Some statistics and how to avoid becoming one of them

A couple of interesting statistics hit the transport press this week.

Firstly, the number of PG9’s issued in 2014 was quite eye opening. The figures for London alone for instance show that 41% stopped during the year were issued with an immediate prohibition. Another area, Yorkshire and Humberside, had more than half the vehicles issued with a PG9 were immediate prohibitions.

Secondly, DVSA is rolling out a ‘next generation enforcement’ regime which will increase the targeting of operators as opposed to carrying out random checks. A no brainer really given that for 2013/14 the prohibition rate for random checks was 10.2% and for targeted operators, 37.1%

How many of those were inadvertent overloads it doesn’t say.

Targeting the rogue operators clearly has to take priority and the inconvenience and cost of a prohibition they suffer is the least they deserve.

Unfortunately, being prohibited with an inadvertent overload has the same expensive, time consuming and inconvenient effect on those operators trying to run legally.

Sometime ago we were approached by a client who found that being caught overloaded really did have serious consequences. He had been approached to supply his product for a makeover TV program with all the kudos and exposure that would generate.

Unfortunately, the vehicle he sent to the job was overloaded and, prohibited at a weight check en route, he missed his delivery, missed his free exposure on TV and no doubt gave the program makers a headache to boot.

Avoid overloading with the Axtec OnBoard Load Indicator

Then of course there was the inconvenience and cost of sending another vehicle and driver to take part of the load followed by the inevitable fine. And having offended once, he changed from being an inadvertent offender to a targeted operator which means more time consuming contact with the authorities.

This customer had been completely unaware of the legislation and indeed the weight of his products. He wasn’t a ‘cowboy’ to be targeted but had through ignorance inadvertently overloaded the vehicle.

The way to avoid this happening to him again was to fit one of our OnBoard Load Indicators.

Fitted to the vehicle, the driver gets his front, rear and gross weights presented to him in colour on a clear, graphical display with any overloads highlighted in flashing red. Flashing red is a danger signal in just about every country in the world and we have been told by operators with a high proportion of foreign drivers that even they understand it means there is something wrong.

Someone in fact pointed out to us the other day that in the natural world, red is seen as a colour of danger understood by even the dumbest of animals and something to be avoided or prevented.

We’ll be at the CV Show at the NEC next week (Stand 5A111), together with all things transport related, so if you want to come and have a chat about how to avoid inadvertent overloading and not becoming one of DVSA’s statistics we’ll be pleased to see you.

Almost time for THAT show!

It’s that time of year again and the excitement is starting to grow. Excitement isn’t too strong a word either as we all prepare for the CV Show 2015.

It’s a great industry event and a ‘must do’ for anyone involved in commercial vehicles.

Whatever you’re in the market for it will be on show at the NEC and whilst much buying is done on line these days, there’s still nothing quite like being face to face with a customer or for the customer to physically see and get his hands on the product.

This is essential especially if you’re in the market for a technical product like an axle weighbridge.  Whilst it’s tempting to buy something cheap on line, the horror stories we hear from people who have tried that are legion.

It seems that some of the chassis manufacturers won’t be at the show this year, possibly because they have no new products to launch and their new Euro 6 models were on show last year. Of course they have to make their own minds up how to spend their budget but we feel that the CV Show really is the place to be.

You may not have a new product to show but it seems to us a great way of showing your wares to potential customers who are currently buying a competitive product.

Often it’s the only chance during the year to meet up with old contacts as well as meet new customers.

But old contacts can be a great source of business as well. Often too busy when their in the office, a brief chat on an exhibition stand gives them the opportunity to explore new ideas and maybe expand on what they already have.

The customer who wanted to move his instrumentation without it costing the earth was one.  Ducting to the new location was going to be expensive and cause massive disruption to his operation but when we told him about our wireless capability the whole job became much more achievable and cost effective.

Without visiting us at the show he wouldn’t have known we had that capability and we would never have known he was thinking of changing his operation.

