By Marsha Declue

Leather or fabric, standard or automatic, whitewalls in or out—we all make those choices when shopping for a personal vehicle, but what kinds of choices does someone in the municipal solid waste industry have when it comes to collection vehicles?

Fortunately, today's MSW manufacturers recognize the need and demand for customizing collection vehicles. The innumerable possibilities, combinations, and specialized designs allow MSW departments to customize vehicles for a variety of reasons—safety, comfort, efficiency, and the bottom line.

Although customizing is easier to do today than even 10 years ago, it is still a process. The process involves listening to the client's needs, conceptualizing those needs on paper, and getting a prototype from drawing board to boardroom. Each client presents different needs, and those needs change with time.

"Oftentimes, a special request is required in a specification," says Houston Ratledge, product manager for Heil Environmental Industries Ltd. According to Ratledge, municipalities, large national accounts, and, to a lesser degree, the small Anytown USA, with ingenious entrepreneurs, bring the requests to the manufacturer. "To get a custom feature, a SOAR (special option approval request) must be submitted for review and a response," says Ratledge. "Approval rests upon the feasibility and cost of the request as determined by both the customer and the product management group."

Heil, located in Chattanooga, TN, has been customizing since its inception in 1901 says Ratledge. "One of its first customized-vehicle product lines was a horse-drawn wagon," he says. And custom items don't have to cost an arm and a leg. "Heil offers items as simple as a broom storage rack for as little as $100, to CNG alternate fuel tanks for $38,000," he maintains.

Ratledge said he thought the demand for a "customized" product market started in the 1930s, but really exploded in the 1990s. Ratledge ought to have a pretty good idea, June 2005 saw him begin his 45th year in the waste handling industry.

Rick Carnley at the Solid Waste/General Services Department of Clearwater, FL, agrees with Ratledge about the explosion of custom options in the 1990s. Carnley said he first became aware of customizing MSW collection vehicles about 20 years ago because he'd spent most of his career on the manufacturing side of the solid waste business. Carnley says the reason for customizing MSW vehicles are the same as those for customizing your personal vehicle. "It becomes a matter of personal preferences versus the 'standard' options."

Carnley has added a variety of customized items to Clearwater's fleet, starting with a hopper cover for side loaders. He's adapted the selection controls for loader operation (air switches versus joy stick) to electronic and hydraulic systems; added specially designed hydraulic systems for automated side loaders, a hopper and back-up camera combo with single, flat screen monitor for side and front loaders, and armrests and controls for lift in automated and front loaders. Carnley thinks the modified hydraulic systems are one of the best changes he's made. According to Carnley, "The hydraulic systems changed total performance of vehicles and reduced operation and maintenance costs."

The process, Carnley says, is easier if the buyer is aware of market demands, product availability, and which vendors can participate, design, and relate needs to technical individuals.

Jim Wilkin, manager of sanitation maintenance for St. Petersburg, FL, has also worked with Heil's special order program. He says that through a cooperative effort between himself and the Heil Co., the front head configuration of the 7000 model automated side loaders have been redesigned. "We have redesigned the packer panel and hopper cover," says Wilkin. "These items were a change from the standard build and have made maintenance of the units easier."

PHOTO: ROLLINS

Modify, Convert, Adapt
When the Cedar Rapids, IA, Solid Waste Recycling Department wanted some changes to its vehicles, Labrie, in Quebec, took on the challenge. Department director Mark Jones says, "It was my concept and I thought it should work since the space above the hopper area on the side loader wasn't being used for anything else." He went to Quebec, met with staff, and even worked on the project.

"I provided sketches of what I had envisioned to Labrie," says Jones. "Then I traveled up to Quebec to look at the customized glass compartment one of the subcontractors built above the hopper area on their side-loading vehicles, based on my concept."

Labrie solved another puzzle Cedar Rapids faced with its yard waste collection trucks. "We wanted to keep the ability to manually collect items and looked at the packer manufacturers," says Jones. "We found Labrie had a vehicle which met our needs for both manual and fully automated collection capabilities. Thus in our bid specifications we specified the vehicle must be able to provide for both manual and fully automated collection."

Although some modifications can be very expensive and the value of converting might be questioned, Jones doesn't think customizing the vehicle adds too much to the final cost. "The split glass compartment added approximately $6,000 to our trucks," he says. "But (the compartment) didn't change the dynamics of the truck. Not even the payload weight capacity."

