleglobe Foxboro

    and CAE where he managed large scale international projects. He has oten been quoted in

    industry publications and is a requent speaker at industry events.Martin can be reached at

    [email protected] or visit www.feetmind.com.

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    30 WasteAdvantage Magazine April 2010

    Fleet mapping screen shot showing idling and speeding alarms.

    2010 Waste Advantage Magazine, All Rights Reserved.Reprinted from Waste Advantage Magazine.Contents cannot be reprinted without permission from the publisher.