into route progress, greater driver accountability, better customer service and vastly improved fuel efficiencies. 5. Advanced Enterprise Reporting. Smart trucks can now include enterprise-level reporting via a web portal that provides operations and performance statistics by tracking a waste fleet’s most important key productivity indicators. Managers gain total visibility into all information from a macro company level right down to the individual driver level. Smart trucks will typically feed realtime reporting solutions to evaluate overall operational efficiency for driver activity, driver performance, driver scoring, fuel consumption and fleet performance. Benefits include the ability to identify and solve problems more quickly, optimize operations, anticipate maintenance requirements, facilitate organizational alignment and more. (See image #5 on page 47.)
Benefits of Smart Trucks Responsible Oversight. Program measurement and management oversight are critical to municipal waste organizations. From recycling credit programs to fleet safety, municipal waste and recycling managers need to have a complete view of all fleet, equipment and driver activity. Smart trucks track drivers, vehicles, routes, containers, incentive programs—and more—to proactively monitor your performance and activities in real time. They further integrate multiple video and audio feeds in real time, and ensure flexible and easy interfaces with the vehicle’s control system. It’s like having a supervisor in every truck. Shared Services Management. If your municipality, district or county shares waste and recycling services
with neighboring communities, a smart truck solution will track and verify all services and billing. For any district or county authority structure, it will provide all stakeholders with real-time access to relevant results and information, including the accurate calculation of participation and “set-out” rates, more efficient use of the truck assets, optimized routing, and easy management of recycling incentives. Safety. Smart trucks provide key capabilities to make it easier for municipalities and waste organizations to implement and monitor fleet safety initiatives. They provide managers with real-time visibility into driver activity and behavior. All departments have access to centralized fleet safety data for a completely transparent representation of a fleet’s safety performance with a centralized view of fleet safety data, speed monitoring, detailed event records, and the ability to set alarm criteria. Smart trucks provide key capabilities to make it easier for managers to implement and monitor fleet safety initiatives. By understanding individual driving habits, managers can better coach drivers on safer techniques and reward defensive driving behavior. Managers can further set alarm criteria to alert both drivers and managers when safe driving thresholds have been exceeded. In the cab, smart displays improve safety by reducing driver distractions and optimizing automation. Additionally, smart displays usually integrate with up to eight mounted cameras to enhance safety with a clear view of potential obstacles. Sustainability. Green fleets are focused on reducing fuel consumption, mileage and exhaust emissions, and www.apwa.net
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on driving more safely and efficiently. A must for every community! Driver behavior is fundamental to fleet sustainability. Even the most fuelefficient vehicles will perform poorly with an inefficient driver behind the wheel. Waste fleet managers need the tools to monitor driver behavior to influence and educate drivers on more emissions-friendly driving approaches. Smart trucks with fleet mapping and monitoring tools allow fleet managers to work more proactively with drivers to ensure and reinforce greener driving behavior. Enhanced customer service. Smart trucks will facilitate faster and more accurate responses to customer service issues. Smart displays and mobile DVRs typically have the ability to track and photograph any route or pickup issues, provide photographic evidence of services if required, and send video recordings or live camera feeds to the back office—all in real time. They will further ensure real-time remote connectivity between the back office and each vehicle to facilitate prompt customer service follow-ups. Don Diego Padilla is a waste industry fleet management veteran and VicePresident at FleetMind Solutions, Inc., a firm which has developed technology derived from over 20 years and millions of dollars invested in developing advanced fleet solutions specifically designed for waste and recycling environments (www.fleetmind.com). Mr. Padilla has been published in numerous industry magazines and is a frequent speaker at industry forums such as Waste Expo, Fleet Management Expo and regional municipal waste management events. He can be reached at (888) 639-1666 or dpadilla@ fleetmind.com.
September 2016
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APWA Reporter
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