Jones warns about buying something and then trying to convert or customize it later. "We stay away from this for liability and warranty reasons," he says. "Truck manufacturers have licensed engineers designing their vehicles. Once a truck is built, any modification made by the purchasing entity, us for example, will not be certified. We have been advised that it would make any warranty null and void."

Keeping those who work with the equipment involved in the process is important. "Our department has always been heavily involved in working with our equipment dealers and truck manufactures to ensure we were getting the best vehicle for our needs at a reasonable cost," Jones adds.

"Customerized"
Ratledge said customers seek out Heil products because they know its capability and expertise in the waste handling industry. Ratledge calls it "customerized," when the idea emanates from two sources—the customer's special needs and the engineers' solution.

Jones likes to learn from others. "We talk to our peers in other communities, attend trade shows, and review what's new and upcoming," he says. He thinks working directly with the manufacturer improves the final product. "We discuss our thoughts with equipment manufacturers and we work with our equipment dealers. We provide sketches to the dealers or they provide sketches for us to review." One such solution came a number of years ago when the city settled on the Chalmers suspension.

Wilkin agreed with the importance of working directly with the manufacturer. "The Heil Co. takes time to make sure all they build is manufactured correctly," he explains. "I've visited the plant several times in the past to inspect my vehicles before they ship. During my inspections, there have been times when they didn't build the unit as we wanted. They turned the vehicle back to the plant to have the corrections done without question."

Although working with manufacturers improves the final product, competition is good for the industry according to Jones. "Once one equipment manufacturer finds out we have worked with another equipment manufacturer, the second manufacturer will come calling and ask us what we would like to see," he says.

"We have been purchasing Class 8, FL-80 Freightliner chassis with Cummins engines and Allison transmissions and we've not been disappointed with performance to date," Jones says. "We specified the new Mercedes engine last go-round due to emissions standards and have been absolutely amazed at the increased miles per gallon we get, up to 6 mpg compared to the 3 [mpg] we'd been getting. Repair costs have dropped significantly, too."

Bettendorf, IA, has had a two-stream recycling program since 1995 and, according to Michelle Javornik, solid waste manager for the city, residents use an Otto recycling cart. The cart is divided down the middle and actually separated by a divider panel.

"The lid of the cart is one piece, not two hinged pieces, like some carts are," Javornik says. "We'd been using rear-load split-body trucks with a semi-automated tipper. The tipper emptied the contents of the cart into the two chambers of the truck. The disadvantage of the rear-loading trucks is that the driver has to walk to the back of the truck to empty each cart.

"So, looking to find a faster way to do the collection, we asked Labrie to design a tipper arrangement that would allow us to empty the split cart into the split-body truck with the semi-automated tipper located at the side of the truck," said Javornik. "This would alleviate the driver having to walk to the back of the truck. Labrie designed the truck with a chute system that channels the two streams of recyclables into separate chambers of the truck."

The semi-automated tipper is a Gingras tipper. The Gingras tipper empties the split cart into the two chambers of the truck. Javornik says this system works well for Bettendorf, and the city plans to order another split-body side-load Labrie with the semi-automated tipper.

Speed and time spent collecting, sorting, and delivering waste and recycling items add to the bottom line. Javornik points to a recent study. "Two years ago the consulting firm Foth & Van Dyke did a collection analysis of the solid waste and recycling drivers," she said. "They compared the collection times of the rear-load and side-load recycling trucks. Foth & Van Dyke determined the side-load recycling truck was about 35% faster than the rear-load recycling truck in doing recycling collection."

Jones noted once one manufacturer customizes a piece of equipment and the equipment starts selling very well, it isn't too long until that the other equipment manufacturers start thinking that the idea was a good one and they start developing prototypes. "That's business," he said.

Environmental Demands Equal Customize
New York City's fleet is one of the most customized in the world. It's also the world's largest sanitation fleet. When the city closed the Fresh Kills Landfill on the western shore of Staten Island, its trucks no longer unloaded onto barges, but were instead driving to a landfill in New Jersey. And although the closing of the landfill changed the operation for the city's Department of Sanitation, Rocco DiRico, assistant commissioner–support services, says there was time to prepare for the closure. An internal committee was able to project the needed costs of relocating 12,000 tons of rubbish a day. "We used to dump 2,300 collection trucks [per day] up until the landfill closed in New York City," says DiRico. "Now it is exported into New Jersey and requires over-the-road driving of an additional 10 to 30 miles."

Those additional road miles required changes to transmissions and tires. "We adjusted the Allison transmission gearing," explains DiRico, "and the frequency of tire change-outs." The city also replaced its old mechanical suspensions with Ridewell because they're low maintenance, he says.

