CAPITAL EQUIPMENT NOV 2018

TRANSPORT

past that,” explains Greenwood. Coenie Kaufmann, sales representative at Scania South Africa, concurs, saying that the 0,1 percent difference or a 100 m per kilometre that you run cheaper than the competitor sounds trivial. “However, if you look at a big fleet, if you are conservative with a 0,1 percent fuel saving, multiplied by the number of vehicles over a 12-month period, for example, the savings run into millions of rands,” says Kaufmann. Technological prowess Fuel expense in owning and operating haulage trucks is a constant and accounts for a large chunk of total operating costs. With the unpredictable nature of fuel prices and fuel’s absolute necessity for fleet-driven operations, most owners have simply looked at how much fuel they are burning and paid the bill. Recently, technology has changed, and now with the addition of production data, they can look at their fuel efficiency (how they are using fuel) and know its impact to the bottom line. As capital equipment-driven businesses fight to reduce operational costs and maximise efficiencies, fleet management solutions can provide significant cost savings and operational efficiencies. Sand Shifters uses Scania’s Fleet Management System (FMS) and one thing Greenwood likes about the system is that it produces a particularly easy to read report. Previously, the downside of many fleet management devices was that fleet managers regarded this technology, and the big data that can be derived from it, as more than just a device that spits out a whole lot of information. “As the telematics game has moved on in the industry, fleet operators have so much data at their fingertips and we should be very careful of paralysis by analysis; having so much information which we don’t do anything about. I believe it’s important for fleet managers to get the right data out of the fleet management system that is relevant to their business,” says Greenwood. He tells Capital Equipment News that this is one of the areas where Scania has come out tops. “They have a very simple document that gets sent to us on a weekly basis, highlighting major issues like fuel consumption and driver behaviour, among others, and it’s simple to read so that it doesn’t require any tedious analysis. The information that we require as a fleet operator is there and we are able to make decisions quickly on the data provided,” concludes Greenwood. b

Sand Shifters purchased 11 Scania G460CA6X4MSZ truck tractors at the start of this year.

Sand Shifters employs its own driver trainer who conducted the trials together with Scania representatives.

Competitive industry Speaking about fuel consumption,

always partner with the best suppliers. Additionally, the company believes that, to remain competitive in challenging operating conditions, it should employ the best technologies in its business. “Our trucks and trailers are our biggest capex spend, so it’s critical for us to get our purchasing strategies right. Scania ticked all the right boxes for us,” says Greenwood. “As a company we looked at the trends in the industry. We looked at companies that run large, established transport businesses and there are certain brands that they trust in their stables. Once we looked at the trends, we decided to put up the Scania trucks up against its closest competitors and we ran rigorous trials,” adds Greenwood. “If there is a byword to summarise the experience, it is efficiency, and certainly for us it’s a new level of efficiency that has been introduced to our fleet. The major reason we bought from Scania, and why we will continue to buy more Scania trucks, is because of the level of efficiency they have added to our business,” asserts Greenwood.

Greenwood elaborates that this industry is very competitive and to run a sustainable business, there is need to ensure that you deploy the most efficient truck for the application at hand. Bear in mind that Sand Shifters covers upwards of 4-million km a year in its operations, moving between 180 000 and 200 000 tonnes of material per month. Equipped with 40 m³ side tipper interlink trailers, the Scania tippers are achieving 34-36 t of payload. Haul distances vary from as little as 5 km, all the way to 350 km one way, depending on contracts. Therefore, fuel consumption in Sand Shifters’ fleet is of critical importance. An 8-9% fuel efficiency translates into millions of rands per year. “We have found that the Scania trucks have returned favourable results, especially considering the ongoing fuel price increases. In today’s operating conditions, you need to know your cost per kilometre (CPK) down to the third decimal point. So, the old adage that every cent counts is no longer applicable. It’s not just the cent that counts, it’s even

CAPITAL EQUIPMENT NEWS NOVEMBER 2018 14