Hydraulic Boxes Boost Fleet's Productivity

Ut., has increased its delivery capacity by a third-without adding drivers.

As well, the operation boosted fuel economy by 3 miles per gallon, increased driver and customer satisfaction, and reduced damage writeoffs by 759o, all since purchasing a new fleet of trucks equipped with "removable boxes."

"Due to increased productivity, the new container system has paid for itself in eight months," says operations manager Brett Worthington "As for the trucks, we knew the Kenworth T30Os were higher priced than othcrs

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in the medium-duty class, but when you look at lower life-cycle costs and resale value, better fuel economy (BMC West gets up to I l.l mpg), and what the Kenworths mean to our drivers and corporate image, it's well worth it to us."

The Sandy operation has been so successful that other transportation managers for BMC West have visited to develop similar distribution programs.

The transformation began with a simple premise: design a system that maximizes labor. BMC was using outdoor loading-forklifts loaded prehung doors in three straight trucks with flatbeds and curtain sides. It was a time-consuming process.

With the design of BMC's new door facility underway, Worthington had an opportunity to start from scratch. The first move was going from outdoor loading to a more efficient dock operation. Next came an analysis of how to transport doors.

"Drivers were spending much of thcir day waiting for loads to be completed at the door fac i lity," Worthington says. "We decided it was more efficient to develop something similar to a drop-and-hook operation. This way a container could be loaded while our driver was out making deliveries."

But that didn't mean a tractor/trailer combination. "That would be too expensive and it wouldn't work for our operation," Worthington explains. "We have tight delivery areas at rcsidential and commercial job sites. A trailer couldn't handle our maneuverability requirements."

The solution was found in removable containers. "What we opted for were removable 24-ft. boxes with hydraulic legs, adjustable to four different heights," he said. "They come right off the chassis of the T300, and it takes our drivers just four minutes to change boxes. What's more, it's 3007o faster to load these boxes compared to our old curtain trailers. And we increased the load capacity in each box by 607o."

Helping to speed deliveries is a hidden ramp in a false bottom for easy unloading at customer sites. And the hydraulic legs can come into play at these sites as well. "We've used the hydraulics to lift the box to a delivery level higher than the truck,"

Worthington says. "This saved our crew a lot of work. For large jobs, we've actually left the box at their location for unloading-<harging the customer a rental fee."

Back at the BMC location, boxes are ready whenever a driver returns. The box is slipped off and re-stationed for loading and the new box is picked up and secured. All told, the time savings at the loading dock has meant a third more deliveries without adding more drivers. What's more, since less handling is required at both ends of the delivery, damage write-offs are way down.

"More than 757o down the first month," Worthington notes. "Remember, we handle finished product that cannot be damaged-a cherrywood door can cost more than $700, and we can load up to 140 doors in a box."

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