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Truck
scales are available either as in-ground, onboard, or
handheld. This article addresses in-ground truck scales
(in pits or on flat ground), peripheral software associated
with them, and future trends.
By
Marsha DeClue
What member
of a management team isn’t looking for a way to
cut labor costs, increase service delivery, and improve
customer service, or a way of combining outside and
field operation data with the administrative and operational
side of landfills, MRFs, and transfer stations? The
next generation of Gatehouse scale technology allows
for far greater management control over data: its collection,
analysis, utilization, and commentary. And now that
technology is more affordable than ever.
Usually a
truck is weighed when it is on the in-ground scale.
In the past, Gatehouse scale clerks had to manually
read, note, and key in the weight of the truck before
and after transferring loads. This information was then
gathered in a central office, analyzed for general trends,
and used to create customer bills. The incorporation
of truck scale software with new technology hardware
has created an MSW industry with more efficient operations,
lower costs, and improved data collection, analysis,
and use. All this adds up to better use of manpower
and resources, partnered with improved customer service.
In the early
’80s, as computers were starting to change the
way the world did business, almost no software had been
developed for the solid waste industry. Around that
time software companies saw an area of need and opportunity—solid
waste management—and began to address industry
issues and needs.
Today, industry-specific
software can do almost everything, from capturing scale
customer data to generating invoices—functions
that can create neat statistical analyses that track
garbage trucks on the fly.
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Photo:
Cardinal Scale
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Matt Friesen,
general manager at Unitec Corp. of Seattle, WA, believes
the solid waste industry is quick to accept new technology.
“The solid waste industry tends to be more progressive
than other industries when it comes to technology,”
Friesen says. “That’s because of its [MSW
industry] use and adaptation of new tech for such things
as unattended operations systems for tracking assets,
and inbound and outbound traffic. Automating the processing
and accounting procedures has proven effective.”
Friesen thinks
the technology started at the Gatehouse because it is
the primary point of entry for most landfills. “At
first it was a simple technology,” he says. “Whether
it was a simple bar code or RFID [radio frequency identification]
reader. Now short-range readers, and more and more of
that kind of technology, are implemented at the Gatehouse,
which is the primary point of entry and transaction.
Now you can also track other points within the company
and network it all together.”
The ability
to integrate software packages into existing hardware
is one of the competitive edges a software company can
offer. When software interfaces with scales and accounting
software with little modification, it’s a win-win.
Look for a software company that designs, provides,
and supports industry-specific software.
“Unitec
is a traditional truck scale manufacturer, operating
primarily on the West Coast,” says Friesen. Even
so, Unitec understands the changing needs of customers.
“Software is really the piece that drives the system,”
he says. “At the point you’ve linked up the
truck scale into the system, you’re running your
business with the software system. A system like PC
Scale monitors inbound and exiting action, figures the
net weight, and creates a bill.”
Brien Crews,
co-owner and corporate sales manager at Pioneer Scale
Company Inc. in Benton, AR, thinks one reason for progressive
changes in the MSW industry is government regulations.
“Because government has pushed to regulate the
solid waste industry, service providers have to change
the way they charge people and charge them for what
they really dispose of. There are two kinds of waste—organic
and long-term,” Crews says. “Solid waste service
providers now look at tracking all kinds of information—weighed,
unit, organic, non-organic, vendors, taxes, different
quotes, POS [point-of-sale] figures, everything. The
scales become the cash register!”
Crews sells
and services products from Cardinal Scale Manufacturing,
a family-owned company with home offices in Webb City,
MO. Pioneer services Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Missouri
Tennessee, Mississippi, and Oklahoma.
Friesen says
there is a need for the software to be integrated into
the scale. “In many places you can’t manually
enter information and data—not even to key it in.
Customers don’t want human error. They want the
scale to tell the software what the reading is. We recommend
third-party electronic components—those components
that are compatible and available to most scale service
companies. Our scales are compatible with most software
systems. We’ve determined our customers like the
nonproprietary base of our product. You can get local
support.”
All These
User Friendly Data
Friesen thinks the software solutions began “because
of the end user coming to scale company and telling
us, ‘We want to track what we do better.’”
The wave
of technology is giving management better control, at
less cost, than was possible just a few years ago. Not
only does current technology allow information collected
at the scales to be combined with other data; it also
allows networking, remote site monitoring, and even
tracking in real time. Data can be collected and pulled
together from throughout the network. Even data from
remote sites can be collected and incorporated. Data
can then be analyzed to track drivers, loads, routes,
trends, and regulations, as well as track in real time.
