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Now more than ever, MSW managers are trying to squeeze costs out of their collection processes. Several industry experts recently shared with MSW Management their experiences with an increasingly relied-upon tool for this purpose: route-mapping and vehicle-location technology tools, which are improving the collection efficiency and profitability of both residential and commercial collection.

Over the past 10 years or more, these fleet-management tools have become all the more sophisticated. The first generation of route-mapping systems, one expert points out, was an improvement over moving pins around a map to represent trucks on their routes. The next generation of route mapping is allowing optimization of routes via the ability to tweak the finest logistical details, and this component of fleet management promises to make further technological leaps in the future. More and more, vehicle location is being utilized to provide MSW managers with flexibility for dynamic rerouting of trucks and the attainment of next-level customer service.

From Pins to Computer Icons
One company that has grown its routing-efficiency capabilities in phases in recent years is Republic Services Inc., which consists of 427 companies in 42 states and was moving to merge with Allied Waste Industries Inc. by the end of 2008 to create the second-largest US trash-hauling company. If you asked what level of technology adoption Republic has attained, Joe Burkel, the company’s vice president of operations support for its southern region, might reply, “Routing Efficiency 3.0.” The first phase was moving pins around a map, the second was developing route maps with the help of software—and the third is that of improving upon the efficiency of developing the computerized maps and maximizing the collection efficiency on routes via the use of rich, specific data inputs.

“In the past, prior to the computer-assisted routing, when we wanted to develop a new commercial or residential route, we resorted to paper maps and each stop was designated on a map with pushpins designating the customers and the size of the containers,” says Burkel. “From that, it was a matter of selecting an area that looked like an appropriate route, adding all the container sizes up for a given day and determining if that was the appropriate amount of work for a truck or a route in a given day and manually building the routes.” He acknowledges that this method was not ideal in terms of flexibility. “When you’re pinning the maps, you can’t take into account certain things like customers’ desired time windows or a customer needing to be serviced at certain times of day due to loading-dock situations. So what tended to happen would be that you’d build a route and then the driver would go out and fix the sequence himself as best he could to honor those time windows. There would be a lot of extra driving time, because some drivers would double back to honor those time windows rather than just building the route to service them in order.”

In the early 1990s, some Republic companies began to explore computer software for routing, Burkel says. One program, he says, was based on a system used for routing military transport planes. “It was a similar process to pinning that map, but you would designate a spot on the electronic map and that would give the routing software the attributes needed to route longitude, latitude, the street, and the side of the street,” he says. But computer technology was not characterized by efficient processing back then, Burkel adds. “It could take overnight for the computer to be able to process a routing solution for even a small division. It was a big improvement over the maps, but we were still not where we needed it to be.”

By the early part of this decade, some Republic companies were using computerized routing and others were building pin maps using either a grid system or geographic boundaries. Burke reports that Republic started looking at routing software that could be implemented on an enterprise-wide basis so that more powerful servers could be used to run the applications on an enterprise network. “We call it ‘geocoding,’ or pinning of new stops,” he adds. “It’s pretty much automatic; when we’ve got changes in the routes, the systems talk to each other and automatically geocode those customers so they can be automatically rerouted. It can’t make the truck lift the container any faster—and, certainly, we don’t want the drivers driving any faster—and it doesn’t change the locations of the landfills. But what it does is save miles, because it helps us find the most efficient travel path from customer to customer to the landfill. Where the efficiency comes in is just in reducing the amount of miles that a truck has to drive to service a given set of customers.”

Burkel reports that Republic has integrated its billing and route-mapping system from RouteSmart, which has reduced the amount of time needed to alter routes; new customers entered into the billing system are automatically geocoded into the routing system. Running the software to map a route used to take perhaps eight or nine hours, and now it might take only five to 10 minutes, he says.

Significantly, the RouteSmart system processes more detailed inputs for better route optimization, Burkel adds. “All the system needs to know to route is just a few pieces of information: how big the container is, the frequency or days a week, and—to locate that container—it needs to know the longitude and latitude, which side of the street it’s on, and which street you service it from,” he says. “The geocode uses those four pieces of information and then the system runs the algorithms and goes through 25 to 30 iterations of the solution to find the most efficient path between it. It’s a tool that processes the information to find the most efficient route, the one with the fewest miles for the least amount of work.”

An example of the system’s level of sophistication is how it can improve safety, Burkel argues. “We can put time windows in a commercial route to make sure a truck will be in an area when it’s less congested or in a business complex when there are fewer cars around,” he says. “In a residential area, we can honor school zones during early morning hours or in the afternoon, when the school is being dismissed. For residential routes, we can make all of our routes right-hand collection only, so you don’t have guys crossing the street to service residential locations. Service-wise, it really benefits us because it gives us much more predictable routing and we’re able to meet a much more consistent standard on what time we’re servicing customers.”

