LAPV September 2019

Local Authority Plant & Vehicles

www.lapv.co.uk

Autumn 2019

Yo u r o n e - st o p s h o p f o r t h e v e ry b e st R CV s

THE NEW AND IMPROVED KERBLOADER! With increased efficiency and even more flexibility for operators, the new Kerbloader is the vehicle of choice for recycling collection.

The refined design of our new Kerbloader not only makes it more efficient and safer than ever before but also helps minimise wear and tear to provide significant operational savings.

Increased payload

Improved compaction and ejection efficiency

Three cardboard tailgate sizes available

All controls operated from inside the cab

Glass empties at rear to avoid tyre shredding

Fastest packing and emptying on the market

For more information visit www.terbergmatec.co.uk

Terberg Matec UK, Highgrounds Road, Worksop S80 3AT 01909 484000

sales@terberg.com

@Terberg_Matec

www.terbergmatec.co.uk

W E N T R Y, VISiBILITY CAB

able and cient bin liFts

Contents

Local Authority Plant & Vehicles is published by

Inside this issue: 4

HEMMING M E DIA

Hemming Information Services Ltd, a division of Hemming Group Ltd. 32, Vauxhall Bridge Rd, London SW1V 2SS www.lapv.co.uk

News

The latest news on industry, contracts won, and new product developments.

16 Ever decreasing circles

Inefficient delivery management at construction sites in London is responsible for pumping thousands of tonnes of CO2 into the environment every year, increases the risk of collisions, and adds to congestion in an already congested city. Is there a solution?

8 Clifford Comments

Phil Clifford considers the complexity of emerging technologies and the difficult choice facing operators looking for alternative fuel solutions.

20 Air quality and robust data

Channel 4’s Dispatches exposed the shocking levels of pollution that school children encounter every day and Newham has become the first UK council to install air monitoring equipment in schools. LAPV talks to CMS Supatrak about the OWL Clean Air Project.

10 Future Fleet Forum preview

Editor Ann-Marie Knegt T 01935 374001 E am.knegt@hgluk.com

Previewing Future Fleet Forum 2020, which is going from strength to strength as yet another major city and another trade association join the Future Fleet Partnership.

Commercial Manager Jason Pidgeon T 020 7973 4645 E j.pidgeon@hgluk.com Production Manager Sue Taylor T 020 7973 4662 E s.taylor@hgluk.com Production Executives Mike Franklin/Gareth Toogood T 0207 973 6641/ 6603 E m.franklin@hgluk.com/g.toogood@ hgluk.com Subscriptions Maggie Spillane T 020 7973 6679 E m.spillane@hgluk.com

Features 25

Managing Director Bill Butler T 020 7973 6627 E b.butler@hgluk.com

Sweeper supplement

LAPV provides a comprehensive overview of key suppliers and manufacturers in the street cleansing industry.

38 Lifting the lid

In a world where waste streams and recycling targets change constantly, a new recycling truck is designed to provide the flexibility operators need.

ISSN 1472-2607 © 2019 Hemming Group Printed by Buxton Press Limited, Palace Road, Buxton, Derbyshire, SK17 6AE

Take out a subscription at www.lapv.co.uk

B o d i e s B u i lt t o l a st, de s i g n e d to deliver Local Authority Plant & Vehicles

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Autum 2019

Dennis Eagle Ltd Heathcote Way, Heathcote Ind. Est. Warwick, CV34 6TE UNITED KINGDOM

Yo u r o n e - st o p s h o p f o r t h e v e ry b e st R CV s

SOE and LAPV roundtable

48

Fast thinking

50

In the spotlight

Safety equipment in focus

The UK generates 430 million tonnes of waste each year and the industry employs 160,000 workers. Incidences of staff being harassed, verbally abused, or even assaulted are increasing. LAPV reports on how operators are using technology to improve staff safety and wellbeing.

Vehicle safety systems

Why one company's rebrand reflects the increasing industry focus on vehicle camera and recording systems to enhance safety.

44

Cover: Cover provided by Dennis Eagle.

40

A c c u r at e a n d reliable dy n a m i c b i n weighing

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Just why is there such a skills shortage in fleet management and how can the industry resolve it? That was the hot topic at a special roundtable debate in June organised by the SOE and chaired by Ann-Marie Knegt, Editor of LAPV. The City of Edmonton’s Fleet Analytics and Strategic Technology team in Canada has introduced a state-of-the-art analytical tool to assist with the maintenance of the city’s 5,000-strong vehicle fleet. LAPV finds out how FAST’s strategic management and reporting capabilities have streamlined data management and improved overall business performance.

In every issue, LAPV speaks to a fleet manager about their operations. First in the hot seat is Terry Pycroft from Leeds City Council.

Autumn 2019 LAPV 3

NEWS

COmment

Time to recognise the best in our industry Future Fleet Forum is coming up again. January 22, 2020 will see a range of expert speakers from all over the world coming together in the Guildhall in London to talk about the latest initiatives, strategies, and technologies to help public sector fleet professionals tackle current challenges.

The most innovative strategic, safety, and sustainability initiatives in the UK fleet management sector will also be recognised at the event, which is organised by LAPV, hosted by the City of London, and supported by the City of New York, City of Montreal, CILT, and SOE. When this issue hits your desk, the registration for the Future Fleet Awards will have opened at http://awards. futurefleetforum.co.uk/. I cannot urge local authorities and their contractors strongly enough to send in a submission.

Now is the time for public sector fleet and transport managers as well as personnel in contracting organisations to stand up

and shout about their achievements. However, if you are a manufacturer or a supplier you can also send in a submission on behalf of your local authority clients who have worked with your products or services.

The Future Fleet Awards evening will commence with a drinks reception in the Guildhall Crypt, sponsored by Dennis Eagle and Terberg Matec. This reception will be followed by a lavish dinner in the splendid surroundings of the Great Hall of the Guildhall, which is sponsored by NRG Fleet Services and Electra Commercial Vehicles. Then the Future Fleet Awards will be handed out by a range of VIPs. There is still an opportunity to promote your company in front of more than 200 guests by sponsoring the Future Fleet Awards ceremony.

Another option is to buy a table and provide your guests with an unforgettable experience surrounded by like-minded professionals from the public sector fleet management industry in a truly celebratory atmosphere.

Anyone who would like to advantage of this opportunity, please, get in touch with Jason Pidgeon at j.pidgeon@hgluk.com.

Ann-Marie Knegt, Editor LAPV

Interest grows in Geesinknorba electric RCV

Geesinknorba has been helping councils to promote clean air and green transport solutions this summer by showcasing its electric RCV at events around the country.

Geesinknorba is a leader in the field of electric solutions for waste collection. Its Li-On Power Pro RCV was launched in 2017 as the firstever fully electric refuse collection vehicle and represents a significant step forward in the development of zero-emissions commercial vehicles.

In June, the company

4 LAPV Autumn 2019

collaborated with the Greater Cambridge Shared Waste Service – a partnership between South Cambridgeshire District Council and Cambridge City Council – to demonstrate its electric vehicle at the Cambridge Clean Air Day event, giving council members and other public and private fleet operators the chance to ‘ride and drive’ as well as learn more about the vehicle and how it could benefit their operations.

Cllr Rosy Moore, Cambridge City Council’s Executive Councillor

for Climate Change, Environment and City Centre, said: ‘Tackling pollution in the city centre is really important and as a council we want to be at the centre of the green agenda. Electric bin lorries are one of the ways we can do this, and it has been interesting to see first-hand what they are capable of.

We very much want to see electric vehicles driving up and down the streets in the city.’

In July, the vehicle put in an appearance at County Durham’s first Climate Emergency Exhibition, where it joined innovative technologies from a wide range of industries to showcase the companies and products that could help Durham County Council achieve its goal of a carbon neutral future.

Converting just one RCV to electric operation can save fleet operators up to 80 tonnes of CO2 per year and reduce their annual fuel bill by as much as £56,000.

The electric RCV, which will shortly go into service with the Fiveways hire fleet, can next be seen at the Cenex Low Carbon Vehicle exhibition at Millbrook, Bedfordshire, on 4-5 September.

New police conversions from VW Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles has launched a new prisoner transport van for police forces based on the Volkswagen Transporter in Trendline trim.

The van has undergone a complete blue light conversion carried out by Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles’ approved blue light converter Safeguard SVP in Essex. It has a full-width rear cell with space for two prisoners, seating for an officer in the rear, and a double latch security system to prevent the rear doors opening from the inside. The van also has LED lights, a 100-watt siren, and full police livery.

Steven Cowell, Technical Sales Manager at Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, said: ‘This has been a landmark year for our blue light conversions with the cell van rounding out a trio of new products. This vehicle offers police forces a practical, reliable, and economical solution to prisoner transport and we expect it to be a big hit once it joins the fleet.’

Also new for the police from Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles is a Caddy conversion developed as a police dog van by approved blue-light converter PressFab Evo in Bedfordshire. The vehicle has a removable kennel as well as lights, siren, and livery. The kennel has been built to the DEFRA/RSPCA animal welfare specifications, which dictate the size, ventilation, and air conditioning systems.

NEWS

Kent County Council introduces first electric minibus A nine-seater, wheelchair-accessible electric minibus from Renault will provide emissions-free transport services for disabled and vulnerable people in Kent.

The Renault Trucks Master ZE will be operated by charity Compaid. It is the first pilot vehicle in Kent County Council’s approach to assessing the longer term financial and environmental benefits of electromobility.

The minibus has been adapted to accommodate up to two wheelchair users by approved Renault Trucks converter Minibus Options of Whaley Bridge. It will operate on Compaid’s community transport service, taking disabled and vulnerable people from Tunbridge Wells and the surrounding areas to the charity’s training centre in Paddock Wood to learn computer skills. It will also be used to help local people access medical appointments and shopping trips.

With a range of up to 120km, the L2H2 Renault Trucks Master is powered by a 57kW Z.E 100% electric engine, with 33kWh Lithium-ion battery mounted under the floor. The minibus is equipped with an electro-hydraulic tail lift to the rear entrance, which is charged on a separate battery. Its flexible seating allowance is multifunctional, accommodating either nine seated passengers, seven seated passengers and one wheelchair user, or three seated passengers and two wheelchair users.

Kent CC Cabinet Member for Transport Mike Whiting said: ‘It is fantastic that we have been able to secure this partnership with Renault Trucks in trialling a fully accessible Renault Master minibus. This trial will help us prove the capability of electric vehicles not only for public transport provision, but also for other commercial operations. Kent CC is committed to continuing to show its green credentials and we have been developing an electric vehicle action plan and are currently out to consultation on our Energy and Low Emissions Strategy.’

To support electromobility across the county, Kent CC is expanding its network of electric vehicle charging points to help reduce congestion, noise, and air quality issues.

Aberdeen invests in tyre safety system

Aberdeen City Council is implementing a tyre management system on 200 new Renault light commercial vehicles as part of a project to ensure its fleet runs on tyres inflated to the optimum pressures.

The Michelin Tyre Pressure Management System (TPMS) Light Fleet was developed by UK tech company Wheely-Safe, an official Michelin licensee. It uses robust TPMS sensors to replace traditional valve caps and these auto-pair with a small solar-powered windscreen display to provide visual and audible driver alerts. Tyre pressure readings can be taken without connecting a gauge to the valve, making it much simpler to check pressures on the inside tyres on twinned rear axles, which are typically harder to inspect and therefore more likely to cause tyre-related downtime at the roadside.

The system can be installed on a vehicle in less than five minutes and Aberdeen has specified its installation on all new Renault Kangoo, Master, and Trafic vehicles in 2019,

which includes a mix of panel vans and chassis cabs with Derby, drop-side, and tipper bodies.

Aberdeen’s Fleet Manager Willie Whyte says improvements to tyre pressure management will enhance fleet safety, as well as delivering better fuel efficiency and longer tyre life.

‘We wanted to make it easier for our drivers and technicians to check pressures,’ he says. ‘With this system, they can check all four or six tyres on a vehicle in less than a minute. On the road, drivers will also receive an instant alert in the event of a tyre in distress through loss of pressure, fast leakage, or an increase in temperature, which is often the sign of an imminent tyre failure.

‘Aberdeen City Council is constantly looking for new ways to deliver maximum value for taxpayers, and I’m confident our focus on tyre pressure management will deliver savings to our vehicle operating costs. It also boosts safety and reinforces our duty of care to drivers.’

University of Birmingham fits EVs with sound devices Birmingham University has addressed safety concerns by fitting its electric fleet with vehicle noise devices.

Birmingham was the first UK university to go electric and 40% of its fleet is now sustainable. However, becaue electric vehicles are so quiet, the university needed a solution to ensure they can be heard by its 35,000 students, and has installed Brigade Electronics’ Quiet Vehicle Sounder, a device designed to warn vulnerable road users of an approaching electric/hybrid vehicle.

Chris Lane, Operations Manager at the university, said: ‘Driving a quiet vehicle in high foot traffic areas can be very stressful, especially with the number of students we have walking or cycling through our campus.

The QVS eliminates that worry and keeps everybody safe. We will be making sure all new electric vehicles joining our fleet are fitted with a Quiet Vehicle Sounder.’

Autumn 2019 LAPV 5

NEWS

Clean Air Zones delayed in Leeds and Birmingham The introduction of Clean Air Zones in Birmingham and Leeds has been postponed because of a government delay in delivery the digital systems required to make the zones operational and enforceable, according to a joint statement from Birmingham City Council and Leeds City Council.

The first CAZs in the UK were due to come into effect in January 2020 in anticipation that both cities would fail air quality legal limits. The zones will operate using a vehicle checker tool to be delivered by the Government’s Joint Air Quality Commission by October 2019. This technology will now not be available until December 2019, and the Government will also no longer be providing the system to collect payments from noncompliant vehicles, asking the local authorities to deliver this instead.

Both councils have expressed their disappointment over the delay, stressing that they were on track to implement the Clean Air Zones on schedule and emphasising their continuing commitment to improving air quality.

Councillor James Lewis, Deputy Leader for Leeds City Council, said: ‘Despite this delay we will continue to financially support owners of affected vehicles switching to less polluting models…as doing so is the best way to improve air quality prior to the charging zone’s introduction. As planned, we will also begin to install the camera infrastructure required for the zone within the next few weeks.

‘The government now needs to outline new timescales that they are confident can be delivered in order to give residents and businesses across the country clarity and certainty about the future of these schemes.’

Councillor Waseem Zaffar, Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment at Birmingham City Council, expressed his disappointment at the hold up, saying it would delay Birmingham in achieving air quality compliance. ‘However, despite these challenges, we will continue to work closely with the Government and other cities to achieve compliance in the shortest possible time because our priority remains ensuring that the people of Birmingham have access to clean air, as is their basic human right.’

Worcester City Council buys three new Swingo 200+ sweepers Worcester City Council has purchased three new Euro 6-compliant Swingo 200+ compact sweepers from Aebi Schmidt.