David L.
Jenkins, vice president of sales and marketing for PC
Scale Inc. in Oxford, PA, says, “PC Scale is easy
for the scalemaster to use. It enables them to process
trucks over the scale in a matter of seconds. The entry
fields are comprehensive and allow the company to ‘capture’
all needed information for a particular load. It also
allows four levels of pricing—from a standard gate
rate for anyone entering a facility, to tiered pricing,
and special pricing to meet the needs of those facilities
processing ‘special handling’ materials. Finally,
you can develop customer-specific pricing for your valued
clients. PC Scale also has a feature that allows you
to change pricing for multiple customers all at once
and not have the laborious task of changing prices one
customer at a time! The comprehensive standard report
package, with over 40 different reports, allows the
user to turn collected data into information that can
be used to make better business decisions.”
Edward S.
Barkala, assistant director at New Jersey Meadowlands
Commission in Lyndhurst, NJ, says his facility is a
new user of PC Scale. The commission has had the program
less than a year, since April 2004. “We were looking
for a real-time escrow computer system. We were on a
Windows system and by word of mouth we hard about PC
Scale,” says Barkala. “We converted from a
DEC MicroVAX system to a Windows-based system. The office
staff was familiar with Windows. Some of the weighmasters
needed training to operate the Windows software,”
he says. “Support was very good.”
Insight Environmental
in Livonia, MI, has been designing user-friendly software
since 1984. It produces the Insight Environmental Software
and the Medallion Suite. Kevin Yake, president of the
company, says Insight Environmental Software delivers
waste-industry–specific, line-of-business–centered
management solutions. “Insight Environmental Software
offers a broad array of tools to help waste companies
process all operations and accounting information in
their landfills, hauling operations, and transfer stations,”
Yake says. “Whether the operation is a small transfer
station or a large multiple-line-of-business waste company
with both hauling and landfill operations, Insight can
provide the powerful business decision and analysis
tools to help them manage their operations.”
Doug Kobold,
solid waste planner for the County of Sacramento Municipal
Services Agency, first became familiar with WasteWORKS
almost 10 years ago. “In 1996 I procured scale
software for Yolo County Central Landfill. I was solid
waste operations manager for the county. At that time,
WasteWORKS DOS version was the most off-the-shelf product
on the market,” Kobold says. “A demo disk
sent by Larry Blanton of Carolina Software prompted
a more closer look at the software. Comparing that software
to what was, or wasn’t, available on the market
at the time prompted me to, and justified me to, sole-source
a purchase of the product. Based on my experience with
the software since 1996, I prepared the RFP [request
for proposal] in 2001 to focus on the off-the-shelf
quality of both the WasteWORKS product and a similar
product produced by Paradigm Software.”
Carolina
Software Inc. of Wilmington, NC, specializes in software
for the waste disposal industry. WasteWORKS has been
generating waste disposal information and providing
customer billing for landfills, transfer stations, waste-to-energy
facilities, recycling centers, and MRFs throughout North
America since 1987.
“WasteWORKS
is an off-the-shelf product and is compatible with a
wide range of operating systems, computer hardware,
and peripherals,” says Jon Leeds, vice president
at Carolina Software. “It’s been around since
the early ’90s, and in the time since we have been
building upon the same core product features that now
provide our customers with an extremely solid, proven,
feature-packed, and very flexible system. Basically,
we don’t do a whole lot of customization because
our package product can handle almost any solid waste
management situation imaginable. And because WasteWORKS
is an off-the-shelf system, we are more affordable than
most. In addition, we can connect to almost every make
and model of scale [indicator] on the market.”
Paradigm
Software LLC of Lutherville, MD, has been providing
Windows and Internet software solutions for the solid
waste, aggregate, and recycling industries since 1991.
“The Paradigm software,” says Phil Weglein,
president and owner, “was originally designed for
the Windows operating system and has always run as a
native Windows package.” Weglein says the software
is tested with all versions of Windows including Windows
2000 and Windows XP. The product is written using the
latest object-oriented Microsoft COM, SQL, and .NET
technology, not FoxPro or Access. Weglein says Paradigm
offers a truly scalable package and is multithreaded,
allowing for the fastest transaction processing in the
industry. Paradigm products start in price at about
$9,000 or $10,000 for software with no auto features.