When discussing the overall productivity impact of Republic’s latest routing technology, Burkel notes that the impact varies from market to market. However, he says, he can quantify the companywide productivity improvement at about 10%. Will Flower, Republic’s executive vice president of communications, adds that the productivity improvement varies from company to company because of the varying skill levels of the route mappers who previously used the pin maps to develop routes.

“The computer is the great equalizer—it allows that skill set to be brought to everyone within the organization,” Flower says. “In some cases, maybe, the improvement is half a percent—and in our business even a half a percent is a big deal. There are also things that can’t be measured, such as the safety improvement. How do you know, just by making all right-hand turns or by rerouting for safety, that you didn’t end up saving some kid’s life? That’s tough to quantify, but we do know that there’s a value in that.”

Western Oregon Waste of McMinnville, OR, helped FleetMind Solutions—a partner of Soft-Pak Inc.—to beta-test its GPS-based fleet-management system for the MSW industry and has implemented use of the system over the past three years in different areas of the business. Lisa Rodgers, information systems manager, reports that the company implemented Soft-Pak’s i-Pak accounting, billing, customer service, dispatching, and inventorying system back in 1993 and began working with Soft-Pak a few years ago to apply to the MSW industry the capabilities of a system that was originally developed for long-haul trucking.

Rich Kuehn, operations manager, reports that Western Oregon Waste first implemented the use of the add-on FleetMind module for roll-off collection routing because, he argues, long-haul trucking and this type of trash collection are similar. From there, the company used the system to develop routes for commercial front-load and residential collection, each of which constitutes one-third of its business among about 30,000 customers.

Western Oregon Waste’s drivers push in-cab buttons to time-stamp such activities as lifts, while the system’s GPS network marks their locations and ties customers to these activities. The time-stamped data is stored for potential use in analyzing route costs and profitability.

Kuehn points out that converting from a paper route book to computerized mapping is really paying off in residential collections. “One of the driving forces for us on the residential side was the ease for the driver out on the route,” he says. “It’s gotten a lot harder to deal with a paper route book. Getting to 1,000 customers a day, you’ve got a big book you’ve got to try to manage. We were finding that some drivers weren’t taking the care that they should have in making sure that they were picking up the proper customers, and they weren’t recording extras.”

Capturing Compliance Data
Automatic vehicle location (AVL), made possible through the use of GPS, is particularly beneficial for commercial collection, which is characterized by the occasional need to reroute trucks on short notice. Experts point out that stored AVL data provide an additional benefit: compliance verification. The ability to prove that a collection was made can allow an MSW company not only to avoid fines but also to improve customer service.

Jason Koch, president of Telogis, a provider of wireless fleet-management technologies including OnTrack GPS fleet-tracking software, argues that proof of collection, i.e., compliance, is becoming increasingly important, particularly on the residential side. He recommends that when a customer complains about a missed collection, the MSW company should respond by informing the customer that the nearest truck will be sent, not by accessing GPS data for the purpose of proving the customer wrong.

Compliance is also a means to improving both customer service and profitability, Koch adds. By capturing planned route data and actual data via the use of GPS, route-efficiency systems can allow the MSW manager to establish collection-efficiency metrics and alter the metrics as data are continuously captured. Advanced actual data collection is the key to compliance, Koch adds: The collection of data relating to such activities as opening or closing a door or lifting a container is essential to achieving a compliance level of operational efficiency. OnTrack utilizes a “black box” consisting of a GPS receiver and a wireless modem installed in the cab, which has the ability to receive signals from a door or boom sensor. The system also features turn-by-turn voice-prompted directions that consider traffic conditions, rules of the road, and truck attributes and routing rules and descriptions to help drivers navigate traffic and quickly determine the best order in which to visit multiple stops and help dispatchers find the vehicle nearest a new stop.

Miami-based World Waste Services Inc. has achieved a compliance level of routing efficiency via the use of a computerized fleet-management system, according to Eileen Damaso, vice president. Among its customers in Miami-Dade County, Ft. Lauderdale/Broward County, Keys/Monroe County, Palm Beach County, St. Lucie County, Martin County, and Indian River County, the full-service MSW company has 220,000 residential customers. A recycling contract with Miami-Dade County that became effective in 2008 stipulates that the company will be fined $100 per residential customer not collected.

World Waste Services has been prepared for such compliance requirements for some time, having adopted GPS routing technology five years ago. The company’s current fleet-management system provider is Procon Inc./Sat Track. The Sat Track Fleet GPS tracking system has a Web-based Interface and features multiple route views: road map, 2D and 3D aerial views, and a hybrid view that combines the aerial and map views. The system’s capabilities include a history replay feature that allows users to retrieve vehicle information from the previous six months and from up to 10 vehicles at a time. Users can define and create vehicle groups by such criteria as vehicle type, service, location, and driver experience.