Worcester welcomes three million tourists every year and keeping the city clean and tidy is a top priority for the council. The new sweepers bring the total number of Swingos in Worcester’s fleet to four, and they are in use on a daily basis from 5.00am in the city centre.

The council ordered the new Swingos after a formal procurement process. The council’s initial Swingo, which has been in use since 2016, was ordered with an optional scrub deck, and Environmental Operations Manager (Waste & Fleet) Kevin McFeeley specified an interchangeable scrubbing deck as an option for one of the new machines.

Kevin said: ‘The Swingo can easily be converted from a sweeper to a scrubber with the use of the optional scrubbing deck. We have found the scrubber to be invaluable for cleaning up after the late night revellers in the city, and decided to specify one of the new machines with a scrub deck to double our cleaning power.’

Street Scene Manager Mark Baylis said: ‘The addition to our fleet of the three Swingo machines means our city centre sweeping crews have tools at their disposal to deliver excellent services to the visitors and residents of Worcester.’

vehicle fire extinguisher launched by firescape A new solution to tackle vehicle fires has been launched by Firescape and backed by the London Fire Brigade.

Spray-Safe is the UK’s smallest aerosol extinguisher and is ideal for all types of vehicles to combat engine or interior blazes.

‘Ideal for those who work in fleet maintenance or for drivers to keep in their cab, Spray-Safe can put out engine fires in seconds, making it a cost-effective solution for budget-strapped local authorities,’ said Firescape Managing Director Paul Jameson.

‘Every year in the UK, more than 100,000 vehicles go up in flames and sadly more than a hundred people a year die as a result. Over a third of these are accidental fires, so it is crucial that fleet managers do whatever they can to minimise potential fire risks, from maintaining their vehicles to ensuring they equip their drivers with the latest technology.’

Spray-Safe is a lightweight aerosol extinguisher containing 200ml of fluid. It is more eco-friendly than other fire safety devices as the product leaves a non-toxic residue after use and the bottle is fully recyclable. There are no mechanical parts, so there is no risk of malfunction, and it has been independently designed and tested.

‘We designed Spray-Safe to be easy to use,' said Paul. 'All you do is shake the bottle firmly and keep your arm out of range of the fire then douse the area with Spray-Safe.'

6 LAPV Autumn 2019

innovate funding for CAV cybersecurity project The Ultrasoc consortium has been awarded £2m in funding from Innovate UK to co-fund a project to improve the safety and security of connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs).

A collaboration between Ultrasoc, the universities of Southampton and Coventry, and cybersecurity consultancy Copper Horse, the project is aiming to develop the first on-chip monitoring solution for CAVs based on Ultrasoc’s embedded analytics technology that enables tech companies to design self-monitoring capabilities into microchips.

Machine learning experts from the University of Southampton will work with Ultrasoc engineers to develop algorithms and code to identify security and safety issues, while the Institute of Future Transport at Coventry University will develop a testbed demonstrator representing a full-scale functional automotive architecture to prove the resulting solutions.

Finally, Copper Horse will model cybersecurity scenarios and test the robustness of the project’s output.

Ultrasoc’s embedded analytics use dedicated hardware to identify security issues such as hacking more quickly and reliably than traditional software techniques. Aileen Ryan, Ultrasoc’s Chief Strategy Officer, said, ‘Cybersecurity and functional safety risks in CAV applications are real. We look forward to collaborating with our partners and consultants in following through to deliver an improved embedded infrastructure for connected and autonomous vehicles, which will ultimately improve the safety of our citizens and infrastructure.’

NEWS

BCP Council adopts winter maintenance route planning software BCP Council (Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole) is using digital mapping and route navigation technologies from Exactrak to increase the efficiency of its winter maintenance service.

Exactrak’s Navtrak and Map-a-Route solutions optimise winter maintenance route planning and route efficiencies and help to keep drivers safe.

Route planning software Map-a-Route allows BCP Council to create and amend routes in minutes, as well as pre-determining salt levels. The Navtrak route navigation software guides spreader drivers round winter routes, automatically distributing salt against the planned routes.

BCP Council has five primary spreading routes covering more than 500km of roads. The council traditionally used paper maps and written instructions for each route, but these took hours to produce, didn’t account for any last-minute changes such as road works or disruptions, and made managing staff more difficult. The council adopted Map-a-Route in 2018 and stores and manages its winter maintenance routes in the software’s online portal.

The council can now amend routes in minutes and can work closely with gritter drivers to fine tune routes for the 2019 winter maintenance season.

Once a route is uploaded into the vehicle, Exactrak’s in-cab route navigation system guides the driver round the route while automated salting technology distributes pre-determined levels of salt, automatically adjusting as it progresses round the route.

Each journey is tracked in real time and the system alerts admin users if there is an exception to a route, for example, if a section of road has been missed. It also alerts the driver to allow them to return and salt the missing section of the road. In the case of a road accident, vehicle tracking data can be used to prove the route has been salted and if the salt spread has followed best practice guidelines against the defined route and the temperature on that day.

Map-a-Route’s toolbox function calculates the time and distance of each route to determine the amount of salt needed, ensuring spreaders will have enough salt for each route and enabling the council to forecast and manage salt stocks.

New zero-turn mower from Ariens Ariens has launched a new zero-turn mower, the Zenith 60. Powered by a Kawasaki FX730V 726cc engine, the Zenith has a forward speed of 8.5mph to help operators complete tasks more quickly without compromising on finish.

The mower has been designed for manoeuvrability, with easy steering levers and the ability to effortlessly turn 180 degrees to make negotiating around objects as easy as possible.

The Zenith has a large 152cm cutting deck for improved productivity.

Built with 10-gauge steel, its 14cm depth provides optimal airflow in all mowing conditions. The foot-operated deck lift system enables the operator to adjust between 15 cutting positions in 6.35mm increments with a vertical pin selection. The Constant Belt Tension System ensures the correct tension, minimising wear and heat while providing enhanced belt life with minimal adjustments, it also has large tubular frame rails as a backbone to support the machine loads and is fitted with a rollover protection system. The highbacked padded seat is ergonomically designed for operator comfort.

The Zenith 60 comes with a two-year commercial warranty or three-year residential warranty.

Stagecoach West installs Stertil Koni wireless mobile lifts Stagecoach West has purchased two sets of four wireless mobile column lifts from Stertil Koni to support its workshop operations at its depots in Gloucester and Ross-on-Wye. Stagecoach West provides local bus services across Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Swindon, South Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and Bristol. The company recently introduced a proactive maintenance programme for its fleet of 300 buses and coaches, designed to reduce the overall number of vehicle breakdowns, which is supported by the new wireless mobile column lifts.

The Gloucester and Ross-on-Wye depots each took delivery of a set of four wireless mobile column lifts, type ST1075FWA. Each lift provides a lifting capacity of 7.5 tonnes, with a combined capacity for the set of 30 tonnes.

The maximum lifting height is 1.85m. Each column incorporates Stertil Koni’s ebright Smart Control System, which allows workshop staff to operate the columns individually, in pairs, or in any other combination, and flexible positioning means they can be used in any configuration around a vehicle.

The ebright Smart Control System simplifies operation of the lifts by providing maximum visual information about every lifting operation. For added safety and performance, the system also shows how many columns are in use plus the battery status of each column. An independent mechanical locking system, incorporated into each column, enables engineers to securely lock the lift to prevent a vehicle from being inadvertently lowered.

The lifts are powered by long-life, deep-cycle batteries that provide optimum performance for at least a week on average before recharging is necessary. As the columns are wireless there are no cables on the workshop floor and the system can be used inside and out.

Biffa purchases 10 Isuzu Grafters Biffa has taken delivery of 10 new Isuzu 3.5-tonne Grafter Green trucks to work within its industrial and municipal fleets.

The 10 new Isuzu N35.125 rigids have been supplied with a mix of caged tippers and drop-side bodies. Five of the Isuzu Grafter Greens with caged tipper bodies have gone into service with Biffa from its depot at Gorton in East Manchester on contracts for Manchester City Council.

‘The Isuzus have an excellent payload capacity and we expect to be running these for a seven-year period,’ said Steve Lea from Biffa. ‘Initially, we took an Isuzu on demonstration for evaluation purposes and it was well received by the team. It proved to be reliable in service, which is why we have now taken these five new Grafters for the council contract here in Manchester.’

Biffa is running the remaining five in central London using a mix of caged tipper and drop-side bodies, covering industrial collection and bag collection customers. They have reversing cameras fitted with monitors in cab, and audible warning signals for turning left.

‘With the London ULEZ in place, we needed to replace some non-compliant vehicles and the Euro VI Isuzu Grafter Green perfectly met our requirements for compliance,’ said Fleet Project Engineer Colin Bagnall from Biffa.

Autumn 2019 LAPV 7

clifford comments

Making the right choice for your fleet Diesel is dead – or it will be by 2040 – but what is going to replace it? Phil Clifford considers the options currently available for fleets and concludes that what the industry needs most is more information to make the right choices. Luckily, Future Fleet Forum is just around the corner.

T

here is still a lot of confusion around the direction that vehicle propulsion is heading. Popular opinion is that electric vehicles are the future – at least for now – and there are certainly electric cars of all shapes and sizes available. Other options include the longstanding hybrid, of which the Toyota Prius is the best known and most popular, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV has enjoyed a good run for fleet use mainly thanks to income tax benefits. While other major players such as Mercedes, BMW, Hyundai, Volvo, Kia, Toyota, Range Rover, and even Porsche have now joined the ranks of manufacturers with more environmentally friendly models available, the risk remains that these will not deliver the promised environmental benefits as long as the nationwide infrastructure is still developing.

Hydrogen Fuel Cells are another of the technologies currently in development, and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) may one day become a genuine alternative to petrol or diesel. Unfortunately, despite the likes of Hyundai, Toyota, and Honda producing FCEVs, the lack of national refuelling infrastructure is hampering widespread adoption.

If you are looking for some form of EV, PHEV, FCEV car, there are multiple options, but the big question is which to choose, and I think it is fair to say that we need more information to make this choice. In the commercial vehicle market, however, the picture is considerably different – or is it?

In the sub 3.5-tonne category, it is taking a little longer to develop the technology to give the operator both the range and payload required. Most of the major manufacturers are working on these issues, and there are several EV vans available from the likes of Ford, LDV, Nissan, Citroen, Peugeot, and Mercedes-Benz. Ford is also trialling a new Transit Custom PHEV in London.

There are also developments on the HGV side, the area presenting the biggest challenges. With HGVs, the volume and payload considerations for the vehicles are of paramount importance and any reduction in either, to make way for battery packs, fuel cell storage, or even gas tanks can seriously dampen operators’ enthusiasm. That said, all-electric refuse trucks do seem to be making some inroads.

Nay-sayers have long rubbished the idea of electric or alternatively powered vehicles, citing range, speed, and infrastructure as insurmountable obstacles. However, time has proven all these fears, bar infrastructure, to be unfounded. And infrastructure is coming, but it is still a major hurdle.

Information is the other major thing we are lacking as customers to enable us to choose which technology to go for. Do we listen to the

8 LAPV Autumn 2019

manufacturers or do we look to experience from industry? Clearly, the latter is the way to go, especially as there are now many public and private operators that have embraced some form of alternative propulsion system and have real-life data available. You could also contact the Energy Saving Trust, which can assist you with the most up to date information.

The John Lewis/Waitrose organisation, a well-known high street retailer, is currently operating articulated vehicles running on biomethane. The dairy company Milk & More has a growing fleet of full EV delivery trucks. The London Borough of Hackney has been using FAME Biofuels in its fleet for several years and Leeds City Council has embraced several options, including a CNG-powered road sweeper and a fleet of EV vans.

Another way to access the latest information is to attend Future Fleet Forum, organised by LAPV, which will take place in the Guildhall in London on 22 January 2020. The event features presentations by world-renowned experts, as well as an exhibition of the latest vehicles and technologies, and public sector fleet managers and fleet managers in their contracting organisations can attend free of charge. Full details at www.futurefleetforum.co.uk.

Also in development is a series of regional free-to-attend conferences, which will take place at various locations throughout the UK. The first of these will be hosted later this year by Leeds City Council, and the major focus will be alternative fuels and propulsion systems for public sector fleets, again with expert speakers on hand to help you along the way. So, if you are confused about the pros and cons of the different technologies, all is not lost. Come along to these events and find out the most up-to-date information that will be of great benefit to your future planning.

Phil Clifford is the former fleet manager for Forest Heath District and St Edmundsbury Borough councils, operating under the West Suffolk brand. His specialisms include fleet procurement, use of vehicle telematics, and the development and use of fleet management software systems. He is an advocate for sharing best practice and benchmarking. He is also the founder and board manager of the Public Authority Transport Network, member of the Freight Transport Association, East of England Freight Council, and committee member of BSI working group B/508/01(Waste containers and associated lifting devices on refuse collection vehicles). Contact him at philip. clifford4@btinternet.com or follow him on Twitter @thefleetman.

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future fleet forum

Get ready for Future Fleet Forum 2020 Future Fleet Forum continues to go from strength to strength as yet another major city and another trade association come on board for 2020. Organiser Ann-Marie Knegt reports on what the Future Fleet Partnership has in store for January’s event.

2

Future Fleet Forum returns to the Guildhall for its fifth outing on 22 January 2020.

020 marks the fifth edition of Future Fleet Forum, and the third time the event has been organised by the Future Fleet Partnership (FFP). The FFP is a unique collaboration between media, major cities, and trade associations, which aims to create an international platform where best practice and know-how on issues affecting fleet and transport managers in the public sector can be shared and discussed.

Future Fleet Forum 2020 and the Future Fleet Awards will take place on January 22, 2020, in the Guildhall in the City of London.

Future Fleet Forum brings the industry together to address key challenges, including procurement issues, compliance, safety, and sustainability. Sponsored in 2020 by Geesinknorba, Hako Machines, and Bunce powered by Boschung, the conference has been designed to promote discussion of best practice, innovative strategies, and the latest technologies in our journey towards more sustainable and cost-effective transport solutions and a cleaner, better future for all.

10 LAPV Autumn 2019

The Future Fleet Partnership started out with organiser LAPV Events, hosts City of London, and partners the City of New York, and the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport. Then, in 2019, the Future Fleet Partnership welcomed the Society of Operations Engineers (SOE) onboard as well as the City of Montreal, expanding the scope of the collaboration and bringing an even greater range of expertise to the table. ‘DCAS and NYC Fleet is proud to once again co-organise Future Fleet Forum 2020 in London,' says Keith Kerman, Deputy Commissioner and New York City Chief Fleet Officer. 'Our joint partnerships on sustainability, alternative fuels, and vehicle and road safety are an important avenue for the sharing of best practice, lessons learned, and the exploration of innovative ways to reach our common goals. We look forward to joining Together for Safer Roads on the opening panel on global road safety and we are excited to share the stage with other leaders in reducing emissions and fighting climate change.'