Then there are the guys who are looking to improve the service they are getting. We speak to numerous customers who didn’t talk to someone face to face, bought something off the internet and regretted it. Fortunately we’ve got 30+ years experience in axle weighing and there aren’t many issues we can’t solve.

An axle weighing system for any application at The CV Show

So if you need advice on what is the right, and most cost effective, system for your needs, head down to the CV Show at the NEC next month. Even if it's not an axle weighing system you're looking for, there will almost certainly be an expert there with the solution for you.

We'll be on stand A5111 so for all things axle weighing feel free to come along and say hello.

So how do you find out if you're potentially in need of an axle weighing system?

So who are the companies that really need an axle weighing system? And how do they know they might need it?

The first of those questions doesn’t really have  a specific answer. The second one we can gladly help with.

Often, whether there is a need for axle weighing or not is in the eye of the customer. Some organisations insist that their business simply couldn’t operate without an axle weigher. Others, often in the exact same industry, running virtually identical trucks, frequently from the same industrial estate and to the same towns, are equally adamant that they don’t need axle weighing equipment.

In most cases though, those organisations have either never been caught overloaded or more crucially haven’t considered the financial benefits of installing a system.

We have posted details of customers who have reduced journeys by a third by installing an axle weighbridge, others about customers who have found increased payload has meant the systems have been paid for in a matter of months followed by extra profit on the bottom line thereafter and others where the system has added a very handy source of extra income.

The variety of potential users is vast. From a one vehicle organisation which organised bible study exhibitions to the largest logistics companies in the world, we have supplied them all with axle weighing equipment. And every one had their own important reasons for installing a system.

Avoiding an overload on a single 3.5t van is just as important for that operator as maximising the load on a fleet of maximum weight artics is for another.

And no one axle weighing system is right for every operator as can be seen from previous posts.

So we offer a free consultancy service to talk through the customer’s requirement. This is vital to establish exactly what he is doing, what he wants from the system and what is the best equipment for the job. Sometimes that consultation leads us to recommend a supplier of a different type of system. Even sometimes recommending not buying anything at all.

How do you know which axle weighing system is best for you?

There is no typical customer for an axle weighing system. They are all different, all with different fleet profiles and different requirements. So getting the best advice on what is available, what it can do and whether it will actually do the job is vital.

With experience in this specialist field spanning over thirty years and covering the full range of the product requirement from design to manufacturing, installation and final commissioning all done by in-house professionals, the technical advice on offer is unrivalled in the country.

Axle weighing and axle weighbridges are all we know.

And the best thing is the advice is free.

Whatever you’re running, whatever your industry and whatever your aim - just the one van or a large fleet of artics, organising specialist exhibitions or moving the biggest machinery in the country, avoiding overloading or wanting to squeeze the very last kilogramme onto the truck - the advice is always free and always the best we can give.

Getting the right tool for the job...

If the latest DVSA figures are correct, overloading is still the top offence committed by operators of Light Commercial Vehicles.

It may seem a minor offence but an overloaded vehicle is very unstable and very dangerous. Putting too much weight on a van effects all the major components on the vehicle - steering, brakes, suspension, tyres, clutch  - which must have an effect on the performance.

And if the performance of the vehicle doesn’t concern you surely the excessive fuel and repair bills caused by overloading would?

What is sometimes overlooked is that even though it was only an overload on a light commercial vehicle, the penalties for overloading them are the same as for heavier vehicles. And whilst they are not on the ‘O’ licence, any offences caused by light vehicles will affect your application or any renewal.

We know from our own experience, we run service vans for instance, that light commercial vehicles are very easy to overload. As we are the sole provider of service to the national network of DVSA axle weighbridges and thus come into contact with them on a daily basis, it would be highly embarrassing if any of our vehicles were found to be overloaded.

So we have fitted the vans out with the Axtec OnBoard Load Indicator.

OnBoard Load Indicators - right for your LCV's?