“If we only miss one house on a street, obviously we were on that street. But if we miss a neighborhood, that’s where we can find out why there was a problem,” Damaso says. “If a customer claims that we haven’t picked up his container, we can say that we’ve been there at such a time and such a date.” She adds that the company does not yet use a “geofence boundary marking” feature that allows AVL and dynamic, optimal truck routing, but she anticipates that using this feature will provide a higher level of customer service.

Modern Corp. of Model City, NY, uses Telogis’ OnTrack system and RouteSmart routing system to track its fleet of more than 300 trucks. The OnTrack system provides such data as routing inefficiencies, idling times, and speeding. Routing rules and descriptions are used to help drivers navigate traffic and determine the best order in which to visit multiple stops. They are also used to help dispatchers find the nearest vehicle for a new stop. Mike Stuart, information technology professional, says that supervisors, too, can use the data to make sure drivers are doing assigned work, properly managing time, not committing driving infractions, and not taking unauthorized travel paths. Sales also uses the data to calculate the cost of previous collections based on mileage and time in order to build profitable bid proposals, Stuart adds.

The Next Frontier
Many computerized route-efficiency systems also feature reporting and analysis features that represent the next frontier of fleet management: profitability maximization on a per-collection basis. Some MSW companies that were early adopters of computerized route-efficiency systems have begun to use more advanced features of the systems for route auditing and analysis.

Republic’s Burkel argues that GPS is a key tool for use in route auditing and optimization. The data collection that is possible through the use of GPS can tie together an MSW company’s accounting and routing systems, allowing analyses of profitability on a per-route or even per-customer basis, he indicates. “GPS can very accurately measure the locations, the time to service them, and verify many of the assumptions that the algorithms use to service those routes. And we can update those algorithms with more accurate data from actual measurements from the GPS,” he says. “This produces more accurate routes in addition to giving us an information-verification mechanism—we have a documented time limit for service that we can go back and compare to the predicted performance on the route and correct assumptions or use it as a training tool to improve our drivers’ performance.”

Burkel adds that he is using GPS technology to audit routes in his region. “We verify many things like the efficiency of the routing, safety considerations, container size, and collection frequency to make sure that they match exactly what we are expected to deliver,” he says. “We’ll have auditors ride along with the driver and record all of this information, including times to service, and verify container size and condition. Safety considerations would be things like blind backing or overhead situations. It also gives the auditor time to observe the drivers to make sure they’re delivering the service that we expect and our customers expect, and in safe manner.”

Besides the benefits of improved customer service and profitability, route auditing can yield additional benefits, says Burkel. “There’s one more piece to the efficiency thing that I think is worth noting as we try to become a more green economy. Whatever engine technology you’re using, the best way to reduce emissions is to reduce the amount of time to run those engines. When we’re reducing miles that we’re having to drive to service our customers, we’re saving a lot on emissions, wear and tear on the roads, that type of stuff, too. So it’s efficiency from a dollars-and-cents point of view, but also from an emissions point of view.”

Stuart argues that the solid waste collection industry faces increasing profitability pressures, such as rising operational costs related to regulatory issues and difficulties in attracting qualified employees, including drivers, technicians, and mechanics. Addressing these profitability challenges necessitates minimization of spending in areas that are within the control of the refuse company—aided by the use of the best available information system to input, manage, and compile data for such variables as account margins, customers’ value, seasonal ordering trends, lost business, new business, market sector management cost per hour, and internal business process costs, he adds. Stuart says he sees the future of routing efficiency headed toward the use of route-level data notification of orders and order fields that assign customers to appropriate routes.

Western Oregon Waste’s Kuehn and Rodgers say that the company is beginning to do in-depth analyses of route productivity and profitability. “We haven’t used it a whole lot, but FleetMind does have a report that allows us to print out exactly what was done on a route in the order that it was done, so the way that we’ve used it just a few times is when we need a route to be rerouted, the driver simply goes out and does it as he would like to have it done, and we can print out a report in i-Pak and have the changes made manually,” Kuehn says.

Also, the company runs a route productivity report that serves a dual purpose, Rodgers adds. “We have the ability to look at individual customers or routes,” she says. “We were entering that information manually before, and now FleetMind automatically populates that information and we use it for our rate reviews for all of our jurisdictions—we need to give time and mileage for every jurisdiction.”

Kuehn notes that collection data is available in the company’s i-Pak system virtually in real time, allowing customer service representatives to stay on top of fleet information at all times. “I think the biggest thing is that it’s instantaneous; it’s real time, so they know exactly what’s going on. Another thing it does is it makes dispatching far more efficient; there’s no more need to hand-write a text message that might have errors in it—there’s no need to take time to try to call the driver. The dispatchers simply create a work order in i-Pak, dispatch it, and it goes right to the driver.”

Kuehn concludes that the company is working on making the transition to data collection without the need for driver intervention. “We’re trying to make that happen,” he says. “The residential drivers have just one button they push after they service a customer. That completes the call and time-stamps and GPS-stamps it.”