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future fleet forum

‘Security, sustainable mobility, connectivity, smart and connected transport, alternative fuels and training are among the important topics addressed at the event. It is also an opportunity to discover the latest products, vehicles, innovations, and technological applications from an array of suppliers specialising in the municipal niche. It is therefore without hesitation that the City of Montreal has joined the Future Fleet Partnership.’

Conference 2020

An exhibition runs alongside the conference, providing the opportunity to discover the latest products and technologies, talk to suppliers, and network with peers.

Mick Sweetmore, President of the SOE and Fleet Manager for West Mercia Police, spoke at Future Fleet Forum 2019, and he is excited to bring the SOE onboard as a partner for the 2020 event.

‘The SOE is delighted to put our full support behind Future Fleet Forum 2020. It is an event that has significantly widened its reach in recent years and addresses the key challenges facing the industry. As a partner of Future Fleet Forum, we can continue to work closely with fleet transport managers and decision-makers in committing to an industry that is compliant, safe, and sustainable.’

Philippe Saint-Vil, Head of Rolling Stock for the City of Montreal, delivered last year’s keynote speech and is excited that Montreal has become part of the Future Fleet Partnership. ‘Future Fleet Forum is a truly international event, and it has become the reference point for municipal fleet managers in Europe and the United States. A growing panel of international experts participate each year to discuss and share their experiences and their vision of the current and future challenges facing large cities, rural municipalities, and everything in between.

Philippe Saint-Vil, Head of Rolling Stock for the City of Montreal.

12 LAPV Autumn 2019

So, what does the Future Fleet Partnership have in store for next year’s Future Fleet Forum?

Future Fleet Forum consists of four different elements, of which the conference is a key part. For 2020, the Future Fleet Partnership has identified four themes which it feels need to be addressed urgently by the sector. These are: • Fleet and road safety/security • Innovation and business stream improvement • Propulsion systems and fuel • Staff retention and engagement The FFP has decided on a more interactive format for the 2020 conference, which will kick off with a keynote speech from David Braunstein from Together for Safer Roads, an innovative coalition that brings together global private sector companies, across industries, to collaborate on road safety. David will then lead a panel discussion with representatives from New York City, Montreal, City of London, and TfL about the global roll-out of the FORS and CLOCS standards.

For the innovation and business stream improvement section, Future Fleet features two fleet directors who will fly over from Canada for a live discussion with a UK fleet manager about how they have adopted innovative fleet management practices and improved their business processes within their respective areas.

In the afternoon, the agenda will focus on fuels and propulsion systems, and one of the confirmed speakers for this session is electric vehicle expert Roger Atkins from Electric Vehicles Outlook.

Roger shares an EV narrative on LinkedIn where he now has in excess of 280,000 followers.

The last part of the conference will centre around staff engagement, attraction, and retention as its main theme. Ruth Waring, Director of Big Change UK, will be talking about how to promote diversity in the logistics workplace and how to attract talent.

Ruth has won many awards for her work in the logistics sector, including an award for improving diversity. Ruth is also the Founder and current Chair of Women in Logistics UK. The programme will close with a presentation from a young female fleet manager who will relate her experiences in our industry and will provide insight into how to entice new generations to enter the sector.

Future Fleet Awards A drinks reception in the Guildhall Crypt, sponsored by Dennis Eagle and Terberg Matec, will take place after the close of the conference programme. This will be followed by the Future Fleet Awards and gala dinner, sponsored by NRG Fleet Services and Electra Commercial Vehicles.

The awards will honour the best and brightest in our industry during a lavish ceremony attended by more than 200 industry peers in the historic surroundings of the Great Hall in the Guildhall.

The judging panel consists of high profile representatives from LAPV, the City of London, New York City, Wates Construction, City of Montreal, and the City of Calgary.

For 2020 the awards categories are: Best fleet/road safety initiative (public sector and outsourcing companies only) Most innovative fleet management strategy (public sector and

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future fleet forum

The Future Fleet Awards 2020 open for entries on 1 September 2019. Entries can submitted via: http://awards.futurefleetforum.co.uk/

Exhibition and outside vehicle area An exhibition will be held alongside the conference that will feature 33 exhibitors, including CMS Supatrak, VWS, HE Municipal, Geesinknorba, WNV, Hako, NRG Fleet Services, Electra Commercial Vehicles, Dennis Eagle, Terberg Matec, Johnston Sweepers, Mercedes-Benz, Epic, Faun Zoeller, Go Plant, Romaquip, Allison Transmission, Quartix, Holder, Drive Alive, and Bunce powered by Boschung. Visitors will also be able to see a range of the very latest vehicles in the courtyard of the Guildhall.

Don't miss Future Fleet Forum 2020

The award ceremony and gala dinner will take place in the historic surroundings of the Guildhall.

Below: The outside exhibtion area will showcase the latest vehicles.

• Young industry champion (open to public, private sector, and

Future Fleet Forum is the premier thought-leadership conference for the public sector fleet management industry. It is a must-attend event that features an international line up of industry experts, academics, and innovative thinkers who will share their knowledge and expertise for the benefit of the sector as a whole. The event also offers delegates the opportunity to gain valuable CPD points from CILT and SOE. Attendance is free for fleet managers in the public sector and their contracting organisations or qualified individuals.

We look forward to seeing you in January.

• • • •

Registration opens on September 1, and you can sign up at www.futurefleetforum.co.uk.

For commercial opportunities contact Jason Pidgeon at j.pidgeon@hgluk.com.

For more information contact Ann-Marie Knegt at am.knegt@hgluk.com.

outsourcing companies only)

• Most sustainable fleet management department (public sector and outsourcing companies only)

industry suppliers), an award for an outstanding young professional under 30.

Lifetime achievement award (open to public and private sector and industry suppliers) Industry personality of the year City Mark Award: Transport Operator City Mark Award: Driver of the Year

14 LAPV Autumn 2019

Local Authority Plant & Vehicles

Hosted by

Future Fleet Forum 2020 22 January 2020 | Guildhall, City of London Brought to you by

Raising international standards for public sector fleet managers The Future Fleet Forum is now firmly established as the leading event for public sector fleet transport managers and their contracting organisations.

We are pleased to announce the LAPV Future Fleet Forum 2020 which will address key challenges faced by our industry, including procurement issues, compliance, safety, and sustainability.

2020 speakers include representatives from BigChange Advisory Plus, City of Calgary, City of Edmonton, City of New York, Dundee City Council, Electric Vehicle Outlook, South Chesterfield Council, Together for Safer Roads Alliance, Ubico and many more.

Future Fleet Awards 2020 22 January 2020 | Guildhall, City of London Have you got what it takes to be the best in the industry?

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road safety

Ever decreasing circles Inefficient delivery management at construction sites in London is responsible for pumping thousands of tonnes of CO2 into the environment every year, increases the risk of collisions, and adds to congestion in an already congested city. Noel Byrne tells LAPV about a new app that aims to solve this problem by managing deliveries in real time.

C

onstructions sites in London have a major problem and it impacts everyone. Failing to properly manage deliveries by HGVs means that hundreds of vehicles are turned away at site gates, which then circle the city waiting for a new slot or are sent back only to return another day. This clearly runs counter to our goal of achieving cleaner air, safer streets, and avoiding delays in the construction process.

In my career, I have worked with major construction groups in London and I have been fortunate enough to work on some of the most iconic projects of recent decades, from the Shard to the 2012 Olympics. During this time, I have supported businesses in their

Right: The world's tallest modular residential towers currently under construction as part of the Croydon Growth Zone.

Far right: Alex Pocklington presenting to the CLIG Forum in March 2019.

16 LAPV Autumn 2019

efforts to build more sustainably, reduce the environmental impacts of their developments, and – with the early advent of FORS and CLOCS – reduce the number of deaths and injuries caused by HGVs. The latter has become more poignant in recent years, working alongside Kate Cairns’ ‘See Me Save Me’ campaign to reduce deaths under the wheels of HGVs. Over the years it has become clear that the control of gates at major construction sites causes major problems both for construction companies and London’s residents. While delivery management systems have improved congestion at gates, there is still lots of disruption and thousands of HGVs are turned every week as a result.

Conditions in London mean that these diverted HGVs have no choice but to circle around until the delivery is cancelled or a new time slot opened.

This practice was noted in Aecom’s 2017 report Investigating the Impacts Caused by Inefficient Deliveries, which pointed out that when vehicles are turned away, they travel an average of 10 miles before the issue is rectified. Often the decision to turn a vehicle away is made by the team on the gate, not the senior team, who may find out too late that the steel required to complete their phase of the project has been sent back to Sheffield.

Our journey to develop a technological solution to this problem – Origin to Destination – started against this backdrop. As with all things, luck played its part. In the spring of 2016, I met Eamonn McGurk of Keyway Group, a business that has been operating in construction and waste management since the early 1960s, and discovered that we shared many of the same views. The next piece of luck was meeting Dan Pinnell, Director of Prospect Training Services. Dan is a technical whizz and had already developed innovative technology for the Welsh FA as well as state-wide learning programmes in America. We attacked the problem together, and the concept of O2D was born.

We established that there were two key solutions to better control of gates: consolidation centres where goods could be stored and sent to the project in mixed loads, and diverting HGVs to holding areas. The first was an excellent solution, but satisfying the Mayor of London's requirements meant that the consolidation centres would need to be within half an hour’s drive of the project, which gave rise to the problem of finding and financing suitable space so close to central London. The second solution, the use of holding areas, would require collaboration between local authorities and Transport for London, which shares the highways.

We decided to develop an app that would do two things. Firstly, it would provide full visibility of deliveries, from supplier to end-user, in real time. Secondly, it would enable vehicles to be safely diverted to a measured holding bay whenever they couldn’t be accommodated at the gate.

As we approached completion of the platform, we met Alex Pocklington, Principal Network Impact Assessment Engineer for Croydon, at a logistics forum. He was also looking for a technological solution to work alongside the Construction Logistics Plans (CLPs) to make efficient use of holding areas as part of the strategy for the Croydon Growth Zone. We joined forces and launched O2D version 1.1 in collaboration with the London Borough of Croydon in the spring of 2019.

360º Camera Monitor Systems 4 cameras, 1 image, 0 blind spots

What is O2D? O2D is a real-time delivery management system with a unique driver contact app for rerouting, diverting, and cancelling deliveries.

Alex Pocklington, Principal Network Impact Assessment Engineer for Croydon, explains: ‘Across London, hundreds, possibly even thousands of trucks are turned away each day at their ramps or gates due to missed time slots and then circle the city, wasting miles, increasing the risk of collisions, and raising levels of congestion and emissions. With this app, we aim to drastically reduce this issue while supporting Croydon’s construction logistics, clean air, and environmental impact initiatives. We hope this project will eventually benefit the whole of London and beyond.’

O2D increases supply chain communication and makes the process more transparent and efficient, facilitates the free movement of vehicles, and keeps construction timescales on track. The app reduces stoppages and the build-up of vehicles on site, as well as the number of repeat journeys and delays. It does this by diverting the vehicles before they reach the site and holding them in holding bays, to be called in once the site is ready. We call it air traffic control for road freight.

Taking our lead from the Aecom report, and through our own research into major construction sites and attendance at London logistics forums, we estimate that approximately 20% of all HGV vehicles delivering to London construction sites are being turned away due to on-site delays, missed time slots, or bottle necks. One

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O2D is a free app that can be downloaded onto a smart device to link up deliveries, their GPS locations, and rerouting systems.

major construction site in London receives 27,000 deliveries annually, of which 5,400 are turned away. If each turned away vehicle travels an average of ten extra miles, that’s a total of 54,000 unnecessary road miles – the equivalent to driving twice around the world. And that’s just one London construction site.

Those 54,000 extra miles produce 64,000kg of CO2 and other harmful gases. This developer alone has 12 live sites in London. That is 771,000kg of CO2 and other harmful gases being pumped into our atmosphere every year from inefficient deliveries, sobering figures for a city that is desperately trying to reduce its high pollution levels.

Our initiative aims to reduce the number of inefficient deliveries across London, and therefore the number of collisions and injuries to pedestrians and cyclists caused by construction vehicles. We also hope to reduce the amount of CO2, NOx, and other harmful emissions produced by these vehicles, and reduce congestion and road wear and tear.

O2D helps to improve driver behaviour through education, and it is unique in the way it ties the supply chain and local authorities together. It doesn’t require the purchase of expensive equipment. It is a free app that can be downloaded onto a smart device to link up deliveries, their GPS locations, and rerouting systems. This provides full visibility of any delivery in the system to suppliers, site managers, local authorities, and other key stakeholders.

The O2D app supports not only road safety and environmental targets but also reduces the number of HGV movements, while supporting wider agendas. During the planning stages, construction sites must demonstrate how they can mitigate the impact of the build on the local community. O2D can function as a planned measure on the construction logistics plan. Not only can it divert deliveries based on-site time zones (e.g. avoiding peak pedestrian times), but it can also detail vehicle type and load so local authorities can monitor the planned number of vehicles against the actual number and confirm FORS status. This enables councils to place new measures on the developers if they breach their CLP. It can also

18 LAPV Autumn 2019

identify incidents of construction vehicles using residential roads not agreed in the plan, supporting local communities and the wellbeing of local residents.

To increase local employment opportunities, the app has a ‘solo driver’ feature, which allows small delivery firms or self-employed drivers to access the same features as large organisations, free of charge. This supports ‘local jobs for local people’ initiatives and the data is tracked through our management system.

Businesses can reduce their environmental impact and carbon footprint by using O2D and increase their security as every delivery has a driver profile, vehicle type, and number plate attached. Alerts can be generated if the vehicle or photo ID does not match the vehicle on the map. O2D is also piloting a new approach for the logistics sector and the system can gather previously unattainable statistical information, which can inform authorities for future strategies.

We hope this solution will revolutionise construction logistics, reduce harmful emissions, and further safeguard vulnerable road users, benefitting London and beyond.

About the author Noel Byrne spent 30 years supporting the construction industry, holding board positions with market leaders for operations and sales. Noel now focuses on providing strategic support to a range of businesses through his own consultancy, as well as co-founding Arriva Digital, which provides disruptive technology solutions to make the industry greener and safer. Additionally, he has an advisory role on the ‘See Me Save Me’ campaign and is on the board of the British and Irish Trading Alliance.

Hosted by

Future Fleet Awards 2020 22 January 2020 | Guildhall, London

The most innovative strategic, safety, and sustainability initiatives in the UK fleet management sector will be recognised at a lavish awards ceremony at LAPV’s Future Fleet Forum in January 2020. Hosted by the City of London, the Awards are supported by the City of New York, City of Montreal, CILT and the City of London Police.

