References
G. Snel
8% fall in diesel consumption
G. Snel reduces costs and CO2 emissions with the CarCube Driving Style Wizard
In the round-the-clock, local-level distribution industry in the Benelux, it is all about delivering on time. G. Snel in Woerden therefore implemented CarCube initially as a basis for real-time planning. In practice, the on-board computer is benefiting G. Snel on another front too: partly thanks to the Driving Style Wizard on their CarCubes, fuel consumption has fallen by no less than eight percent!
Cost savings
"We replaced our old on-board computer system with CarCube, in order to push for further costs savings", explains Peter de Vries of Management Partners BV. One important aspect in this is monitoring the Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA). "During the day, our CarCubes feed back the trucks' positions through the route planning software in the office, where they can use them to determine the ETA's", says De Vries. "This enables our planners to intervene early in the event of abnormalities."
Thanks to deploying CarCube, the comprehensive packaging administration is also having a positive effect on costs. The drivers record the packaging on the on-board computer, which is linked to the packaging module in the TMS. "This eliminates time-consuming, error-prone registration later on," according to De Vries.
Lower CO2 emissions
A central theme in G. Snel's policy is reducing CO2 emissions. The logistics provider has undertaken a variety of measures to achieve this. "In early 2010, we switched to lighter DAF distribution trucks with cleaner, leaner engines," explains De Vries. "In addition, we are focusing on lowering fuel consumption, and the Driving Style Wizard on CarCube is an important aid in this."
Economical driving
All G. Snel drivers have had training in economical driving. "On one of these course days, fuel savings of well over 10% can be achieved," says De Vries. "Normally speaking, that percentage reverts quickly after the training, but thanks to the Driving Style Wizard on CarCube we are keeping to noticeably lower consumption in the longer term too."
G. Snel started with the default limits that Punch Telematix had set on the Driving Style Wizard for monitoring speed, accelerating (too fast), braking (too hard), engine speed and idling. "Based on our practical experience, we have now altered those default values a little more," De Vries tells us.
Direct feedback
In text and spoken word, CarCube warns the driver when a limit is being exceeded, for example if braking too hard or idling for a long time. De Vries: "At that moment CarCube also sends an e-mail to the transport manager in the office, who immediately phones the driver to ask why the exceedance happened."
He claims that this direct feedback is working well in practice. "For the first two weeks, the transport manager was being inundated with e-mails, but then it reduced to a number that is easily processed. The drivers know that a fuel-efficient driving style is important and that we are actively looking at it. They are taking this into account."
Speed limiter
During the consumption measurements using CarCube, yet another aspect stood out at G. Snel. "We noticed that the consumption of some of the new trucks with their speed limiters set at 85 km/h was significantly lower than when set to 89 km/h. Consequently, the speed limiter is now set to 85 km/h on all our trucks."
The result of all these measures, in which CarCube plays a central role, is a fuel saving of 8%. Partly because of this, in just a short time G. Snel has already been able to achieve its target of ‘20% less CO2 emissions by 2012', for which in May 2010 the company won a Lean&Green Award from Connekt!
Website: http://www.snel.nl/
Number of employees: 140
Vehicle fleet: approximately 80 tractor units and 195 chassis units
Activities: local-level distribution within the Benelux, international transport, warehousing, cross-docking
Territory: Benelux, Europe
Application: CarCube on-board computer
Integration with the TMS RoadRunner+ from GreenCat, ORTEC Transport & Distribution planning software and the FleetWatch hours/expenditure module from LogicWay