“I know we have got a few of the team out of bed very early over the years, but they have never complained, as they really do see themselves as part of our team, which is brilliant. It is also one of the reasons why ten years on, our relationship with Finning has evolved into much more of a performance led partnership, where we have recently committed to a full repair, maintenance and improvement contract.


“Essentially what this means is we now have both equipment and service costs rolled into one monthly fee, across all three sites, covering 24 items of mobile Caterpillar equipment and a further 4 Cat engines, powering other OEM equipment.


“The R&M contract also incorporates GPS telemetry and technology services, through the use of Finning EMSolutions bundles. In practical terms, this means we have access to a whole range of additional services, including the Finsight condition monitoring team in Cannock, where engineers analyse information from each unit.


“This includes everything from data sent directly from the machine whilst it is operating, results from regular fluid sampling, right the way through to service engineer reports, which incorporates data from direct downloads, each time Finning service


10


the machine. “This information is then compiled into easy to use reports that give us a clear understanding of key performance indicators that are important to us, like the health of the fleet, operator driving techniques, idle time and fuel burn. Because with our R&M contract we are now in much more of a partnership relationship, so it is also in the Finning team’s interest to help us improve productivity.


“For example, a recent analysis showed some excessive braking on a number of movements involving our wheel loaders that if continued would incur more wear and tear. Knowing this information we were able to simply talk to our operators, who slightly adjusted their driving, which will ultimately reduce maintenance costs. Seeing the impact this type of engagement has, we are now planning to roll out more involved operator training with the help from Finning, focusing particularly on reducing idle time and therefore fuel burn.


Certainly for me, the addition of EMSolutions services and the technology behind them has definitely opened our eyes to the possibility of further reducing our carbon footprint and costs, which can only help to build on our environmental credentials as we head towards 100% diversion from landfill.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16