2020 award categories include: Best fleet/road safety initiative Outstanding young professional Most innovative fleet management strategy Industry personality of the year Most sustainable fleet management department City Mark Award: Transport Operator Young industry champion (under 30) City Mark Award: Driver of the Year Lifetime achievement award

BEST FLEET / ROAD SAFETY INITIATIVE Gateshead Council

YOUNG INDUSTRY CHAMPION (UNDER 30) Leeds City Council

MOST INNOVATIVE FLEET MANAGEMENT STRATEGY City of Calgary

CITY MARK AWARD: TRANSPORT OPERATOR McGee Group

MOST SUSTAINABLE FLEET MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT Oxford City Council

CITY MARK AWARD: DRIVER OF THE YEAR Simply Waste

LIFE TIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD Roadpeace

Raise your company profile at the Future Fleet Awards 2020 The 2020 award categories have now been announced. To find out how you can get involved contact Ann Marie Knegt am.knegt@hgluk.com for further details or call +44 (0)1935 374 001

awards.futurefleetforum.co.uk

air quality

Why robust data is the key to cleaner air Air pollution has risen up the national agenda recently. Channel 4’s Dispatches exposed the shocking levels of pollution that school children encounter every day and Newham has become the first UK council to install air monitoring equipment in schools. Jason Airey and Glen Davies talk to LAPV about the myths and challenges of tackling air pollution.

‘T

Jason Airey, MD at CMS SupaTrak.

here are lots of misconceptions about air pollution and lots of people have their heads in the sand,’ says Jason Airey MD of connected fleet specialist CMS SupaTrak and organiser of the OWL (Optimised Waste & Logistics) partnership. This year OWL launched the Clean Air Project. Using OWL’s country-wide roadshows, the partnership has focused on education around air pollution and is examining how the waste and logistics industries can do more. Jason argues that air pollution is not yet well understood and this impacts mitigation strategies.

Take air quality monitoring. Static monitors are widely used by councils to sample air quality, but they only take readings in specific spots, which raises certain issues. For example, the readings could be very different on another part of the same road. In addition, some of the static monitors in use don’t measure all the different gasses and

Glen Davies, Transport Specialist at H2H Solutions.

The OWL CLean Air Project is using the partnership's nationwide network to educate the industry about air pollution and what can be done about it.

20 LAPV Autumn 2019

particulates that make up air pollution and so it can be argued that static monitors can provide a misleading, and at times convenient, picture.

‘The problem is that everyone is scared of the data,’ says Jason.

‘Understandably, no council wants to be branded as the worst in the country for air quality just because they are monitoring it more thoroughly than their neighbours.’

But Jason believes that honest and robust monitoring is, in fact, the key to coming up with successful solutions and this is why CMS SupaTrak is taking on the problem. ‘It is only when you fully understand the problem that you can truly tackle it. Otherwise, your efforts might have no impact at all.’

CMS has been in business for more than 25 years and the business has evolved as industry challenges have changed and

NI Waste Expo 2019

Thursday 3 October 2019 | Titanic, Belfast Join us for a day of all things municipal and fleet.

This OWL Affiliated event is designed to help both local authority and private waste operators understand the benefits of the very latest vehicles and technologies.

CILT award CPD hours for attendance at OWL events

There will be seminars covering topics such as EU vehicle legislation, managing driver risk and the latest vehicle safety systems plus an exhibition of best in class waste sector suppliers and vehicles.

Register free at: niwasteexpo19.eventbrite.co.uk or visit www.supatrak.com/owl for info about OWL events.

Reduce your costs

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Reduce your carbon footprint

CMS SupaTrak manage the OWL Partnership on behalf of the OWL partners.

Protect your workforce

To find out about exhibitor opportunities, or to be added to the OWL mailing list email: sally.cumner@supatrak.com

Data from the mobile monitor is collected and overlaid onto a heat map showing pollution hot spots.

emerging technology has enabled the development of new solutions. ‘We believe that not only does it make commercial sense for us to be at the forefront of new technologies related to air quality monitoring, but that we also have a moral obligation and corporate responsibility to drive up standards within our industry and to push for beneficial change for the good of us all,’ says Jason.

OWL is currently working with its partners to evaluate how multipurposing refuse trucks with mobile air quality monitoring devices can provide a more accurate picture of air pollution. Refuse vehicles already tour the same streets regularly, so the idea is to use them to capture real-time air quality data. Pollution is affected by a myriad of Professor Roland Leigh from Earthsense, pictured speaking at OWL Cardiff.

Earthsense developed the Zephyr air quality sensor that will be fitted to RCVs to collect the data for the Clean Air Project.

22 LAPV Autumn 2019

factors, including weather conditions, how buildings are positioned, and volumes of traffic, so simple steps such as changing sign-posted routes for pedestrians and cyclists to avoid certain points at certain times in certain months could make a positive difference. 'Accurate and real-time data provides the level of detail required to take these decisions and change behaviours,' argues Jason.

Earlier this year Dennis Eagle fitted CMS’s mobile air quality monitor to its demo truck and data has been plotted onto a heat map. ‘It has been a real eye-opener,’ says Jason. ‘The data we’re seeing is helping councils really understand in detail when and where their problem areas are and how they are performing against UK and WHO targets.’

The OWL Clean Air Project has support from Parliament. Barry Sheerman MP is Chairman of OWL and he also chairs the Global Network for Road Safety Legislators and is Chairman of the UK’s Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety. Later this year OWL plans to set up the Clean Air Committee with the purpose of advising on the introduction of improved laws and standards for air quality monitoring.

City of London – embracing better data The City of London Council is a forward-thinking council that has been working closely with OWL to better understand pollution data.

‘The council wanted to start by ensuring the quality of data from the mobile monitors,’ explains Jason. ‘It is hard to believe but there’s currently no certification for short-form monitors so we’ve had to prove that ours are accurate.

'For several months our mobile data has been compared to City of London’s static data and ratified. The City of London is now confident that our monitors are robust, and they are happy to progress with the installation of mobile monitors onto a Euro VI refuse vehicle.’

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air quality

CMS SupaTrak has compared its mobile data against the City of London’s static data and ratified this and the council is moving forward with the implementation of air quality monitors on a Euro VI refuse collection vehicle.

Impact on workforce Another topic that most people would rather not think too much about is the effect of air pollution on those who drive vehicles for a living.

Glen Davies from H2H Solutions, who helped establish FORS while working at TfL, is now an independent consultant working with vehicle operators, manufacturers, regulators, and lobby groups for healthier and safer streets.

‘It is well documented that professional drivers have a reduced life expectancy,' says Glen. 'This is often attributed to lifestyle choices, such as unhealthy diets and insufficient exercise, but we are now seeing emerging evidence that in-cab pollution can contribute to poor health. Not only is this bad news for professional drivers, but it also means that employers that don’t address this could be perceived as not doing enough to protect the health of their employees.’

The British Heart Foundation’s research shows that air pollution affects our hearts and circulation by damaging the walls of blood vessels, making them narrower and harder. This increases blood pressure, makes blood more likely to clot, and ultimately leads to an increase in heart attacks and strokes.

‘It is a common misconception that keeping the windows closed and relying on a vehicle’s in-cab filters will help,’ says Glen. ‘The gases and particles of pollution that are so damaging to health – PM2.5 and NOx – are far too small to be captured. It is also a misconception that drivers of electric vehicles are less affected.

Current technology means that, because of reduced energy available to systems other than the engine, EVs can actually have less effective ventilation systems.’

But it’s not all bad news. Manufacturers of some vehicles are already ahead of the game. Road sweepers, by their very nature, lift up dirt and particles of pollution into the atmosphere and for some

24 LAPV Autumn 2019

time have been identified as a contributor to the problem. This has led to the introduction of pollution standards to protect pedestrians and it is now possible to purchase road sweeper vehicles that incorporate filters specially designed to protect the driver.

Sources of pollution So, where is all this air pollution coming from? You would be forgiven for assuming that it is all down to the so-called cleaner types of diesel that turned out to be a bit too good to be true. However, many things contribute to poor air quality, including particles from brake dust and tyres, static polluters such as fast food restaurants, the burning of fossil fuels, and even weather conditions.

According to the World Health Organisation, air pollution accounts for seven million premature deaths worldwide every year, and the Royal College of Physicians estimates that it is responsible for 40,000 premature deaths in the UK every year. Moreover, around 91% of the world’s population live in areas that exceed the WHO’s guideline limits.

These are sobering figures, but there are steps we can all take to make a difference. Firstly, councils should educate themselves about air pollution. You can join the OWL Clean Air Project. Become an OWL Clean Air Partner and contribute to driving vital change in our industry and help to introduce new laws and standards that will save lives. OWL Clean Air Partners can also access turn-key information and materials to help enhance their corporate social responsibility profiles.

To find out more about OWL and the OWL Clean Air Project go to www.supatrak.com/owl.

The next OWL Roadshow takes place in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on 3 October 2019. To register for the event go to: www.niwasteexpo19.eventbrite.co.uk

Sweeper focus

Aebi Schmidt Aebi Schmidt supplies and maintains all-year-round surface clearing equipment to municipal, highways, airports and agricultural clients. Tobias Weissenrieder, Director of R&D and Product Management, tells LAPV about the company's street sweeping range.

What does your current sweeper range look like?  Aebi Schmidt has a comprehensive sweeper range that currently consists of four popular and versatile models.

Our recently launched Multigo 150 is a compact and multi-functional sweeper, which can deliver five functions across all seasons: sweeping, scrubbing (with optional scrubbing deck), grass cutting, and de-icing and snow clearing. At just 3.5 tonnes, the Multigo can be driven with a standard Category-B licence. Its articulated nature makes it perfect for working around street furniture and tight spaces that rigid body sweepers struggle to access.

The Swingo 200+ is our best-selling compact cleaner. Powered by the latest diesel engine, which complies with Euro 6c emission standards, its combination of low running costs and high performance has made it a favourite with local authorities. We have just added a new zero-emissions electric version, the eSwingo 200+. Clean, quiet and cost-efficient, this machine could save up to 158kg of CO2 per day. In tests, the eSwingo was able to travel 190km from the factory in St Blasien to the Swiss city of Thun on a single charge and still had 14% power left in the battery.

Larger but still compact, the Cleango 500 combines the holding capacity of a large mounted sweeper with the flexibility of a compact. Now available with a Euro 6c-compliant diesel engine offering speeds of up to 60kph, this sweeper is ideal for clearing roads in towns and industrial areas.

Finally, there’s the top-of-the-range, truck-mounted Street King 660.

Designed for durability and fast and efficient street cleaning, this machine remains popular thanks to its array of special features, fast working times, and low operating costs.

What type of training, servicing, and spare parts arrangements do you offer?  We are different from our competitors in that we provide OE spare parts distributed directly from our warehouse. Our primary stores are located at our UK head office in Peterborough, with a satellite depot in Glasgow. Our group central stores are next to Hannover airport, enabling us to move parts quickly around our global network. We provide training for drivers and engineers on all equipment and tailor our service offerings to meet customers’ needs. A team of technically-trained service advisors works with customers on fault diagnosis to minimise downtime, while a national team of field-based engineers is on call to respond quickly to customer requirements.

Who are your main clients?  We work with three main customers groups: local authorities, the contractors who provide services to councils, and corporate customers.

What sets you apart from other sweeper manufacturers?  Although we are a large company, we adopt a family approach, interacting directly with customers rather than through third parties. Customers can also connect with our R&D department and our engineers if they have an

26 LAPV Autumn 2019

issue. And the operation of our products is based on customer feedback to ensure they are as safe and reliable as possible.

What trends and developments have you seen over the last couple of years?  Electrification is certainly a key development. The eSwingo is our first allelectric machine, and we expect to have a complete electric sweeper range in the next five to seven years. However, we are not just going down the batteryelectric route. We are actively researching fuel cells as a potential alternative fuel source for the future. Another key development will be the move to increased remote diagnostics through greater use of solutions such as telematics.

What are your clients’ main drivers?  With a warming climate, people are spending more time outside, and local authorities want to provide as clean an urban environment as possible.

Research has shown that people feel safer and more secure in a clean environment and that is certainly one of the key drivers for our customers.

What role does sustainability play in your operations?  As well as electrification, we are moving towards only using renewable energy. We expect our plant to be powered by renewable sources within the next two to three years. We also have a target to be carbon neutral within the next five to ten years, dramatically reducing our carbon footprint.

How do you see the future of street cleansing vehicles developing?  We see a move towards greater autonomy, with operators able to use our sweepers to assess whether an area needs cleaning, rather than simply sending the machine out to the same place day-in, day-out. However, we do not want to remove the human element, so we are not looking at completely autonomous operation.

Schmidt Street King 660 | Keeping you sweeping for longer

A service experience second to none At Aebi Schmidt we believe in the exceptional quality and reliability of our PUUV]H[P]L HUK YVI\Z[ Z^LLWPUN LX\PWTLU[ >P[O LɉJPLU[ LUNPULZ SHYNL OVWWLYZ HUK V\[Z[HUKPUN KYP]LY JVTMVY[ :JOTPK[ :^LLWLYZ ^PSS RLLW `V\ Z^LLWPUN MVY SVUNLY 7S\Z HSS :JOTPK[ LX\PWTLU[ ILULÄ[Z MYVT V\Y ;V[HS 3PML[PTL *HYL ;3* JVTTP[TLU[ KLSP]LYPUN [OL OPNOLZ[ SL]LSZ VM ZHML[` Z\WWVY[ HUK ZLY]PJL www.aebi-schmidt.co.uk

Sales 01733 363393 | Service 01733 363400 | Parts 01733 363336

AS_2019_A4 SK660_AW.indd 1

08/03/2019 12:08

Hako UK Hako UK provides street cleaning solutions to the commercial, industrial, and municipal sectors. As well as its extensive product offering, Hako has a national network of trained engineers who provide service support to customers, writes MD Sylvie Giangolini.

What does your current sweeper range look like?  Our Citymaster range of sweepers is popular with local authorities in the UK and we are seeing sales growth year-on-year thanks to the machines’ multifunctionality, low running costs, robustness, reliability, and back up service.

The smallest Citymaster in the range is the 600, and its compact and agile design makes it ideal for accessing confined spaces. Next up is the fourwheel-drive Citymaster 1250, which at 2.6 tonnes is robustly built and designed to be hydraulically articulated. Then there’s the multifunctional and versatile Citymaster 1600, which can be driven on a Class B licence and weighs in at 3.5 tonnes. This is at the top end of the Hako compact sweeper range.

Finally, we have the Citymaster 2200, which is the largest machine in the Hako sweeper line up. With a payload of 2.9 tonnes on a six-tonne frame and a travel speed of 62kmph, this is the ideal sweeper for larger areas.

Developed to provide best possible running costs, safety and flexibility, the quick-change system allows the sweeping system to be demounted quickly and easily. It is one of the most versatile street cleaning machines on the market and a great workhorse all year round.

