Whether you own one truck or are responsible for a fleet of
work trucks and vans, you probably should take a close look at the “residual
weight” that is carried every day in the vehicle whether it’s needed or not! By
residual weight, I mean the weight of tools, parts and equipment carried within
the truck body used in the work performed on a regular basis.
Many work trucks are driven around carrying unnecessary
tools, equipment and inventory. Tools and parts that are only seldom
needed! There’s a tendency to carry
“everything that you might need” - a reality check might show that it is only used
once a year! Not only are you burning more fuel by carrying unnecessary weight,
in many cases this may cause a heavier than necessary vehicle being specified
for purchase.
Even if you have no plans to specify and buy new trucks, you
will save fuel by carrying the right stuff in your existing trucks. If you are
looking at new trucks and debating alternative fuels and engines, knowing what
your payload needs to be is surely the right first step in considering what to
buy!
In
a plan to define the type and size of vehicles needed for specific operations, owners
and fleet managers might want to initiate a study into the tools and equipment
and the parts needed every day for each activity where vehicles are used. If
the tools, parts and equipment inventory can be reduced, there will be a
resultant payload weight reduction. The benefits of reducing weight are less
fuel consumption, potentially less work body tare weight, and perhaps a smaller
truck or van.
Conduct
a study to show what tools, parts and equipment are actually used; daily,
periodically and only on rare occasion.
Involve
your workers, make them part of the process. Ask them to report what tools and
equipment are used on a daily basis. Also record what inventory of parts
is consumed daily as well. Make a
spreadsheet list with the tools, equipment and parts being line items and the
categories being columns. Collect this data every day. Summarize it weekly and
monthly.
The
summary should show what “everyday tools are, what is rarely used, and
everything in between. Determine what
tools, parts and equipment must be carried every day.
Here
is a guideline showing improved fuel consumption for 1000 lbs. of reduced
payload weight:
GVWR
|
Avg tare weight
|
Fuel economy improvement
for each 1,000 lbs of tare weight reduction
|
|
4
|
14,001 – 16,000
|
10,343
|
5.6%
|
5
|
16,001 – 19,500
|
10,413
|
4.7%
|
6
|
19,501 – 26,000
|
13,942
|
3.9%
|
7
|
26,001 – 33,000
|
18,094
|
2.8%
|
8a
|
33,001 – 60,000
|
23,525
|
1.9%
|
8b
|
60,000 +
|
28,979
|
1.1%
|
Let’s
face it - workers do not want to be without anything that they need and may
resist reducing their tools and equipment; they do not want to be caught short
and have to travel back to the facility to get tools, parts or equipment to
complete their work.
The
workers should know the goals of the program.
Realize that by reducing the tools, equipment and parts that they carry,
there may be cases where they will be short of tools and equipment unless they
have prior notification of specific needs. It will be a lot easier if they are
involved in the process of change, pre-plan and maybe develop a special process
to handle the unexpected tool or equipment requirement.
Of
course the ultimate goal is to satisfy the customer. Keep in contact with them and
get their feedback on their experience with any changes to their service. A successful program will evolve and improve
over time. The workers should know that they will not be held responsible for
the occasional problem caused by implementing the new program. They will likely
have suggestions on how to solve issues if they are included in the process,
Steve
Taylor
Business
Improvement Specialist
Find us at: http://www.upstreamsource.com
