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FUEL CONTROL
Page 42
Page 43
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Core Vanagement Logistics has cut its running costs by resorting to a host of initiatives, covering everything from training to aerodynamics. Kevin Swallow finds out what a difference it makes to the bottom tine.
n a cold, clear. windy October afternoon Martyn Norman, the transport manager for Core Management Logistics (CML),backs one of his trucks under a trailer at MIRA. He does so using Jim Thomson's Stop-Gap Coupling which helps improve aerodynamics between trailer and tractor by helping the operator accurately ;;lose the gap (CM 24 January). It's Norman's !atest attempt to cut CML's costs.
In a five-month trial of a Scania R124,StopGap Coupling cut the fuel bill by 8% -so Norman is having it fitted to all 15 of his tractors.
CML, which specialises in the retail trade, verates out of 25.000m2 bonded warehouse it Magna Park, near Lutterworth, Leics. It 3mploys up to 300 staff during peak periods.
Norman's first bid to reduce outgoings nvolved the Safe and Fuel Efficient Driving "SAFED) scheme. It has trained more than i,000 drivers in England who, on average, have nit their vehicles' Itiel consumption by 10%.
iaving with SAFED
'the SAFED training improved our average npg by 9% but on some drivers, it was as much .s 15%." he reports. In a hid to maintain these avings Norman brought in Re-Tech UK sales lirector Richard Edwards, who installed the bwerTrack vehicle-monitoring program. lowerTrack, devised in South Africa for the ecurity market, was introduced in the UK in 2003."Traceability of the driver and truck was more important at the time in South Africa, which is why PoweeTrack developed into a high-level product," he says.
For CML, drivers are issued with ID tags to start vehicles, and the system monitors driver performance such as harsh braking, harsh acceleration, freewheeling, green-band driving, over-revving, excessive idling and speeding.
Peace of mind
Norman explains:" It gave me the peace of mind that the drivers weren't banging the living daylights out of the vehicles.., that they were in the green band and not over-revving it. They knew I had my beady eye on them as soon as they left the yard, and the benefits of the SAFED training were maintained. Fuel economy improved, from 12-13mpg to 15mpg.
"Even if a truck has five drivers in one day, you can put on all kinds of restrictions," he says.
With driving standards addressed. Norman turned his attention to fuel:"The next process was biodiesel. It's not a fuel-saving product, hut a cheaper one.! thought about buying a manufacturing kit to start with, but decided not to go up that road."
Biocliesel has become an industry buzzword. It attracted the attention of the general public when two directors of JPM Eco LogisticsPaul Merker and Jerry Mantalvanosentered BBC's Dragon's Den and secured £100,000 funding in exchange for 40% of their business to establish a:green' haulage firm.'They use Volvo-built and modified trucks from Thomas Hardie Commercials which run on biodiesel.
Mantalvanos told the Manchester Evening News:-One of the things we were most pleased about is that the 'dragons' kept asking why this had never been done by a haulage firm before it just seems such an obvious thing to do."
As testament to Norman's commitment, CML had already been using biodiesel for 18 months in second-hand vehicles that didn't need modifications:"By reducing running costs,we are doing what we can for the environment. I feel quite passionate about it.We put a biodiesel [Euro-2 RFC] vehicle through its MoT and the emissions were so low that the equipment didn't even acknowledge it. It didn't register a figure."
He installed a 6.()00-litre tank on site and ships in the fuel from Milton Keynes Biodiesel. "A driver can go a week with it, but they have a fuel card just in case they are caught short," he reports."When they get back at night, they fill up accordingly."
Ciarrin Webb. MD of Milton Keynes Biocliesel, calculates that the switch to biodiesel has cut CML's carbon footprint by 67%.
This brings us full circle to the trial taking place at MIRA."Stop-Gap Coupling was the next stage —to close up the gap between the tractor and trailer," says Norman.That five month trial revealed fuel savings could be made while pulling notoriously poor aerodynamic containers, as well as box and curtainsiders.
Each cog on the sliding fifth-wheel mechanism closes the gap by a 51mm increment — and designer Jim Thomson says each increment can cut fuel usage by 1%.
Smaller footprint Having reduced CML's carbon footprint Norman is redirecting his attention to trailers and fuel injection.
The Don-Bur Teardrop trailer, although its not part of his current fleet,is the sort of direction he is thinking of taking. Another initiative under consideration is to retrofit gas injection for engines to minimise unburnt fuel. With Norman's dedication to the cause, if there are savings to be made he'll find them.