What type of training, servicing, and spare parts arrangements do you offer?  Based in Crick, Northamptonshire, Hako has a fully equipped training facility to train both staff and customers as required. And we provide peace of mind to our customers through our Advantage service and maintenance plan, which is taken up by more than half of our council clients and 70% of industrial customers. Councils can choose to tailor their service programme by choosing one of our Added Advantage packages.

Who are your main clients?  The breadth of our product range, which includes cleaning equipment from floor scrubbers right up to the 2200 Citymaster sweeper, means we have customers in virtually every sector from councils to logistics and warehousing businesses, retail, leisure, car parks, and airports.

Hako is also making inroads into the municipal sector. Our sales in this sector were up by more than 70% in 2018 and we are having a recordbreaking year so far in 2019. Our local authority customers in the UK include councils in Nottingham, Edinburgh, Cambridge, Newcastle, Exeter, Sunderland, Oxford, Barnet, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Amber Valley, Hull, South Lakeland, and Forest Heath.

What sets you apart from other sweeper manufacturers?  We receive a lot of great feedback from our council clients, and the majority of the comments tend to focus on the quality, reliability, and efficiency of our Citymaster machines. Customers also like the high sweeping performance these machines provide, their agility, and their ease of use.

28 LAPV Autumn 2019

Which trends and developments have you seen over the last couple of years?  There is a definite shift towards cleaner engines and Hako designers continue to develop ever more efficient power units, dust filtration systems for both indoor and outdoor equipment, improved battery lifecycles for indoor equipment, and an increased focus on safety and comfort for operators.

What role does sustainability play in your operations?  Sustainability is fundamental to our business and also to our customers, particularly those in the local authority sector. Hako engineers in Germany and around the world are developing electric and hybrid engines to ensure our machines have the lowest possible emissions.

What are your clients’ main drivers?  Robustness, flexibility, value for money, reliability, and great back up service. Local authorities need value for money, which equates to top performance and low running costs. The versatility of our Hako machines is a major benefit for our customers. Instead of buying a specialist machine for snow clearance, which sits around for ten months of the year, local authorities can instead buy a high quality, multifunctional street sweeper that can quickly switch roles and perform the winter jobs just as efficiently.

How do you see the future of street cleansing vehicles developing?  Hako machines will continue to become cleaner and greener, and we believe that the market will see an increase in adoption of electric and hybrid solutions. There will also be growth in demand for multifunctional, easy-to-use machines. Tighter budgets mean customers will continue to require lower running costs, so reliability, longevity, and flexibility are going to be key.

Telematics systems are also becoming more important as these enable customers to better audit their use of equipment.

Times have changed!

Work smarter, work the Hako multifunctional way Municipal cleaning technology has transformed over the last 40 years. Hako offer a complete range of multifunctional cleaning machines that allow a user to efficiently sweep, mow, plough and scrub public spaces of all sizes.

Keeping your equipment working at its best is now even easier. From a telephone hotline to comprehensive service support, Hako offer a service and maintenance package tailored to your exact needs.

For a free, no obligation quotation call 01788 825600.

Make it happen | Make it Hako

Hako Citymaster 600

Hako Citymaster 1600 Winter Maintenance

• Bespoke service packages • Free 50 hour service

• Pay on demand service

• Free site surveys and demonstrations

sales@hako.co.uk | Tel: 01788 825600 | www.hako.co.uk

LAPV_FACTS_V1.indd 1

30/07/2019 12:01

Johnston Sweepers Johnston Sweepers has been manufacturing road sweepers in Surrey for more than 75 years, and is one of the world’s leaders in street cleansing vehicles, writes UK Sales and Marketing Manager Graham Howlett.

What does your current sweeper range look like?  Johnston offers a wide range of sweepers from the CN101 sub-compact sweeper that is just 1m3 to a 32-tonne, 14m3 rear-suction S14000 sweeper.

We have 21 models available in the UK, with more planned in 2020.

What type of training, servicing, and spare parts arrangements do you offer?  Johnston has five demonstration driver/trainers and we provide a comprehensive operator training course for our sweepers. In combination with the J Hidtved Larsen company in the UK, we also have seven service centres and more than 50 field service technicians to provide service support. Our world parts centre based in Dorking holds more than £7m worth of parts on the shelf. We have a 97% first pick rate on parts and a 95% OTIF (on time in full) rate for parts delivery in the UK.

Who are your main clients?  Our customers are largely municipals, facilities management companies, rental companies, and the construction industry.

What sets you apart from other sweeper manufacturers?  Innovation and great quality. Johnston was the first manufacturer to introduce a truck-mounted road sweeper in 1957, and we have been innovating ever since. Thanks to the success of Johnston Sweepers and investment from Bucher Municipal, we are able to invest more than £3.5m per year into R&D. The new V range (V502, V652, and V802) is the best truck-mounted sweeper we have ever produced. Each of the products has class-leading features, which offer our customers a great return on investment.

What trends and developments have you seen over the last couple of years?  Alternative fuels have been the biggest area of interest for our customers, and both Johnston and Bucher have worked on developing CNG-powered sweepers, HVO-approved engines, and full-electric sweepers. We have also built a fully autonomous sweeper, but this is some way off being available as a product. The other major trend is for improving safety and direct vision. The proliferation of driver aids means that vehicles have never been safer. In addition, tracking systems do more than just track. Johnston has teamed up with CMS to offer Smartlink, which provides a full telematics package to show the productivity of sweepers in detail. Rear-suction sweepers for the contractor market have also seen a resurgence in the last few years.

What are your clients’ main drivers?  Each customer has a different driver. The total cost of ownership is still high on the list for most, so price, reliability, and aftersales support are still among the

30 LAPV Autumn 2019

most important factors in purchasing decisions. However, low emissions and clean air requirements, together with safety, ease-of-use, and driver acceptance have a significant influence on the decision-making process.

What role does sustainability play in your operations?  Sustainability has a huge role in our group operations. Bucher Municipal has committed to manufacturing world-class products in a sustainable manner.

Our factory in Dorking has won a Green Apple Award for design, and we have won several awards for our environmental manufacturing standards. We believe we are the first sweeper company to be accredited with ISO 50001 for energy management alongside our 140001 accreditation for environmental management. Approximately 70% of the parts for our V range sweepers are sourced in the UK to reduce our carbon footprint, and we look to use recyclable materials where possible.

How do you see the future of street cleansing vehicles developing?  Before 18 September 2015 (the VW engine investigation), I would have said lower fuel consumption in diesel engines. Before June 2016, I would probably have said closer ties with European legislation to meet engine emissions.

So sometimes it’s better not to guess and instead to prepare for the unexpected.

Currently, the demand for alternative fuels is driving development and we see electrification as very important in the near future, closely followed by hydrogen fuel cells and then hydrogen engines. As bodybuilders, we watch chassis manufacturers closely to see what they are developing. We also think the Internet of Things will continue to develop as smart cities evolve, and we expect to see sweepers talking to signposts, which will report on detritus levels and air quality conditions and direct sweepers to the areas where they are most needed. We also expect a greater level of autonomy in sweepers. We have seen huge investment since the VW engine investigation, and we are only a small company in comparison to the automotive manufacturers.

Scarab Sweepers Scarab Sweepers is a global manufacturer and supplier of road sweepers. Its range of single-engine, twinengine, and CNG powered truck-mounted and compact sweepers are designed to cover all aspects of municipal, urban or heavy-duty contracting work, writes UK Sales Manager Simon Stringer.

What does your current sweeper range look like?  Scarab offers a range of truck-mounted sweepers as well as several compacts, which can be mounted on 67 different chassis. Options include high-pressure water, overhead or rear-mounted boom, an auxiliary or third brush, painting schemes, scrub decks, weed brush attachments, and a variety of lighting schemes. The many variations allow us to produce bespoke sweepers, tailored to our clients’ specific needs.

What type of training, servicing, and spare parts arrangements do you offer?  We have six Scarab instructors who deliver one-day courses at clients’ premises, covering all aspects of machine operation, operator maintenance, settings and brush selection for varying applications, and health and safety.

Our highly-trained UK field service engineers are available on request for support throughout the UK. We also have a range of fleet servicing packages.

Clients can choose from a service-only contract or a complete repair and maintenance contract. We hold parts stock at our HQ and manufacturing facility in Marden, Kent for fast availability. We only use genuine Scarab parts to keep vehicles in factory-fresh condition. Our main parts warehouse holds more than £3 million of stock and our first pick rate is 98%.

Who are your main clients?  We are a global supplier, supplying to customers in the construction industry, local authorities, airports, warehouses, and parks, to name just a few sectors. We have specific models tailored to the contractor market, but we also supply to businesses such as Sainsbury’s and Toyota, and we sell a range of models to most of the large hire companies.

What sets you apart from other sweeper manufacturers?  We are the pioneers of single-engine, truck-mounted sweeper technology, which provides customers with a different approach to cost-effectiveness.

While many manufacturers are focusing on electric vehicles, their carbon neutral operation is often outweighed by the burning of fossil fuels at the point of production and generating the power for the vehicles.

While we are also investigating electric, we have taken a different approach. Normal twin-engine, truck-mounted sweepers typically use a truck engine manufactured to the latest emissions standards. But the secondary engine powering the sweeping equipment usually doesn’t meet the latest legislation, meaning higher emissions and lower fuel efficiency. So, since the 1980s, Scarab has used hydrostatic power. Our hydrostatic gearbox uses the truck’s power to drive both vehicle and sweeping equipment, requiring only one engine. This can save as much as 30% on fuel, mile for mile, and halve emissions of NOx, PM, and CO2.

We were also the first manufacturer to supply all our sweepers with a CANbus control and diagnostics system, which simplifies the operating system, improves ergonomics, and reduces maintenance.

32 LAPV Autumn 2019

What trends and developments have you seen over the last couple of years?  There are a number of key trends influencing the market at present, including an increase in European Whole Vehicle Type Approval legislation that we have to conform to, resulting in safer machinery and conformity of production. However, climate change remains a major driver, which is why we continue to develop our single-engine technology, and we are proactively investigating new technologies such as CNG, hydrogen, and electric power.

HVO/GTL is also interesting. Combined with our single-engine ethos, it allows us to offer an immediate, cost-effective solution that helps the environment.

What are your clients’ main drivers?  Environmental concerns are a top priority, particularly with the continuing expansion of LEZs and CAZs. Understandably, cost is also important, and while alternative fuels are becoming more available, infrastructure remains a frustration. Finally, aftersales and customer care are very important.

What role does sustainability play in your operations?  Sustainability is very important to us. We have recently invested in a new laser cutter, which reduces waste, and all our scrap metal is recycled. We also use water-based paints because they have fewer harmful emissions and improve employee health and safety.

We take a cradle-to-grave approach for all our machines and achieve 90% recyclability of our products. We are also actively engaged with the EUnited Municipal Organisation to ensure our machines meet the highest standard for PM10 and PM2.5 reduction.

How do you see the future of street cleansing vehicles develop?  In this industry, innovation will always focus on minimising environmental impact and maximising return on investment. We will continue to listen to customers and look to the latest, greenest technology to improve operation, efficiency, and whole life costs. And we will continue to champion the singleengine approach. In combination with HVO/GTL, clients can see an immediate benefit today with a lasting effect for tomorrow.

A single engine to power it all

Our single engine sweepers benefit from:  Less fuel consumption  Lower noise  Lower engine emissions  Less maintenance costs  Greater payload

Which is better for:  Global warming  Health  Government pollution

reduction targets  Noise pollution  Reducing PM’s and NOx’s

Find out how our single engined sweepers can help you achieve your environmental policy targets For more information or to arrange a sweeper demonstration call +44 (0)1622 831006

or visit www.scarab-sweepers.com

Bunce powered

by Boschung Bunce UK is a specialist manufacturer of cleaning and clearing machines and attachments for municipalities, highway authorities, and airports. The company is now part of Swiss surface-management manufacturer Marcel Boschung and the distributor for Boschung’s products in the UK, writes Bunce UK MD Patrick Fringeli.

What does your current sweeper range look like?

last couple of years?

 The Boschung Group offers a wide range of compact and truck-mounted sweepers from 2m³ up to 9m³. For the UK market, we started with the S2 and S2.0, a 3.5-tonne compact sweeper with a capacity of 2m³ and 1.2 tonne payload. The S2 is the diesel version with a VW Stage EuroMot3b engine and fuel consumption of just four litres per hour on average. The S2.0 is a highly sophisticated fully-electric road sweeper with the same capabilities as its diesel equivalent.

 We have seen increased demand for 3.5 tonne vehicles in the 2m³ compact sweeper class because these can be driven with a regular driving licence, which makes it easier for our customers to recruit operations staff.

Another growing trend is the use of vehicle tracking and performance monitoring by operators and use of the data gathered to improve fleet performance through more efficient routes, for example. This can help reduce the operational cost of sweepers and helps to cover the dedicated cleaning area in the best possible way.

What type of training, servicing, and spare parts arrangement do you offer?  Boschung offers bespoke operation and mechanical training for customers here in the UK. The training courses are carried out by our UK specialists and are intended to provide the customer with the necessary know-how to use the vehicles to their optimal potential.

A spare parts stock based in Swindon carries all the spares for the UK market. We believe that fast and reliable delivery of spare parts to customers is crucial for a sustainable partnership.

Who are your main clients?  The main clients of both Bunce and Boschung are city and county councils, vehicle rental companies, and road maintenance and street cleansing firms. Bunce also offers spot hire and rental vehicles to all clients.

What sets you apart from other sweeper manufacturers?  Boschung is an engineering and technology firm that has been manufacturing vehicles, equipment, and software for more than 70 years. The company provides a road conditions management package, not just vehicles.

As well as the necessary equipment and vehicles, this provides access to the BORRMA (Boschung Road and Runway Management) platform for fleet management, enabling operators to track and monitor the vehicles. For example, the dosage, spreading pattern and routing are autonomously controlled for winter maintenance. This lets the driver focus on the road and traffic while the vehicle is adjusting the optimal performance based on live data gathered by a road conditions sensor.

All these components are developed, manufactured and hosted by Boschung, therefore avoiding third-party connectivity issues.

What trends and developments have you seen over the 34 LAPV Autumn 2019

What are your clients’ main drivers?  Reliability of vehicles in daily operations, fast-response technical support, and short delivery times on spares. Clients need to be able to operate their fleets in the most efficient way, which means minimising downtime. For us as a supplier, our main focus is on ensuring we can offer our customers reliability of products and service and continue to improve this year after year.

What role does sustainability play in your operations?  Sustainability plays a very important role at Boschung and is key for our entrepreneurial development. The Boschung Technology Centre in Payerne, Switzerland, was built according to the latest industry standards concerning building sustainability. The Boschung Group is also committed to sustainability in energy supply. Our facility in Payerne is covered by a solar panel surface of 500m2, which delivers some 650 kWh in power. And since 1 January 2019, Boschung has exclusively used 100% green electricity produced by hydropower.