The fleet (2,000 collection trucks, 275 specialized collection trucks, 280 front-end loaders, and more than 3,000 other trucks and support vehicles) has a stringent preventive maintenance program. "We see every vehicle every 30 days, regardless of the miles," said DiRico. "The vehicles get a top-to-bottom. The extra miles have led to a little more intense tire wear."

And with all the extra miles comes more fuel use. "We pride ourselves on clean air, the cleanest in the country," says DiRico. "New York City local-level clean air bills predate the federal regulations of 2007. Since 2001 we use nothing but ultra-low-sulfur diesel (ULSD). Using that fuel allows us to include after-treatments to make it even cleaner."

DiRico says his department has dealt with Heil for as long as he can remember. "We were dealing with Heil in the early 1980s," he says. "Together we have developed the perfect truck body. The operators are very, very comfortable with the mechanism's hopper handles, the height of the hopper sill, and its ability to pack tonnage it needs to."

Another modification Heil made, based on input from NYC was at the wear point (bottle pin). "Those bottle pins needed to be replaced quite often," DiRico said. "Heil redesigned it to last the life of the vehicle. We made a truck with minimized maintenance that still provides comfort to the operator. Then add the anti-graffiti paint…we'll continue to work with Heil. Its engineers are very open, we have a great relationship."

DiRico, with the most visible fleet in New York City, said his vehicles were the target of vandals and graffiti for years. "Years ago we had issues with graffiti so we moved on to an anti-graffiti-type paint," he said. "Now if a vehicle is graffitied, it is easily cleaned with soap and water. The paint cost no more than before." Sikkens helped DiRico develop the paint with no added cost and, in fact, there is a savings in terms of less down-time for the vehicle and fewer man-hours in cleaning.

DiRico not only uses his team for research and development, but also reaches out to inventors and developers. "Since 1997 we've advertised in The City Record," he says. "We encourage people to bring us new products." And because he has the world's largest fleet, companies often come to him with ideas and some modern prototypes.

DiRico says he's added special colors, anti-graffiti paint, shutdown systems, and lots of bells and whistles, so neither the vehicle nor the operator will be hurt. Another modification NYC made was special folding doors. "The cab doors are bifold, have always been bifold," he said. "When the doors are closed over the road, there is little ventilation. Since we're going over the road more (with the close of Fresh Kills), we added sliding glass on the bottom and top of the door. The sliding glass allows for more cross-ventilation and better visibility. When the door is closed, you don't have a perfect view, but a much improved one."

Of course having council or governmental support in the beginning helps all MSW and recycling programs move forward. Jones said getting the customized equipment he needed wasn't hard. "No, it wasn't a hard sell. Our council was fully supportive of our new recycling program and had commissioned a survey to gauge public response to the program including the collection of glass curbside."

Philip J. O'Connor, director of vehicle maintenance for the City of Chicago Department of Fleet Management, describes a process similar to those in other municipalities. "Meet with using department, determine needs, research available technology, write specifications, advertise for bid, review bids, award contract, hold pre-construction meeting, conduct build inspections, receive and release vehicle," O'Connor says. And it's not that hard a sell if you have all your ducks in a row.

O'Connor says the city had added cart tippers, LED lighting systems, T-Ride Suspensions, and Allison automatic transmissions with safety controls to prevent high-speed travel with tailgate deployed.

Kevin Campbell, P.E., automotive engineer for the City of Chicago says the city had been specifying units to meet particular needs for the last 20-plus years. He says some of the first customized items the city added were cart tippers in 1981.

Some suppliers have worked directly with the City of Chicago to modify product lines. "Perkins cart tippers have been specially modified to meet our requirements," Campbell says. Adding auxiliary fans and longer visors to the cab are two of the more practical, yet simple, additions Campbell has made to his vehicles. Future needs for Chicago include integrated axle and cart-tipper scales, hydraulic hybridization, and multiple compartments for recycling programs.

Customer department requirements led O'Connor to start looking for ways to customize his equipment. O'Connor and Campbell said they'd worked directly with AutoCar for chassis, Allison for transmissions, Leach for bodies, and Perkins for flippers.

Campbell said he thought the safety interlock was one of the best custom features one could add to a collection vehicle. "The transmission safety interlock prevents the driver from going above first gear if the tailgate is raised," he explains.

Neither O'Connor nor Campbell believe the modification added substantially to the final costs. "We do not itemize the component costs," O'Connor says, "but certainly less than 10% of total vehicle cost is due to customization."