Axtec OnBoard shows front, rear and gross weights on a colour display all of the time. No knobs, buttons or switches for the driver to fiddle with or break and thanks to its unique customer calibration facility keeps maintenance visits to a minimum and service costs low.

But an onboard load indicator may not be the most cost effective solution.

Only yesterday we were approached by a company about the Axtec OnBoard. Running 14 vehicles from two depots the system would certainly do a job for him and protect his vehicles from overloading out on the road. But after talking it through with him it became apparent that there was a less costly option.

As he was taking full loads from his depots to jobs and returning empty apart from  some small amounts of scrap, a static single axle weighbridge in each yard would offer him greater benefits.

The Static Single weighs any 2-axle rigid vehicle and this customer is running 14 vans. The cost of installing a Static-Single at both his depots is less expensive than equipping every van with an OnBoard Indicator.

Another benefit is that he wouldn’t need to equip every new van he bought with a system. Once the Static-Single is installed, it’ll last for years and even if his fleet grows to include larger vehicles, the system is designed to cater for anything up to and including 18 tonners.

It was only by investigating what he did, how his operation worked, where his fleet is based and what is plans for the future might be that we were able to specify the correct solution for his needs even though it is only light commercials he’s using.

So why DO we lay high tolerance concrete approaches?

Sometimes a customer won’t listen to good advice or listen to the experience of another customer who also ignored that good advice! We’ve experience both in the last couple of weeks.

Manufacturing a highly accurate axle weighing machine with high accuracy load cells and weight indicator is only part of a successful installation. Our dynamic axle weighbridge is the most accurate of its type in the world but getting the installation correct is vital and just as important as making an accurate weighing machine.

Employing, training and equipping our own construction teams may seem an expensive luxury but they are an essential part of us being able to offer that most accurate axle weighbridge in the world. 

Without them, achieving any sort of accuracy would be virtually impossible and we have seen many come and go that have tried to so it without making sure they have first class installation team.

This was illustrated really well recently when we went to install a system into groundwork prepared by others; a well known construction company.

Despite having a drawing and free advice from us, the finished levels are so poor that the only way we could achieve any kind of accuracy was by having the axle weighing platform sitting very proud of its frame. It doesn’t look very professional and could be construed as a trip hazard but it’s a direct result of the approach levels being so poor. We will almost certainly have to dig it up and relay the approach slab correctly in the near future.

It’s because the levels are so important that we have our own construction teams. That way we take full responsibility for the installation and can achieve the high accuracy that we do.

When using an axle weigher, only one axle is on the platform at any one time. The others are on the concrete either side of it. And uneven concrete approaches will seriously affect how a compensating bogie distributes weight. Thus, the approach levels affect the vehicle suspension not the axle weighbridge itself.

High tolerance concrete is essential for accurate weighing

No amount of adjusting the axle weighbridge indicator will remove this effect. The levels have just got to be right and if that means digging up and relaying the approaches, then that’s what needs to be done.

But even explaining the reasons for it, and telling the story of this recent issue with a major construction company to our customer, he still seems set on trying to get a system installed on the cheap. Questioning whether it really is necessary to go to the expense of providing accurate concrete approaches.

A weighing machine only measures gravity. No one can influence it or change the way it works. It can only be measured. And if anyone tries to install an axle weighbridge ignoring one of the great forces of nature, then they are making an expensive mistake.

There is no cheap solution but despite all the evidence, it still doesn’t stop some people thinking they can defy gravity!

Not fit for purpose...

That’s what the customer said when we went to look at his axle weighbridge. He went onto explain that he’d had no end of trouble with it.

Thankfully he wasn’t talking about one of ours. We imagine he was also quite pleased that it was his predecessor who bought it and not him.

We’ve mentioned the difficulties that can accrue from trying to do axle weighing on the cheap in the past and no doubt we will come across many similar installations in the future. Something that looked a very good deal on paper but turned out to be a load of trouble. And expensive trouble at that.