How do you see the future of street cleansing vehicles developing?  We will definitely see further developments in electric vehicles as well as other alternative fuel solutions in the near future. Diesel vehicles are likely to disappear from city centres thanks to the expansion of low emissions zones, although we believe diesel and petrol will maintain a significant market share for the next five years or so. The switch to a purely electric fleet requires investment in charging infrastructure to provide sufficient capacity in the depots and that has yet to happen in most cases. Our challenge is to develop vehicles that can exceed new emissions standards on both electric and conventional solutions.

sweeper supplement

Faun Zoeller UK Faun Zoeller UK is a supplier and manufacturer of road sweepers for private and public sectors. The combined resources of its parent company Kirchhoff Group have resulted in products and services clients can rely on, writes Chief Executive Simon Hyde.

What does your current sweeper range look like?  The Faun Viajet sweeper range is entirely based on chassis (truck) mounts. We do not offer anything smaller than 7.5 tonnes in our range, which means we concentrate all our efforts, research and development, and innovation on one main product line. We have many different options within the range including auxiliary engines, and hydrostatic and hydraulic drive train options. We can also offer alternative fuels such as CNG and electric drive and we are also currently working on developing a hydrogen option for introduction to the range in the future.

What type of training, servicing, and spare parts arrangements do you offer?  With every sweeper we provide, we offer a comprehensive range of aftersales care to the customer. This includes operator training, maintenance, and diagnostic training, which is provided alongside the support of our nationwide network of fully trained mobile field service engineers. We also have a large stockholding of parts in the UK for fast turnaround and can usually obtain non-stock items within 24 hours.

Who are your main clients?  Thanks to the outstanding performance of our machines, we do not chase the low-price, high-volume business in the UK. We believe that our machines will out-perform most other machines within the same category.

This means that the majority of our clients are either local authorities or private operators that take a longer-term view with regards to whole-life costs, product performance, and value for money.

We also pride ourselves on the product demonstrations that we provide, which are key to the end user understanding the value of the product. We sell our sweepers based on product performance and technical ability, not on initial CAPEX costs.

What trends and developments have you seen over the last couple of years?  The main trends centre around drive train requirements and the change in emissions legislation (Euro VI OBD-C). Customers are being pressured into exploring the more economical and more environmentally-friendly drive train options, such as CNG, hydrogen, and electrification. All of these options are either available now or are currently being developed by Faun Viajet.

What are your clients’ main drivers?  In our experience, our clients’ main drivers when choosing a sweeper are performance, durability, aftersales support and, inevitably, the price.

What role does sustainability play in your operations?  As part of the Kirchhoff Group, sustainability plays a huge part in our company within all four of our divisions. This is not just with regards to our products, but also within our whole business mantra. Investment in new products, sustainability, and innovation is always top of our agenda. We firmly believe that to provide service excellence, class-leading products, and a longterm, sustainable business to support our clients, we need to fully engage with our customer base. We take a truly consultative approach to understanding the needs of each customer, which then leads to a long-term solution for all parties.

How do you see the future of street cleansing vehicles developing?  We see the market changing at a rate of knots. CNG and electrification will be the first steps on the road to emissions reduction, but our view is that hydrogen will be the ‘go-to’ solution in the future.

What sets you apart from other sweeper manufacturers?  Our products are extremely well engineered and provide unrivalled performance. We have carried out many field tests on our machines and we can provide tangible reasons for customers to choose the Faun Viajet product.

These include both operational and financial benefits. We also have additional features on our products such as air recycling, larger water tanks, and larger hopper volumes, all of which come as standard on the Viajet range and benefit the end user.

Autumn 2019 LAPV 35

Stock Sweepers Stock Sweepers is a UK-based manufacturer that produces sweepers from its modern new facility in the Forest of Dean. Tom Stock tells LAPV what the company has to offer.

What does your current sweeper range look like?  Stock Sweepers was founded in 1998 by Jeff Stock and it remains a family-owned and managed British company. We manufacture three primary models of chassis-mounted road sweeper, the S6400 with a 6.5m3 capacity, the S8400 with an 8.5m3 capacity, and the new S9400 Quadvac rear-suction road sweeper and road washer with a 9.5m3 capacity.

What type of training, servicing, and spare parts arrangements do you offer?  We offer customers a full support service including operator familiarisation training and on-going technical support. A full range of spare parts is held at our head office, available for next day delivery throughout the UK. As our customers are tending to keep their vehicles longer – in the public sector vehicle life is now up to seven years – we aim to maximise vehicle life and minimise vehicle downtime by using high-quality steel and components.

Each Stock Sweeper is supplied with four warranties included as standard: • 1 Year parts and labour for the whole sweeper body • 5 Years for the CanBus electrical control system • 5 Years for the sweeper body (hopper) paint.

• 3 years for the suction, make and break, top hat, and hopper door seals.

Who are your main clients?  Our customer base is wide and varied. In addition to commercial companies operating mainly in the road construction sector, we have a rapidly growing public sector presence. We are currently represented on all major public sector framework agreements. We supply local authorities throughout the United Kingdom and we export worldwide.

In order to meet the growing construction-industry requirement for safer surface excavation, we have also recently opened a production line to manufacture suction excavation machines.

What sets you apart from other sweeper manufacturers?  We are continually innovating. Our patented leaf-blowing system is the most effective method of removing leaves in rural/semi-rural conditions. It blows leaves off roads and footpaths into verges in one pass using the sweeper vacuum exhaust air by blowing it out from under the front of the chassis cab. It reduces non-productive off-site time and has considerable fuel and environmental savings by eliminating needless journeys to landfill sites.

In addition to manufacturing new sweepers, we have a sister company, Stock Remanufacturing, which specialises in the refurbishment and remanufacture of road sweepers. We can extend the life of existing sweepers or offer our customers a fully refurbished machine.

What trends and developments have you seen over the last couple of years? 

While not specifically related to road sweepers, we are seeing a strong

36 LAPV Autumn 2019

trend for councils bringing outsourced services back in-house, and this includes street cleaning and waste collection services. Within the company, we have considerable experience in assisting councils in the evaluation of their vehicle and procurement options.

What are your clients’ main drivers?  Our customers demand both value for money and reliability from their machines and we are continually seeking to work with them to improve both our product and the quality of service we provide. Our products will evolve and improve by listening to our customers’ requirements and we encourage all customers to visit our factory and discuss their future requirements.

What role does sustainability play in your operations?  Our sweepers are designed and manufactured in the UK. This year we moved into a larger purpose-built factory located in Cinderford, Gloucestershire, which has been built with sustainability in mind, including solar panels on the roof and a modern, efficient layout.

We also offer customers the option of fitting the HydroGen system to the sweeper’s auxiliary engine. Not only does this system reduce emissions to near zero, but it also increases fuel efficiency by up to 30%. Research conducted by the University of Sheffield has indicated that equipping the sweeper auxiliary engine with a hydrogen autonomous electrolyser could significantly reduce the vehicle’s overall engine emissions and particulate matter.

How do you see the future of street cleansing vehicles developing?  We will continue to work hard to meet all our customers’ requirements and provide the highest levels of support and customer service, which will be of increasing importance to customers, particularly local authorities. Our mission will never be to sell the greatest number of road sweepers, it is to build the best sweeper possible and offer value for money, particularly in terms of whole-life costs.

THIS IS NOT A CONCEPT - THIS IS REALITY!

ELECTRA COMMERCIAL VEHICLES Powered solely by electricity Supported by NRG Fleet Services Ltd

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recycling trucks

Lifting the lid on the new Kerbloader In a world where waste streams and recycling targets change constantly, the new Terberg Kerbloader recycling truck has been designed to provide the flexibility operators need, reports LAPV.

W

The Kerbloader SD is Terberg’s self-discharging multi-material collection solution developed specifically for kerbside operations that collect dry recyclables with an option to collect food waste as well.

ith the potential to collect as many as eight segregated recycling materials at once, the Terberg Kerbloader made one-pass collections a very attractive option. However, Terberg believes a recent redesign has significantly improved the vehicle’s efficiency and also tackles the problem of tyre-shredding.

Tyre-shredding results from vehicles driving over broken glass at waste transfer stations. Glass is usually tipped sideways from recycling vehicles, but as most glass bottles are round, they have an unfortunate habit of rolling under the wheels where they get crushed as the vehicle drives away. This damages tyres, which is a major headache for operators. Replacing them comes at a significant cost, and there is also an environmental impact to throwing out tyres prematurely, sometimes long before the end of their useful life.

Terberg Matec UK Managing Director Will Marzano said: ‘Our engineers have redesigned the Kerbloader to alleviate this problem.

Now glass is tipped from the rear of the vehicle and its trajectory takes it backwards, away from the truck. Then, as the vehicle drives forwards to leave the station, there’s very little risk of running over glass. It could save operators thousands of pounds a year as well as benefiting the environment.’

And that’s not all that’s new. While the vehicle was back on the design board, Terberg’s engineers took the opportunity to improve both the compacting and ejecting systems to increase the Kerbloader’s efficiency and ability to manage changing domestic waste streams. The rapid and continuing growth in online shopping is seeing greater volumes of cardboard collection from homes, for

38 LAPV Autumn 2019

example, so the Kerbloader uses a rear-mounted, heavy-duty cardpress system to maximise the quantities it can collect.

‘By improving the efficiency of our compaction system, the new vehicle can now pack more cardboard than ever before,’ says Will.

‘We’ve also given customers the option of three different sizes of tailgate where the cardboard is loaded – compact, standard, and extra large – to suit their different needs.’

Hatches on different compartments have been made larger to enable quicker and safer loading and to reduce collection times.

RFID coded safety switches are also fitted to hatches, which can be quickly and cheaply replaced should damage occur.

A viewing window is fitted to the scissor lift loading compartment so operators can see the level in the chamber. There is also the option of fitting internal LED lighting to each compartment of the vehicle to help operators monitor the levels and types of material.

‘While compartment size on most other recycling vehicles is fairly fixed, we can make compartments on the Kerbloader bigger or smaller – this is really the kind of flexibility the market needs,' explains Will. ‘We’ve also improved the automated plastic compaction system so we can pack more plastic than before. This means the new Kerbloader is delivering excellent operational efficiency. The customers who have had the vehicle on trial tell us that it loads faster, empties faster, and has greater capacity than anything else they have tried.’

Other improvements mean all controls – including the fast discharge of material – can now be operated from the cab itself,

recycling trucks

with the help of a Human Machine Interface (HMI) control screen.

This means crews don’t have to get out of the vehicle at waste transfer stations, which improves safety as well as speeding up the unloading process. The HMI screen also enables operation of the diagnostics systems.

Maximising payload by minimising weight has always been one of the key selling points of the Kerbloader. This is helped by the durable stainless aluminium and composite GRP body. The automated compaction and ejection mechanism for cans and plastics is not only lighter than a multistage hydraulic cylinder, but it is also much easier to maintain and packs faster, with cycle times of 15 seconds and an efficient pack-on-the-move function. No time is wasted.

In the waste and recycling industry, safety and efficiency often go hand-in-hand, and the improved speed and efficiency of the new Kerbloader have not compromised safety in any way. LED lighting is used both to illuminate the area around the vehicle body for safe and efficient loading, as well as in the internal compartments to help avoid cross contamination.

Terberg has also fitted a noise-reducing system to the glass collection compartments, developed through an on-going collaboration with the Health and Safety Executive aimed at reducing the noise of glass collection in recycling vehicles. And stillages are removed from the vehicle with a fork-lift truck to avoid the pushing and pulling injuries so often associated with manual handling.

The end result is a very safe, highly efficient, corrosion-free, lightweight vehicle with payloads of up to four tonnes.

The new Kerbloader was put through its paces at trade shows in May where feedback was excellent. And the demo vehicle has continued to impress wherever it has gone on trial since then.

Operations Supervisor Russell Broughton, who took the new vehicle on trial with Flintshire County Borough Council, said: ‘It holds a lot more, which gave us improved performance. The operation of the PTO system was much better. The noise levels were reduced and the discharge of the glass at the rear will clearly reduce tyre damage. Overall we couldn’t fault it and the crew enjoyed it too.’

The Kerbloader SD is available in both stainless steel and mild steel construction options. It offers 33m3 of total volume, achieving a payload of up to 3,800kg.

Autumn 2019 LAPV 39

TOPPER

A clearer vision on waste The UK generates 430 million tonnes of waste each year and the industry employs more than 160,000 workers. While 250,000 bins are collected each week without an issue, there have been a growing number of incidences of staff being harassed, verbally abused, or even assaulted. Steve Hurd talks to LAPV about what can be done.

D Camera systems can improve safety, inform training programmes, and reduce legal costs for councils from liability claims.

Below: Chris Dunn, Waste Operations and Fleet Manager from North East Lincolnshire.

isgruntled residents take their frustrations out on drivers over uncollected waste. Workers have been abused in road-rage incidents by drivers annoyed at being stuck behind refuse vehicles. Impatient drivers sometimes even mount the pavements or enter pedestrian areas to overtake RCVs, putting crews and the public at risk.

Now refuse crews, council bosses, trade unions and police have teamed up to highlight concerns over the abuse, violence, and reckless driving that endanger both staff and the public.

Steve Hurd, MD at Vision Techniques, understands the issues facing councils across the UK. ‘We receive many reports from our customers who are involved in incident claims that require investigation. The threat of violence against workers and false injury claims are an increasing concern for councils. We have had incidents where staff have been abused, the correct procedures had been followed, interviews with crew were conducted to determine the circumstances, but a lack of tangible evidence leaves companies in a

40 LAPV Autumn 2019

vulnerable position. We work with UK councils to improve safety and reduce expenditure on legal costs by installing onboard video camera technology.’

Rob Waby, Refuse and Recycling Manager from Cory Environmental, and Chris Dunn, Waste Operations and Fleet Manager from North East Lincolnshire, operate large fleets across Lincolnshire, providing a full range of services including waste collection, disposal, and ground maintenance. After a growing number of violent threats and an increase in liability claims, they approached Vision Techniques to discuss options for a vehicle recording system.

‘We received a phone call from the Highways Agency claiming we had damaged a manhole cover, and someone had fallen and broken a leg,’ says Chris. ‘A lengthy investigation followed, involving drivers, loaders, and residents, and it was discovered that a nearby property was having a new driveway built. During the build, a cement mixer was seen mounting the pavement and damaging the manhole.

Gathering the evidence and conducting the interviews took time and resources. It was at this point that we started thinking about ways to prevent or at least reduce the time it takes to investigate these types of claims.’

Investment in such a vehicle recording system needs careful consideration and both Chris and Rob decided to trial the system before committing to a fleet-wide rollout. It quickly proved its worth.

‘A gentleman made a claim against us, believing that we had driven over his front garden,’ says Roby Waby. ‘He reported that he had witnessed and was looking for £2,000 in damages to repair the damage. VT Record enabled us to review the day in question and the actions of the vehicle. We invited the gentleman to the depot to review the footage with us. It was clear that the vehicle was not the cause of the damage to his garden, at which point he apologised and left. This could have played out very differently without the system.’

