As a partner to individual haulers and larger fleets across the US, RTS is always looking for ways to help increase fuel efficiency through route optimization and pick-up scheduling. This approach allows haulers to improve fleet management and streamline collections, with the savings being passed onto customers or used to improve services that can further increase efficiency in a variety of areas.
Our expertise in managed transportation has already helped many haulers improve fuel economy along their routes, however, here at RTS we realize more can be done to ensure that fleets are running optimally, and fuel efficiency continues to improve. Over the years, we’ve helped haulers track trucks, communicate pick up issues, and manage service, billing, and customer requests on a daily basis to reduce operating costs—and this is what we’ve learned. Read on to discover five tips to increase fuel fleet efficiency and why it’s such an important metric for the waste management industry.
Why are Fuel Savings So Important for Fleets and Haulers
With volatile fuel prices a constant issue, ensuring that your truck or fleet is making the most of each gallon is critical to your operations. Not only does it allow your trucks to get more done for less, but it also means fewer refueling stops, reducing downtime and improving overall efficiency. Subsequently, this also means greater profitability as trucks complete routes in less time and cover fewer miles.
Within the waste management industry specifically, the costs of fuel, the introduction of low emission zones, the rising levels of waste, increased collection days for source separated materials (such as card/paper and plastics), and a push towards more sustainable operations also mean that saving fuel is key to continued growth, better customer service, and compliance with national and local regulations that are increasingly being implemented by the EPA and other agencies.
However, fuel fleet efficiency also has numerous other benefits, including the reduction of carbon emissions and improvements to the local air quality where collections take place. In addition, savings can be passed down the value chain to customers, allowing you to provide better services and competitive pricing structures. Below, we look at these key factors in more detail.
Savings Passed Down the Value Chain
Enhancing fuel fleet efficiencies not only deliver cost savings for your waste management company but also create opportunities for passing on these benefits to your customers. Put simply, streamlined operations that reduce fuel costs mean you have more resources to put into other areas, such as investing in technology, expanding your service offering, and improving customer experience. Combined, these can help you build even more efficient systems that deliver high-level service to your customers.
Environmental Benefits
Reduced fuel consumption leads directly to lower carbon emissions, contributing to greener and more sustainable operations. In turn, this can help improve local air quality, a significant concern for cities and urban areas within the US and a key element of the Clean Air Act of 1970. In addition, lower carbon emissions can help your company meet other compliance standards such as LEED and the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System.
Optimizing Fleet Fuel Efficiency: Five Strategies for Cost Savings
Through our collaboration with haulers and fleet managers, we’ve built a set of five strategies that can help you deliver cost savings by improving fuel efficiency, allowing you to focus on improving services and meeting compliance standards. Learn more below.
1. Optimize Routes
Through strategic and data driven route planning, your company can significantly reduce your fleet’s fuel consumption. This means identifying factors such as traffic conditions, road closures, collection points, and other route issues that can help you create the most efficient routes for your fleet. This also means minimizing unnecessary detours and optimizing the sequencing of stops, saving fuel and improving overall operational efficiency.
2. Utilize Smart Bin Sensing Technology
Smart bin technologies such as Pello can help you plan routes and collect pre-separated materials when bins are full, meaning fewer collection stops and optimal material sorting. Sensors within these bins can tell you when a bin is full, delivering real-time data that allows your company to minimize unnecessary stops. Additionally, some smart bins can sort and clean materials ready for collection, allowing you to divert waste more efficiently.
3. Use Fuel Management Software
Fuel management software delivers data-driven insights into fuel usage, allowing you to build a bigger picture of how and when fuel consumption is at its highest. In turn, this allows you to implement targeted strategies that increase fuel efficiency, with metrics such as miles per gallon (MPG) and fuel consumption per route, as well as elements such as average speed, idling time, and even load efficiency helping you to understand the amount of fuel used in real-world conditions.
4. Monitor Driving Styles
Driver behavior can play a big part in fuel efficiency, and monitoring how your drivers operate your vehicles is important. By doing this, and identifying driving behaviors that consume more fuel, you can provide education and training programs on fuel efficient driving styles that will ensure your entire fleet is running optimally. In addition, you may also consider providing incentives for fuel-efficient driving habits, promoting a culture of eco-friendly driving that also delivers significant cost savings.
5. Maintain, Upgrade, or Replace Vehicles
Preventative maintenance is crucial for uninterrupted service; however, it can also deliver increased fuel efficiency over the long term. Optimal tire pressure and well-maintained engines, regular oil changes and brake maintenance are all part of regular vehicle maintenance checks and can play a part in fuel efficiency. However, with advancing technology, upgrading or replacing vehicles with more fuel-efficient models or using alternative fuels can bring even greater savings. Additionally, you may wish to consider purchasing hybrid or electric vehicles to cut out carbon emissions and reduce fuel spend.
Conclusion
Fuel efficiency can be a key driver of growth for waste management companies, and there are numerous ways that you can achieve it. From route optimization using tracking technologies through fuel management and driving style monitoring to the latest smart bin and vehicle technologies, your company can begin to make changes that will have a big impact on your bottom line. In addition, this will allow you to meet the latest compliance standards and build better services for your customer base.
For more information on how RTS and Pello can help you achieve more sustainable waste management systems, contact a member of the team today.