Something fully automated can run from to $300,000 to
$400,000—even $500,000. Most systems are in the
$8,000 to $12,000 range, says Weglein, and prices include
travel and onsite training. Paradigm builds systems
for customers varying in size from small-scale, doing
20 to 50 transactions a day, to those doing 3,000 to
4,000 transactions a day.
When the
Rodman New York Solid Waste Management Facility was
looking for a new software package, Jan Castro, customer
service specialist for the facility, did a lot of research.
“I put a lot of time and effort into researching
all the latest programs available. I was very impressed
with what Paradigm Software LLC had to offer. The program
provided the flexibility and capability that our landfill
was looking for, while being very user-friendly. We
have been using the CompuWeigh System since September
1999.”
The Winfield
Solid Waste Facility in Columbia County, FL, began looking
for a new scale software program because of the Y2K
scare. The facility had the opportunity to upgrade from
a DOS-based scale software program to a Windows-based
program. According to Bill Lycan, solid waste director,
and Pam Lashley, office manager, the upgrade was the
most inexpensive way for the facility to go. Word of
mouth led them to Alan Altman, director for Clay County.
Clay County was using the Paradigm CompuWeigh System
and invited the Winfield folks over to view the CompuWeigh
System up and running. Lycan and Lashley were surprised
to find the system had so much flexibility and the versatility
to interface with an accounting software program. Best
of all, it was Windows-driven. After considering all
the manual reports and data collection the program could
do, they were hooked.
Kobold, who
started using WasteWORKS in 1996, likes the way Carolina
Software works with customers to not only upgrade individual
packages, but to also develop products that will benefit
the industry or other users. Kobold says Carolina Software
considers the utility of any changes he suggests that
will ultimately benefit the majority of its customer
base. “To that end, many of the changes I have
requested over the years have been made to the software
to enhance the product,” he says.
Scale
Accuracy Builds Customer Confidence
The waste industry is bad on scales, says Crews.
“The dirty environment, weight of trucks, frequent
overload, volume of traffic—all those things are
hard on scales. Some landfills see two lines of trucks
queued up for 12 hours, and some sites handle up to
700 trucks a day. Scale use over the last five years
has seen a 70% increase at landfills. It takes a good
scale to handle those loads,” he says. “And
those who service those scales have to be on top of
their game. Cardinal scales are built to take that abuse.”
Crews says
measuring loads by cubic yard is not necessarily the
best way to charge the customer. “Good weighing
is important,” he says. “A scale is not a
perfect way; it is the best we’ve got for now.”
A good weighing
system isn’t necessarily cheap. “Pioneer projects
range from a two-week, $45,000-plus project to [costing]
half a million,” says Crews. “That’s
about $44,000 for the scale and a couple of thousand
for the Gatehouse. A project like that takes about two
weeks. Our Skyline Landfill project took five months.”
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Photo:
Rice Lake Weighing Systems
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Skyline Landfill
of Dallas is one of Pioneer’s biggest jobs. It
took five months with a cost of almost half a million,
but it is the wave of the future, says Crews. The facility
has three scales. It is equipped with traffic lights
and a data recording system. “We did the driveway,
gate, everything, for $450,000,” he says.
And why does
Crews think the Skyline Landfill is the wave of the
future? “With the three scales, there can be two
inbound lines: one for tagged trucks [the ones whose
information has been stored in the computer], the other
for weigh-in, weigh-out customers. The third lane is
for outbound traffic,” he says. “Traffic lights
tell trucks which scale to go to. Even if one of the
scales is down you have the capability of handling in-
and out-bound traffic. You can use any of the scales
either way.”
Tracking
the assorted data today’s systems collect is important.
Whether keeping track of items measured in tonnage or
unit, figuring taxes on different accounts, or computing
POS figures, a good packaged accounting software program
can make the whole thing run more smoothly.
It’s
important to have a software program that can be linked
to packaged accounting software (like Peachtree), Crews
says. “Cardinal’s WinVRS system can be linked
to several accounting software packages for automatic
bill, payment recording, late fees, and monetary account
maintenance,” he says. “The accounting packages
that work best for landfills and transfer stations are
labeled for point of sale.”
“The
trend now is a comprehensive point-of-sale scalehouse
package covering a variety of pricing structures [special
waste profiles, price sheets, tiered pricing, pricing
by time of day, etc.], integration via database [not
uploading], wide area networks, consolidation of equipment
[secured PCs], Internet reporting, and unattended scalehouses
for after-hour service,” says Don Tefft of PC Scale.
“These opportunities and many more will provide
the industry with a return on investment that each company
demands.”