These stories are not uncommon. ‘A man stepped in front of one of our vehicles and was clearly very upset because his bin wasn’t emptied,’ says Chris Dunn. ‘The staff were unaware of the circumstances that led to the man’s outburst and he pulled out a carjack and moved to attack our staff. The team pointed to the

road safety

cameras, but this didn’t stop him. He was soon arrested, and the footage was used against him. Without the system, we wouldn’t have been able to prove the actions of this individual to the police, so the system is invaluable to us in cases like this.’

Chris explains that there were a number of things to consider before implementing the system across the fleet. ‘We were worried our staff wouldn’t like these recording systems, thinking 'big brother' is watching them work. However, working in partnership with the unions, we conducted a number of toolbox talks with our management teams to educate them on the benefits of protecting them as employees and us as an employer. After a consultation period, all parties were more than happy for us to go ahead. Now they couldn’t live without it. The system helps our drivers as much as it helps us.’

VT Record from Vision Techniques has been implemented across the whole fleet and is instrumental in improving safety and efficiency throughout the operation. Protection of staff is paramount. VT Record is used to reduce workplace accidents and footage supports employee training and development.

Historically, identifying the causes of injuries or vehicle damage has been difficult. Was it carelessness on the part of the operator/ driver? Equipment failure? Injuries caused by bins coming off the lorry and damage to vehicles mounting kerbs and hitting street furniture can now be investigated by reviewing the footage with employees and agreeing to training programmes to reduce the risk of it happening again.

Rob adds that having a live system has also helped over the

winter months. ‘Heavy snow and icy conditions can cause problems, especially when crews are starting their shift at 6.30am. Checking the live cameras to assess the conditions and state of the roads means we can quickly issue the appropriate equipment to the crews.’

The VT Record live system has helped a growing number of councils reduce vehicle damage, accidents, and insurance claims and provides an accurate witness and irrefutable evidence in the case of an incident.

Incident footage can be reviewed with employees and training programmes agreed to minimise future incidents.

Autumn 2019 LAPV 41

Safeguards for fleet Sentinel Systems has rebranded to reflect the company’s focus on overall vehicle safety. While the business continues to produce reversing systems, MD John Little tells LAPV that the most in-demand products right now are camera and recording systems.

RVS has installed rear, forward and side-scan cameras and Sentinel’s LED cyclist warning sign to more than 20 vehicles.

‘T

he lifeblood of any company is innovation, and this will underpin future growth at Sentinel Systems,’ says Sentinel's managing director John Little. ‘We are heavily involved in the development of telematics and we are expanding our fleet management software to offer video footage in the cloud. This will allow us to provide customers with a "live view" at all times.’

Sentinel uses cloud-based Microsoft Azure, which enables instant uploads for review on the platform at any time. ‘These developments will give our customers much greater control of information from vehicle camera systems. We are also trialling a new camera tracking platform shared by Sentinel and a vehicle operator, which enables faster integration of information – we would be delighted to hear from tracker companies that would also like to integrate with us.’

The company’s most popular products include its Bike Hotspot system, designed to detect cyclists riding up the nearside of commercial vehicles, which won awards on its launch; its 360° SurroundView camera solutions; and radar and ultrasonic derivatives of its patented Safetystop reversing systems, which are offered with autobraking or LED alerter options.

Sentinel Systems also offers a range of camera and recording solutions that are proving popular in combatting vehicle fraud and crash-for-cash claims, as well as helping operators with driver training and the protection of vulnerable road users. Solutions range from standard reversing cameras with in-cab monitors through to sophisticated multi-camera systems. All are available with up to 50 days’ recording, combining high-resolution images with intuitive video analysis software and the opportunity to monitor vehicle operations remotely.

For recycling specialist SARIA, Sentinel has so far installed rear, forward and sidescan cameras and the LED cyclist warning sign to 45 vehicles.

42 LAPV Autumn 2019

The company works closely with each customer to determine the right safety solution, taking into consideration the daily challenges faced by drivers. ‘Our aim is to help eliminate risks associated with large vehicles operating in congested areas,' explains John. 'Sentinel is an associate member of FORS (The Fleet Operators Recognition Scheme), and we offer vehicle safety equipment to meet bronze, silver, and gold standards. We can also offer customers maintenance and emergency servicing, whereby we will send out an engineer regardless of the product or the company that supplied it.’

Sentinel Systems works with vehicle operators around the UK. At commercial vehicle hire business ND Brown, Sentinel installed safety systems to five commercial hire vehicles on a trial basis, after which the company decided that all new vehicles coming into the rental fleet would have the systems fitted as standard.

ND Brown’s Managing Director Mark Fernyhough said: ‘Fitting Sentinel’s camera and cyclist safety systems has enabled the company to become a CLOCS champion, and the only hire fleet in the UK accredited to FORS silver standard. We are committed to promoting best practice to reduce the risks on the road, on site, and especially to vulnerable road users.’

Sentinel has now installed more than 400 systems to ND Brown’s hire fleet, which includes asphalt hot boxes, insulated tippers, caged tippers, tipper grabs, road sweepers, gully emptiers, and 4x4s. In addition to reducing the chance of accidents, the cameras have also reduced fraudulent insurance claims.

Refuse Vehicle Solutions decided to install rear, forward and sidescan cameras from Sentinel Systems and its LED cyclist warning sign to more than 20 vehicles. The four cameras are connected to an in-cab monitor and record for up to 30 days, allowing RVS and its customers to use the footage to deal with any incidents.

RVS MD Spencer Law says: ‘We decided to install safety cameras for a number of reasons, the main one being driver protection. The cameras help to identify and reduce potential risks posed by other road users and provide evidence should a vehicle be involved in an incident where liability is disputed. We would definitely consider installing more of Sentinel’s camera systems in the future.’

For recycling specialist SARIA, Sentinel has so far installed rear, forward and side-scan cameras and the LED cyclist warning sign to 45 vehicles. Meanwhile, for Kinch Fuels, Sentinel has fitted the latest ‘live view’ camera system to its fleet of fuel road tankers.

Owner Roy Kinch says: ‘We recognised the benefits of an allround view of the vehicle, particularly when slow manoeuvring in tight spaces. Our remote operations centre now also has the capability to see images live from any camera on the vehicle.’

Don’t take risks with your transport responsibilities You have the responsibility to make the right choice for your next transport provider.

Safety, efficiency and environmental protection are key considerations for any project requiring the use of commercial vehicles.

FORS – the Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme – is the go to transport industry accreditation scheme with over 5,000 members across the UK and Europe.

For a safer, smarter, greener future, get on board with FORS.

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29th Annual Winter Maintenance Conference and Exhibition

COLD COMFORT 2020

13th and 14th May 2020 | Harrogate Convention Centre

A platform for driving technology and change in the winter sector

Reserve your stand space today Supported by:

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Selling the journey Just why is there such a skills shortage in fleet management and how can the industry resolve it? That was the hot topic at a special roundtable debate in June organised by the SOE and chaired by Ann-Marie Knegt, Editor of LAPV.

R

The industry roundtable debate took place at the SOE headquarters on June 15, 2019.

epresentatives from public and private fleet operators sat down together this summer to thrash out the key challenges in recruitment and discuss what more the industry can do to tell its story in a way that resonates with younger generations.

The shortage of drivers, mechanics, and technicians was revealed to be an issue of concern across the industry, for both public and private organisations. ‘The UK has the lowest level of unemployment since 1974, but we are on the wrong side of that,’ said Phil Clifford, Independent Fleet Consultant.

Knock-on issues include keeping up with the latest technology, staying on top of compliance, and simply keeping vehicles on the road. Phil Clifford pointed out that it is not just drivers and mechanics the industry is lacking, but fleet managers with the necessary skills and mindsets, while John Steeds, former Fleet Manager for New Forest District Council, highlighted the lack of coherence in initiatives aimed at solving the problem. ‘There is no set agenda; everyone is going in their own direction.’

As to why recruitment is such an issue, the finger was pointed not only at a lack of money in local government to pay attractive salaries but also a lack of engagement from and with schools and

44 LAPV Autumn 2019

careers advice services that are failing to promote the industry among school leavers.

‘There is a lack of perspective on the wider world among school leavers,’ said Norman Harding, Fleet Manager for Hackney Council.

‘What they see on the high street is what they know. They do not understand the supply chain that supports retail. Those who do aspire to be technicians imagine working in glamorous workshops on luxury cars, but that is not the reality, particularly for HGV fleets.’

Sarah Maxwell from the City of London agreed that the lack of ‘glamour’ is a problem. ‘Social media does not help because everything needs to be glamorous now, and our industry is not and therefore doesn’t appeal to kids.’

Or, as Michael Colbourne, UK Fleet Compliance and Projects Engineer for Veolia, pointed out, the industry is simply not an easy sell to 17-year-olds. And because the problem is worse in London and the South East, added Sarah, the money for training and the location itself becomes an issue because of the cost of bringing workers, especially apprentices, to London.

‘Even though the money for the same job is much better in London, the travel time and cost is a big negative for younger

INDUSTRY ROUNDTABLE

generations,’ said Norman Harding. ‘We’re competing for technical resources with other industries, and industrial hotspots on the outskirts of London can offer much more with less travel.’

‘Teenagers have a different mindset and approach to work than older generations; they want a real balance between quality of life and work,’ added Richard Clarke, Commercial Director at O’Donovan’s Waste Disposal.

‘So does the main issue lie with the industry’s ability to communicate its benefits and the lack of cooperation from colleges?’ asked Ann-Marie Knegt.

‘There are only a few colleges that would take on apprenticeships for mechanics,’ said Sarah Maxwell. ‘And fleet administrators are not on the approved list for the apprenticeships.’

Dan Waltzer, Regional Fleet Manager for Kier Environmental, pointed out that in the private sector there is now more pressure on staff and managers, making the work quite tough. ‘Managers want vehicles back on the road quickly. Turnovers are quick, and this does not suit everyone.’

And, crucially for those who are career-minded, there is no clear career path for people starting out in the industry.

Ian Bourton, Head of Fleet Operations for Ubico, said that Ubico addressed this issue internally by investing in market supplements for driver salaries and defining career paths for drivers and other staff who had the motivation, ambition and the technical ability to train to become vehicle technicians. The project has been successful.

O’Donovan’s Waste has done something similar, identifying people in the yard who could become technicians in the workshop.

‘We have tried upskilling and promoting a culture of development,’ said Richard Clarke.

John Steeds pointed out that upskilling is all very well, but there will always be people who do not want to progress because they are happy where they are. Phil Clifford confirmed that this had been his experience as well. ‘We had four spaces budgeted each year for upskilling and mostly we had more people on the waiting list than places, but the majority of people are happy where they are.’

Then there’s pay and a lack of understanding of the value of skilled technicians among CEOs and directors. Participantd agreed that the skills required are complicated, the work can be dirty, and upskilling takes time. Salaries only become decent once people hit the 45-hours-a-week mark and skilled mechanics can earn much more if they become self-employed.

‘Technicians will go where they can earn the most,’ said Steve Lea, Fleet Commercial Manager for Biffa. ‘Money and benefits are key to retaining staff.’

Added to this is the salary scaling at local authorities – once someone hits the top grade, there is nowhere else to go.

‘So, how do we make the industry more attractive to drivers and mechanics?’ asked Ann-Marie Knegt. ‘As a sector, we need to adapt to new ways of thinking and doing things. Vehicles have changed, and the ways people communicate have changed. Is it time to reflect that?’

‘This is a very conservative industry,’ said Dan Waltzer. ‘There is change, but it is around the margins. And, if we do something radical and it goes wrong, we get the blame, so councils are hesitant. The reality is that vehicles go out at 6am and come back at 2pm. We are still doing what we did in the 60s and 70s.’

‘Why aren’t we thinking of new ways to collect waste, collections that consist of fewer or more efficient road journeys alongside the use of alternatively fuelled vehicles?’ asked Ian Bourton. ‘According to experts, a million people will die from air pollution-related diseases by 2040. Something will need to change.’

‘It is common for waste to be collected at night on the continent.

With the help of new technologies, could this happen here?’ asked Ann-Marie Knegt.

‘Veolia does do night collections in certain areas, but not cities,’ said Michael Colbourne. ‘However, local policies often make night collections impossible.’

‘This is particularly the case in London, where O Licence

About the SOE The Society of Operations Engineers (SOE) is a professional membership organisation for engineers. It represents around 18,000 individuals and organisations, offering guidance and support for anyone involved in engineering in three sectors: road transport, plant, and engineering surveyors. SOE works towards promoting best practice, technical knowledge and safety in these sectors and is committed to progressive engineering.

The Society promotes safe, efficient, and environmentally sustainable operations engineering through the support of health and safety initiatives, a commitment to the professional development of members and by influencing legislation and design.

'The roundtable has given us a real insight into the challenges facing operators working in public and commercial sectors of waste management,' said the SOE's Francis Mercer. 'Recruitment and retention of both drivers and mechanics, emissions, and noise restrictions are all important issues. We will liaise with those who attended and with our wider membership about how the SOE might be able to help provide solutions.'

Autumn 2019 LAPV 45

industry roundtable

Participants agreed that the roundtable was an invaluable experience and a fascinating insight into the wider industry.

Phil Clifford, Independent Fleet Consultant, and Sarah Maxwell from the City of London shared their experiences at the event.

restrictions due to noise in residential areas can be an issue,' said Phil Clifford. 'And there are also issues with planning and the development of properties. You do not have access to the rubbish until certain times of the day as the streets are narrow and full.'

‘We toyed with changing things in the New Forest as the operating licence was old, but the biggest issues were the disposal sites as they had rigid operating hours,’ said John Steeds. ‘The current view is wrong, but no one is willing to change it.’

There is also pressure from the public to maintain or improve service levels but an unwillingness to accept the kind of changes required to make this happen. ‘It took us five years to get approval on a new depot due to residents’ objections,’ said Phil Clifford. ‘The public does not understand what we do, nor do they care, as long as their bins are collected once a week.’

Political pressure is another key factor and there is a need to manage expectations at a local and national level. ‘There have been so many changes in recent years,’ said Ian Bourton. ‘We are still trying to bridge the gap between what the experts are telling politicians we should be doing and the reality of waste operations.’

‘Elected members come in with their own agendas,’ said Phil Clifford. ‘We are constantly fighting with environmental health offices as they want to achieve things locally that are simply unachievable.’

And, good intentions tend to fall by the wayside when the cost of

46 LAPV Autumn 2019

going green is realised. ‘There is an appetite for green fuels during the tender process, but once we provide the costs, most customers opt for the standard option,’ said Veolia’s Michael Colbourne. ‘There is a lack of understanding about the increased costs associated with emerging technologies.’

