Company: Transpro Burgener, Fort Collins, CO
Operation: A dry bulk hauler serving the Western U.S. and Canada through terminals in Wyoming and Colorado with a fleet of 142 tractors and 400 trailers
PROBLEM:
Just over a year ago, Transpro Burgener recognized it wasn’t achieving the fuel mileage on its fleet that it desired. The fleet was seeing mpg ranging from the high 4s to mid 5s.
Wayne Saunders, fleet manager, had the chance to preview a driver coaching system from LinkeDrive. The cloud-based platform provides driver feedback to help improve fuel efficiency and safety. “We had run across the product in one of the magazines, and that’s one of my jobs,” he says. “I’m always looking for better fuel mileage.”
So Saunders and another member of his team tested the system, driving the same routes with the system visible and without it visible.
“We both showed improvement the first time we saw the guage, so that sold me right there,” he says.
The next step was to test it with the drivers.
SOLUTION:
Ten of LinkeDrive’s PedalCoach units were installed and immediately proved themselves, Saunders says. One of the drivers, a 20-year veteran with the fleet who was averaging between 6 and 6.5 mpg, jumped up to 7.5 with PedalCoach, Saunders says.
“At the end of the day, when you key off the truck, it not only tells you how you did, but it ranks you [with other drivers],” he says.
According to LinkeDrive, the PedalCoach mobile application leverages LinkeDrive’s cloud-based platform to provide real-time, adaptive feedback for improving fuel efficiency and safety.
Proprietary algorithms set a unique fueling target for each driver that is communicated in a simple gauge with a red-yellow-green interface that allows drivers to earn “points” for achieving optimal behaviors and patterns.
Saunders says the system has bumped up the fleetwide average about 1 mpg.
When fewer tractors were running the system, Saunders says he would post the monthly mpg averages, and the drivers who had access to PedalCoach were consistently averaging up to 1 mpg higher than those without access.
Fleet managers and drivers can immediately see the impact changes in route conditions, such as a snow storm, for instance, may have on driver performance. The software allows managers to set goals for drivers. The more the driver keeps the target within the green area, the better the fuel efficiency.
Initially installed on a portable device supplied by LinkeDrive, Transpro Burgener is now switching the system over to its in-cab telematics unit. At this point, about 90% of the fleet is running PedalCoach, Saunders adds.
“We wouldn’t have gone from 10 trucks to all 142 if we didn’t think it would work,” Saunders says. “The main thing is by [putting it on the telematics unit], there are fewer things hanging off the dashboard and fewer things the driver has to deal with.
“Most drivers have cell phones, an in-cab tablet, and the [LinkeDrive] device,” he adds. “This way, everything is on one device.”
Saunders notes the devices will be added to the remaining 10% of the fleet as soon as possible.