Support
When You Need It
Your boss cleared the system, the budget was approved,
it’s up and running, staff’s been trained,
and your customers almost accept it—then something
happens. And you want all the support your quarter of
a mill can buy.
“The
support staff at Paradigm was very helpful in tailoring
the program to meet our needs,” says Castro. “I
have found that I seldom have had to call Paradigm for
technical assistance as the program has run so smoothly.
But whenever I have placed a call, my questions have
been answered expediently and explained in a manner
that was comprehendible. The customer service at Paradigm
Software is exceptional.”
Lycan and
Lashley agree: “We got with Paradigm’s Support
team and they answered our questions, were very courteous
and helpful during the purchasing process—first
installing the CompuWeigh System, then setting up the
accounting program and training the staff. Paradigm
staff was knowledgeable, patient, and dedicated. After
the training, we had some questions, and even though
it was during the Thanksgiving holidays, we were able
to contact support at home, and [the representative]
was glad to help with our situation. We still have to
call and rely on the support team at Paradigm from time
to time. We have always gotten a quick response from
them.”
Pat Myers,
office manager for Cedar Rapids/Linn County Solid Waste
Agency, says, “Carolina Software produces upgrades
periodically. We receive the upgrades from them on a
CD, and we install the upgrade on all computers using
WasteWORKS.”
Not everyone
has a good experience. A few years ago Paul Thompson,
director of Garland County’s Department of Environmental
Services, of Garland County (Arkansas) Solid Waste,
tried installing an RFDI system to track carts. “It
was to track 18,000 carts and the tips for each account
on a pay-by-volume basis,” says Thompson. “It
just didn’t work out.”
Thompson
blames part of the problem on geography. “The contractor
was in California and refused to visit us onsite to
correct problems until they were serious,” he says.
But he adds that geography wasn’t the only support
problem. “The company did mostly defense contracts,”
he says. “The military contracts were so much larger
than our contract. We were just small potatoes to them.
We took the hardware but were able to cancel the software
in part because it just never worked.” The county
paid $128,000 for hardware and installation. It left
$128,000 unpaid for software and training. One of the
major problems Garland County had was lack of consistent
programming staff. “The contractor changed computer
programmers four times in one year, and each new programmer
was uninformed of prior work,” Thompson says.
“We
had major problems with the billing program. We gave
them to the end of the first year of service [1998]
to correct the problems or we would cancel the contract
and refuse to pay the balance. They did not correct
the problems and we cancelled the contract,” says
Thompson. “In 1999 we went to a fixed-monthly-rate-per-cart
billing system.” The company Garland County contracted
with no longer makes software for MSW. And Thompson
says it will be a hard sell to get his bosses to look
at another system.
Customer-Driven
Needs Create Specialty Products for MSW
Customer demand to collect and use information
in an accurate and timely manner has driven developments
in the industry. Software can now display numbers and
statistics in a variety of graphs, charts, and reports.
There is a move toward integrating of truck scale software
into business accounting. Today’s software allows
for greater management control at the municipality or
franchise level.
Lori Scozzafava,
deputy executive director of SWANA, says, “Using
radio frequency identification technology and other
computerized identification at scalehouses is at its
infancy within the solid waste industry. But the interest
and applications for this technology are growing. Applications
are generally limited to situations where the facilities
have contracts or franchises [and tare weights can be
established] or for internal purposes such as transfer
trailer tracking.”
Scozzafava
says the new technology can lead to a reduction in manpower,
but she doesn’t see great reductions in the need
for personnel to man landfills and transfer stations.
“While this [new technology] has led to reductions
in scalehouse personnel in some circumstances, it is
not yet envisioned that scalehouses will become staffless
because of this new technology. These ‘fast pass’
systems offer a convenience for facility customers by
automating billing and reducing waiting time,”
she says. “But they are not flawless. Careful attention
must be given to records review, and measures should
be taken to ensure information accuracy.”
Where
Can I Find Out More?
“We didn’t have a sales staff until a
few years ago,” says Crews. “The solid waste
industry has changed so much in the last 20 years. Now
we do trade shows, like the WasteExpo, and we get leads
from our vendors and customers. Nothing could be better
than a satisfied customer.”
Most companies
do trade shows and actively market to MSW professionals.
The WasteExpo is coming up in May 2005. Here are some
Web sites and e-mails if you want more information:
Marsha
DeClue, based in St. Louis, MO, is a correspondent with
several business journals.
MSW
- May/June 2005
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