Hackney has been using FAME biofuels for several years in its vehicles. Norman Harding agreed that cost can be an inhibitor but also pointed to limitations within the market itself. ‘Fewer vehicle manufacturers are supportive of FAME biofuel in their sophisticated Euro VI engines so we have been trialling HVO biofuel, which is widely accepted as a drop-in fuel by manufacturers, even at Euro VI. Formal emissions testing at Millbrook demonstrated excellent CO2 and NOx reductions. We hope to run almost all our non-electric vehicles on it. It does cost 15-20p more per litre than standard diesel, but this is still cost-effective for HGVs compared to most other alternatives. We have also started introducing electric vehicles, but the market is fairly limited for commercial vehicles.’

When money is tight, however, every penny counts and not everyone is able to absorb the extra costs. ‘Even 20p extra a litre is a lot for smaller companies,’ said Richard Clarke.

But, these are not the only issues facing the industry or affecting the recruitment and retention of staff. There is also the issue of staff safety, an area that the waste industry has long struggled with, and one that has received increasing attention from operators and fleet managers in recent years.

Many attendees reported installing CCTV and vehicle camera systems for added safety and review of incidents. ‘What else is being done to safeguard and maintain driver safety and wellbeing?’ asked Ann-Marie Knegt.

‘Cameras can be used proactively,’ argued Michael Colbourne. ‘If you monitor near-misses you can put measures in place to ensure these types of incidents don’t happen again.’ Telematics can also be used to identify danger hotspots in specific areas or routes so preventative actions can be taken, Ian Bourton added.

Other measures include random drugs testing. ‘There is a bigger issue with drugs than drinking,’ said Phil Clifford. ‘We also conducted occupational health checks every year.’

‘On the back of the Glasgow incident, we realised that no medicals were required until the drivers reached 45, and then only every five years,’ said John Steeds. ‘So, we introduced a new scheme whereby we paid drivers to go to the doctor and have the D4 filled

industry roundtable

among participants to act on the areas of concern and work together in by their GP every year. This was done by their own GP as they to create an image of the industry that is attractive to those entering would know their full medical history.’ the workforce.

Biffa has introduced a mobile wellbeing service with a van that Steve Lea from Biffa talked about targeting schools and colleges travels around the company's workshops and assesses staff on a with positive messages while Michael Colbourne from Veolia voluntary basis, while O’Donovans Waste Disposal put all staff suggested that organisations should take advantage of the young through a wellbeing programme this year. ‘They attended the people who have already joined the industry to talk to those coming sessions in small groups and talked about the day-to-day triggers for through the school system about their experiences and present their stress when driving around London. As part of the course they were view of fleet management. also given methods for coping with and recognising triggers,’ ‘The biggest thing is training, educating, and nurturing,’ said Phil commented Richard Clarke.

Clifford. ‘We need to develop a career framework that can be sold The City of London has gyms in its workshops, which some staff across the industry nationwide so that colleges can offer more use, and Hackney offers wellbeing support for employees, however, support.’

Norman said that there is less participation from within the council’s Can industry bodies be more proactive in promoting the industry waste and transport departments. wondered Norman Harding? ‘What about a documentary about the Health and wellbeing have a place in the wider issue of staff industry that sells the story in the right way and educates the public shortages. Recognising the pressures of the job and the stresses it about the waste industry and what would happen if it isn’t managed can cause – and providing staff with the means to deal with these – properly?’ will only become more important as younger generations come ‘We also need to use social media to our advantage instead of through the industry who place more emphasis on mental health seeing it as a threat,’ said Ann Marie Knegt. ‘We need to look at other and work/life balance. And measures that improve staff wellbeing are sectors and learn from their strategies for the recruitment and part of the wider story that needs to be communicated. retention of staff.’

The need to ‘sell the journey’ was one of the key takeaways from 9429RVS Advert Re-design 10:44 ‘This is a national issue rather than a local one,’ finished John the discussion.

While there may be PRINT.pdf challenges, as 1there16/08/2019 are in any Steeds. ‘We are all in this together. Unless we work together to industry, there are also many positives to a career in fleet promote the industry the situation will only get worse. We need to management and this story is simply not being told. Summing up tackle this together.’ their thoughts at the end of the session, there was real energy

Autumn 2019 LAPV 47

TOPPER

Fast thinking The City of Edmonton’s Fleet Analytics and Strategic Technology team in Canada has introduced a state-of-the-art analytical tool to assist with the maintenance of the city’s 5,000-strong vehicle fleet. Edmonton’s Colleen Kroening and Steve Rapanos talk about how FAST’s strategic management and reporting capabilities have streamlined data management and improved overall business performance. Matty Flores reports.

T

Developing FAST took time, but now Edmonton can access and share data very quickly and the system has helped improve business processes including maintenance.

echnology is making it easier to collect and manage large amounts of data. For the City of Edmonton’s Fleet Analytics Supervisor Colleen Kroening and her team, this information is extremely useful for managing the city’s vehicles.

Colleen compares the new technology to a smartwatch, which provides a tool by which users can manage their health. With a click of a few buttons, a smartwatch allows users to track their heartbeat over a specific timeframe using simple graphics. From this data, users can determine if their pulse is in a healthy zone, identify any peaks and valleys in heart levels, and monitor other factors.

‘FAST is just like the data from a smartwatch except that we use it to determine the overall health and well-being of vehicles,’ says Colleen.

The City of Edmonton’s Fleet and Facility Services is led by Branch Manager Steve Rapanos and is one of the largest integrated municipal fleet operations in Canada. ‘We manage a diverse fleet

48 LAPV Autumn 2019

and associated infrastructure that includes more than 5,000 vehicles and a variety of equipment,' Steve explains. 'We also manage more than 900 city facilities such as recreation centres and City Hall. Fleet and Facility Services is the city’s expert in vehicle and equipment procurement, maintenance, fleet engineering, fabrication services, fuel management, and fleet safety. We also serve external clients for the province and regional areas by managing their fleet maintenance.’

Prior to the introduction of FAST, gaining a complete picture of the status of a vehicle was a time consuming and labour intensive process. ‘Before FAST, it took us longer to analyse data on a unit and we had to go through a variety of channels,’ says Steve. ‘Now we are able to quickly blend a variety of information streams together to obtain a complete story on a vehicle, which enables us to be more proactive. Developing FAST took a lot of time, but now we can access and share data very quickly and the system has helped improve our client relationships and aided in the decision-making process.’

In 2008, there was a major business transformation project that saw a dramatic change in how Fleet and Facility Services was run, both strategically and operationally. Steve Rapanos explains that the impetus for change was an audit that identified a number of business issues and suggested areas of improvement to focus on.

Since the audit results, the organisation has undergone a series of business transformations, including the implementation of a new fleet management system, real-time insight into work requests/order status and overall workload, and the creation of standardised processes across the organisation.

Although tremendous headway has been made in these key areas, there were still information system challenges that needed to be addressed in order to support continued growth and business transformation. ‘We made significant progress, but we still had to continue improving and evolving,’ says Steve.

fleet management

The primary areas that needed to be addressed included: • Reliance on manual data processes Source information systems were not intuitive and extracting information was time consuming and prone to error.

• Limited functionality to create new reports and Key Performance Indicators Creating, searching for, and compiling information consisted primarily of Excel spreadsheets.

• The difficulty of conducting ad hoc operational and financial analysis Specialised knowledge was required to acquire data and transform it into useful information for KPIs and other reports.

• Redundancy of information Information was scattered between many spreadsheets and didn’t reside in a single application or data store.

• Data quality and auditability Limited data validation and control once information was published in Excel spreadsheets.

With advancing technology, the organisation adopted a new approach to information management by implementing best practices in relevant business intelligence technology. This helped to efficiently monitor key operational activities, and better assess and gain insight from information systems, thereby improving the overall fleet operational effectiveness.

This led to the development of the Fleet Analytics and Strategic Technology (FAST) tool. This was designed to reduce the amount of time that it takes to prepare routine data, increase the amount of access to that data with user friendly tools, and to ensure that everyone is working from the same set of data.

What does FAST do?

• Provides reliable information in near real time through an accessible and easy-to-use web-based information solution.

• Provides a single source of information.

• Facilitates data drilldown for insight into issues and root causes.

• Enhances decision-making capabilities.

• Creates better alignment of employees with the organisation’s business objectives.

• Improves the visibility and transparency of data through efficient monitoring of leading performance indicators.

• Provides employees with enhanced tools.

• Provides better insight into daily business operations.

• Improves collaboration and engagement of employees, partners, and clients.

‘Our analytics team used to spend the majority of their time collecting and preparing data with little time for analysis,’ explains Colleen Kroening. ‘With FAST, we’ve gone through a complete reversal and now we maximise our analysis time.’

FAST helps find anomalies and patterns and expresses data in images and graphical format. The tool allows the organisation to see what’s trending, what’s going well, and what needs improvement. A key benefit is the ability to blend information together, and how data integrates together to tell a complete story of a vehicle.

Fleet count and age Among the key reports generated by the system is fleet count and average age. The internal dashboard enables the team to analyse units in a myriad of ways – by asset class (light, medium, or heavy fleet, self-propelled fleet etc), by fleet status (within lifecycle, outside lifecycle, in consideration for disposal), etc.

‘We use the meta tags on the data to allow for meaningful analysis,' explains Colleen. 'The dashboard updates the average age

of the fleet based on the user’s selection criteria.'

‘The customer dashboard allows client to do a similar drilldown, specific to their fleet. Some customers have internal coding in our fleet system, which enables them to filter their data based on their criteria. Now clients gain access to their own information without having to engage our analytics team. This improves customer service 24/7.’

The City of Edmonton's Fleet Services is one of the most diverse and integrated municipal fleet operations in Canada.

Fleet availability Fleet Availability is another report requested on a regular basis (at least monthly for internal reporting). This dashboard represents very complex calculations that can easily be staged incorrectly when calculated manually. Logic components include, for example, multiple work orders with overlapping downtime and unit shifts. The customer dashboard provides the opportunity for the user to drill down to groups of units specific to their area, where they can see availability by year-over-year, by the month or even by the week.

Fuel consumption and unit usage and fuel economy Fuel consumption and unit usage are also frequently-generated reports, which the analytics team produced manually prior to FAST. ‘Analysis from the previous Excel spreadsheets was limited,’ says Colleen. ‘In the fuel consumption dashboard we can now see the trends for fuelling – by unit grouping, by day of the week, by hour of the day, etc – and we can also see this same data by type of fuel.

With unit usage, we can see the usage from an annual or monthly perspective, as well as the average usage per unit, annually and monthly. The filtering functionality allows us to separate kilometrebased reporting from hourly-based reporting at the click of a mouse.

‘FAST has allowed us to merge data from multiple sources,’ adds Colleen. ‘We can easily identify anomalies with the “scatter plot” functionality, and from there we can drill down into the unit details, enabling us to determine specific research, on specific units, in our fleet maintenance system.’

Overall, the introduction of FAST has brought numerous benefits to the City of Edmonton fleet team. As well as automated updates and 24/7 access to information for the analytics team, customers also have access to their own information. The results are consistent and reliable and the time it used to take to gather data manually is now more productively spent on other tasks.

The system also makes it possible for the city to monitor trends over years and drill down into any units that require further investigation. Data can be analysed in different ways and dashboards augmented to improve analysis. Finally, the system helps the team focus its efforts on analysis and storytelling, which has enabled the business to improve performance.

Autumn 2019 LAPV 49

In the spotlight Every issue LAPV speaks to a fleet manager about their operations. First up is Terry Pycroft from Leeds.

What is the size and make up of the Leeds fleet?

There are currently 1,133 vehicles in the fleet. Of these, 97 are electric and we have another 173 electric vehicles on order. We also have eight CNG vehicles, two hybrid petrol vehicles with six more on order, and 20 diesel hybrids. Currently, our alternative fuel vehicles make up 11.2% of the fleet.

Once the new vehicles arrive this will go up to 27%.

How many depots and workshops do you have and what other services do you provide?

The authority has multiple depots. I look after the York Road Depot main vehicle maintenance workshop for road fleet in addition to all vehicle maintenance provision.

What are the main services you deliver to the public?

A light vehicle MOT testing station, a new generates testing (NGT) facility for LGV vehicles, and main vehicle maintenance workshops. In addition to providing a onestop-shop vehicle maintenance provision, fleet services also provides a total fleet management service with technical and procurement teams covering fleet regulation and compliance, vehicle hire, and bunkered fuel management provision for the whole authority. Finally, the vehicle maintenance and compliance team are on site to transport drivers both internally and externally while supporting the HOS operator licence and compliance roles. The facility acts as the authority transport hub with transport logistics officers embedded in service areas acting in the capacity part of the compliance fleet hierarchy.

The main area of provision to the public is as mentioned, light and heavy vehicle MOTs, and driver training for Midas, taxi licencing, and driver assessments when requested.

What trends and developments have you seen over the last couple of years?

The key developments for the Leeds fleet include the recently established EV vehicle provision, with low maintenance and exemplary light vehicle options.

The most recent development for us is the introduction of an electric refuse collection vehicle and an electric sweeper on demonstrations.

What are your main drivers as a fleet manager?

My personal drivers as a fleet manager are to ensure that vehicles are compliant against operating licence regulations and that drivers are safe and well trained. My other main aim is to pursue the council’s ambition to be a zero-emission fleet by 2025.

What role does sustainability play in your operation?

My role is to support the drive to reduce emissions for fleet, while assisting others by leading by example in the use of alternatively fuelled vehicles to replace standard diesels.

How do you see municipal fleet management changing over the next ten years?

Authorities have a corporate responsibility to work for change and a significant role to play in enabling that change, and fleet managers are integral to this. It is the role of fleet managers to support and guide others in making transport decisions and to provide reassurance while challenging the market on alternative fuel vehicle provision. Today’s fleet manager has to provide Name: Terry Pycroft exemplary service and transport compliance, keep drivers safe, and ensure they can do their job Job Title: with minimal service impact.

Head of Fleet Services As a Head of Service in transport, I can see that Organisation: the landscape for vehicle provision is changing and we need to adapt with a forward-thinking plan to Leeds City Council What sets you apart from other local educate drivers and engineers on the use and repair of Age: 53 authorities? electric vehicles while involving and engaging with Many of the day-to-day functions are the same as for any services and leadership teams. Due to the shortages in both other local authority, however, Leeds fleet services is at the LGV drivers and vehicle engineers, we need to grow our own, forefront of new vehicle technologies and innovation. This includes and we are currently running a project to upskill existing staff using the apprentice levy to meet our requirements. the addition of 360-degree CCTV camera systems on our refuse collection Lastly, my overall goal for the authority is to provide a fleet management vehicles and a large and growing EV fleet. We currently have 305 electric and maintenance function unrivalled and unsurpassed by any internal or vehicles and 108 charging points as well as a well-established home charging external organisation.

EV pilot scheme to help manage the charging requirements of our EV fleet.

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