Customized Financing
Dan Wong, general manager of Oshkosh Capital in Columbus, OH, says his company has worked with municipal entities for more than 10 years to develop financial tools. "Our business primarily developed to support our Pierce Manufacturing business," Wong says. "The fire truck sales are primarily into the municipal and volunteer fire department sectors. We've worked with both large and small communities across the country and have a unique understanding of their needs."

Wong continues, "The municipal waste sector is no different and was an easy add-on to what we'd been doing for the past decade. All McNeilus vehicles are eligible for this financing."

The primary product offered is the tax-exempt lease, says Wong. "This product allows us to offer our customers the lowest rates possible," he goes on, "as we do not have to pay federal taxes on the income if the customer is a municipal entity."

The product, Wong says, has three distinct advantages. First, it does not create long-term debt for the customers. Second, it requires no voter referendum, as compared to a bond issue. And third, it contains a non-appropriation clause.

"Because the advantage and benefits of tax-exempt interest are so great, we've worked our products around this," Wong continues. "We've developed a 'turn-in' lease and a 'walk-away' lease. The 'turn-in' lets customers turn in the leased vehicles at the end of the term and re-lease new ones."

Oshkosh Capital guarantees the value of the vehicles will be more than sufficient to pay off the original lease says Wong. "This allows our customers to update their fleets every five to seven years with new products. At the same time, we give them the flexibility to purchase the vehicles if their needs change."

The 'walk-away' lease allows customers to simply walk away from the lease at predetermined times. The benefit of this product is, Wong said, if the customer decides he doesn't want the vehicle anymore, he may simply 'walk away' from the deal. This product is geared for communities with fast-changing requirements or ones wanting to try out a product for a number of years without a long-term commitment. Like the 'turn-in' option, customers have the flexibility to buy or own, allowing the municipality to decide the best course of action.

Wong says unlike the typical bank that will loan the customer on a note basis with even repayment plans; Oshkosh Capital tries to fit the products to the customer's needs. The tax-exempt leasing section is a niche market. "Customers often contact their local banks only to find that they don't even have a comparable product," he says.

Wong said, "We do make presentations with the equipment salesperson or office. The typical scenarios that we are often engaged in are presentations to evaluation committees, city councils, and other approving boards. Additionally, we work with the purchasing and financing departments to come up with different options so that they can go before their boards to decide which is the best option for their communities."

And no matter what size the project, Wong says Oshkosh Capital can help. Oshkosh has financed projects as small as $10,000 and as large as multi-million-dollar transactions. The lease terms for the refuse section is typically two to seven years.

Wong thought it important to note Oshkosh Capital retains all of the leases it originates. "That is, we do not sell off our transactions to other institutions, but keep them for our own books," he says. "In this way, our customers don't have to worry about their payments being made to another entity after the fact, a common occurrence by other lenders in our industry."

One story Wong shares involves a tax-exempt lease transaction for the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation. Although, this wasn't a refuse industry deal, Wong says, it was a McNeilus deal and reflects McNeilus' ability to work with individual circumstances. The tribal government started a new cement business and needed mixers. Most lending institutions would have said "no," because of the nuances of working with a sovereign nation.

"Our customers were able to get four mixers, fit the repayment plan into their new budget, and got the deal done with tax-exempt interest rates. It was such a success, that the customer came back to us for another batch of mixers recently," says Wong.

Wong insists decision makers should dream and get what they need. "Don't think that you can't afford it until you've spoken to us," he says. "Even if you think your situation is so 'off the wall,' don't dismiss it until you see what we can come up with."

Hold 'Em to the Contract
Safety, comfort, and efficiency are three major concerns addressed through special options. Ratledge says, "Safety is the first item. Efficiency runs a close second. Cost is always a consideration, especially in the municipal bidding process. Low bid can sometimes turn into cheap bid, which results in unreliable equipment." He suggests concentrating on safety items, employee comfort, and ergonomic improvements.

Carnley says, "Each manufacturer offers different things for different people, so it's best to check each one and compare. And in the end, personal preference takes precedent."

"It is very important for everyone in our industry to take note of what each other is doing to stay abreast of new ideas and trends," Jones says. "We all pay for solid waste collection services somewhere, and each one of us in this industry must do their best to provide those services effectively and efficiently without hardship to our collectors or customers."

O'Connor sums it up: "The best way to get the equipment you want and need is by writing bid specifications and holding vendors responsible for meeting the requirements of the contract."

Marsha DeClue, based in St. Louis, MO, is a correspondent with several business journals.

MSW - September/October 2005