On the face of it, it’s quite a neat looking installation in quite a clean yard and not particularly heavily trafficked. But there are a few features that mean the system will not do what the customer wants.

The load cells and their mountings, which are very good quality by the way, are not the right design for a dynamic axle weighbridge application. The type of mountings will wear simply by using the system. Simply driving vehicles across the plate will lead to frequent failures and expensive repairs as this customer has found out to his cost.

The whole area is on a slope which will affect the accuracy. Any weighing machine is only measuring the effect of gravity and no weighing machine can influence that effect. Gravity will always pull in a straight line downwards and load cells are all designed to see weight going through a predetermined path with the strain gauges attached accordingly.

This axle weighbridge at least is up to the job!

This means if the load cells are on an incline, the load is taking a path through them that isn’t directly downwards an inaccuracy will result.

It isn’t the weighbridges fault. It only measures the effect of gravity it can’t influence it but it’s surprising how many people only listen to what they want to hear. They think that the cheaper an installation is, the more of a compromise it is, the more it can bend gravity to its will! The fact is there is a reason why we design, install and test our system the way we do.

A gentle incline won’t put the system outside of its tolerance as long as it is used correctly but it does mean that proper operation is essential.

This customer also has plans to offer the system as a Public Weighbridge and earn some income from it. The only type of system which can be offered in this way is one that has been Approved for the purpose and this one hasn’t been.

The Axtec Dynamic Axle Weighbridge is the only one which achieves this Approval and can thus be offered for this role.

There will be some cost attached but no more than should have been spent in the first place. So with a few modifications the customer will get what he wants and a system that will last him for years and start earning him money rather than costing.

Busting those myths about axle weighbridges!

Another show has been and gone, this time the premier show for those involved in waste and recycling, RWM at the NEC and as usual it provided a good set of new leads and raised a few questions.

As well as ourselves there were many companies exhibiting which were offering high tech solutions to all manner of problems and it was interesting talking to fellow exhibitors and discovering how slowly new technology is sometimes adopted and how old ideas can persist.

One of the great things about exhibitions is spotting a new way of doing something or planting ideas about what the market needs into the minds of suppliers. Manufacturers will always be on the look out for new opportunities to serve their market whether that be in axle weighing or any other field.

Yet there are some ideas which seem very firmly entrenched and difficult to shift.

There are two that we encounter frequently; dynamic axle weighbridges cannot be used for Trade and they need more space that a traditional plate weighbridge.

Small yard? A dynamic axle weigher takes up  little space.

Dynamic axle weighbridges have been Approved for use for Trade for many years now. Twelve or more years but it seems that some in the waste industry haven't picked up on that yet. Our dynamic axle weighbridge is the most accurate of its type in the world and as well as being Approved for Trade, it's actually accurate enough to be offered for Public weighing as well.

We've been using the one in our yard for that purpose for years.

The space issue is a bit of a red herring. It's true that typically 30m is required for a dynamic axle weighbridge but all but about 1m of that is just concrete. When a vehicle isn't being weighed, it can be used just like any other piece of yard concrete for parking, turning etc. And it certainly isn't in the way like any surface mounted platform would be.

An articulated vehicle needs much more than 30m to use a traditional plate weighbridge. It needs to be straight when approaching the system so with a typical 13m wheelbase that means a 13m clear area ahead of the approach ramp. The ramps are typically 3m long then there's the weighbridge deck at 15m. The last axle of the vehicle needs to be clear of the ramp before the vehicle can start turning safely so that needs another 13m beyond the end ramp.

All this means a total area of around 47m, some 17m longer than is needed for a dynamic axle weighbridge.

There are other benefits too; being flush mounted a dynamic axle weigher offers no above ground 'target' to be hit by wayward drivers. So damage to weighbridge, truck, tyres etc is minimised if not eliminated.

If space saving is important, then a dynamic axle weigher offers an excellent alternative to the traditional plate weighbridge.

And don't forget you CAN legally use a dynamic axle weighbridge for Trade as well.