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| Past Issues |
Nov/Dec 2009 |
In the trucking business time is money so when you name your company Time Freight, you’re putting your reputation for timeous deliveries firmly on the line as the name has a bias towards one of the most challenging issues in road transport operations, namely, time management. FleetWatch correspondent Dave Scott visits Time Freight to get a handle on the disciplines in place to enable the company to live up to its name.T he giant US express freight expediter, FedEx, defines its business as a ‘time manipulator’. The problem is that time is unforgiving. Any time lost cannot be regained and there are many time dimensions in road transport: Road speed, breakdowns, loading and unloading, uptime or downtime. All these enter the time ‘equation’ in managing customer expectations to match scheduled delivery promises.There are also many disciplines in time management - technologies, efficient administration and above all, an attitude to match promised deadlines. The problem here is that marketing operations often try to appease customer expectations by offering unrealistic time envelopes. This leads to:
So what disciplines does
Time Freight have in place to enable it to function effectively in serving
its over
Discipline #1 Average speed, not top speed, to match deadlines At Time Freight, it’s all about average speed - not top speed. Linehaul articulated rigs are restricted to the 80kph legal maximum speed. Distribution trucks under 9 000kg gross vehicle mass (GVM) are legally allowed to travel at 120kph but Time Freight limits them to 100kph. Speed costs fuel, maintenance and tyres but above all, during night ops, overspeeding leads to major accidents. The 6 X 4 MAN line-haul units are rated for 480hp but only operate with a payload around 24t. This means that engine load factors are reduced and engine torque holds well on inclines to maintain high average speeds with minimal fuel consumption. Compare this to most 480hp truck tractors on our roads working to the max at 36t payload and 56t GCM. Discipline #2 Be a stickler for fuel consumption in real time Diesel fuel is a big factor driving the 1,4 million kilometres per month that Time Freight covers. While fuel is the #1 issue at the company, there’s no need for anti-siphon devices fitted to truck diesel tanks. CEO, Etienne van Ravesteyn explains: “We capture fuel consumption electronically for summation and trend breakdown but we don’t rely on computers for control. Fuel is our biggest operating cost and tells us everything but it needs an immediate physical and urgent discipline for analysis and action. Fuel management is done per slip immediately after filling.” He adds: “There’s no substitute for face-to-face driver debriefing and an instantaneous, post-trip fuel consumption calculation. By the time information has been captured and entered into computer programmes, too many hours have lapsed and opportunities are missed for corrective analysis about vehicle conditions and what happened on the road.” Discipline #3 Loading is a time management science Volume drives the operations at Time Freight but an average consignment weight of 42,5kg is not easily handled. There’s a science and sequence in loading and unloading that achieves volumetric efficiency without damaging goods in transit. Drivers take responsibility for loading and 20t can be loaded in 2,5 hours. Time Freight uses 34 forklift trucks to assist with loading. These units are carefully matched with the truck they load as part of a seamless effort in minimising loading hours. This is supplemented by palettes, palette jacks, ‘carpet trolleys and pins’, normal trolleys and manpower. And there are some things that express freight operators will not transport, namely, firearms, jewellery, bank notes and gold coins. Discipline #4 Efficient light usage saves time Express freight moves day and night and closed cargo bodies are most often dark holes that hamper operations. Time Freight is experimenting with Pecolit, fibre reinforced plastic roof installations that allow more light inside the cargo area. In addition, only diode lighting is used inside the cargo van bodies so that any light left burning will not drain a battery to the extent that jump- tarting is required. At the same time, all truck batteries are painted yellow – it’s easy to spot a battery that does not belong to the fleet. All of this minimises the chance that jump-starting may be needed. In today’s electronic age, jump-starting is an evil that causes electronic failures, breakdowns and lost time.
Discipline #5 New tyres minimise time lost through on-road failures ‘New tyres only’ is a Time Freight policy that has been in place for 25 years. National fleet manager, Greg Fitzpatrick points out that “because Time Freight runs on new tyres, we have adequate rubber to meet the road and we experience few on-road tyre failures that are hazardous at night. Also, to limit new-tyre costs, we have negotiated a reasonable credit for a new tyre carcass when it reaches the time for recapping. South Africa has a massive thirst for retread tyres and we supply into this market.” And here’s an innovative idea other fleets could emulate. All Time Freight spare wheels are painted a different colour. “A spare wheel is for temporary use only and is easily spotted because of its colour on a truck. The spare must be returned to the spare position as soon as possible,” says Fitzpatrick. Discipline #6 Employ open communications with drivers in real time Having 349 drivers at Time Freight makes communications essential but this can be costly if not correctly managed. Trunking radio to base has proved to be more cost efficient than cell-phones and there’s no limit on the number of calls made by or initiated to drivers. Talking is open season. The Altech Netstar Power Track system tracks vehicle movement. Monitoring is executed 24/7 from a central control room at Rentrack with exception reports e-mailed daily to all management to follow up. Consignments must not only arrive on time but also intact. By the end of 2010, CCTV cameras will be installed at all major depots. The Johannesburg depot is complete with over 50 cameras already installed. Discipline #7 Minimise driver fatigue that leads to serious incidents and delays Night operations work against a statistical probability of 3-4 times more than daylight ops of being involved in a road accident. Time Freight’s countermeasures include the following:
Discipline #8 Employ new technologies to increase uptime Time Freight has recently acquired new Isuzu NQR 500 trucks equipped with automated manual transmissions (AMT). Careful estimates show that the price difference between an Isuzu standard manual transmission and the AMT version is easily recovered during the vehicle’s life. However, the real attraction for Time Freight is more than the clutch replacement costs. It’s the fact that on-road clutch failure can be averted with this technology.
Discipline #9 Outsource service providers to minimise downtime The entire truck fleet is maintained and serviced at truck manufacturer franchised dealers - and there is good reason for this says Fitzpatrick. “In terms of maintaining our fleet to a high standard, Time Freight requires a national network of service facilities. Using franchised dealers means we do not have to invest in keeping up with rapid changes in trucking technology, the equipment to execute this as well as continuous training to match the intellectual capital and skills required to keep a modern fleet in top condition. We also do not have to guarantee our own work as this belongs to the franchise truck dealer who must get it right the first time or pay for rework.” Fitzpatrick adds that all this is executed within a truck manufacturer’s servicing schedules and Time Freight’s own parameters. “For example, a Time Freight standard is replacing all V-belt drives at 90 000km regardless of condition. That way we never have to replace a R600 V-belt on the road at a cost of R3 000 and lost time. A servicing dealer who takes a chance with this replacement standard will have to meet the cost of a roadside replacement bill.” Van Ravesteyn concludes: “Time Freight depots open before traditional business hours and close long after most competitors in the industry. Many entrenched procedures and systems support our dedication and culture to getting express freight delivered on time every time.” As Time magazine ‘Person of the 20th Century’, Albert Einstein, explained, time is the fourth dimension. Anything is measured in terms of height, width and breadth and to this we must finally add the elusive element of time. In Africa, that’s a challenge indeed – one that Time Freight has admirably got right.
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