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.

It's show time!!

All the planning has been done, the pictures and equipment packed and ready and the ancillary items booked. All we need to do now is head for the NEC on Monday and set up the stand.

So if you're attending the Recycling & Waste Management Show (RWM) next week, feel free to come and see us on stand 5P151.

Exhibitions are usually an interesting time and next week should be no different.

Weighing waste may seem an odd thing to do for those not in the industry but it makes perfect sense to those that are. And investing in the right equipment can make a huge difference to the bottom line of a business.

Not only is it vital to ensure vehicles are not overloaded, overloading effects all the major components on a vehicle - brakes, tyres, steering, suspension, clutch etc and can lead to expensive repair bills not to mention a potential fine, loss of 'O' licence or even the whole business.

But underloading is almost as big a problem for some. Vehicles need to be operated at maximum weight all the time if customers are to squeeze the most out of them. Operating a vehicle at anything less than maximum weight is a huge drain on a companies cash.

A year or so ago we were approached by a customer who had exactly this problem. Transporting waste that couldn't be recycled to landfill was a necessary part of his business but despite filling his vehicles, the weights being tipped were actually quite light.

How then to maximise the loads being carried without overloading?

The answer was an Axtec Dynamic Axle Weighbridge and the results were quite astonishing.

With his own axle weighing facility, he discovered that he could get a whopping one-third more on each vehicle every trip. That reduced his vehicle movements by 30%. So that's 30% less fuel, 30% less wear and tear and 30% less landfill fees.

Could you save money by getting more on each truck?

The axle weighbridge paid for itself in a matter of weeks and has been adding to his profits ever since.

Whilst our customer always thought he could get more on each of his vehicles, he never had the means to check it. And he certainly never expected to be able to compact it as much as he could and get so much more on each vehicle.

And without the right axle weighbridge he would have continued with the educated guesswork he had been employing for years and which had been costing his business money.

Do you have similar concerns? Are you that customer who, despite vast experience in the field, can still get the guesswork wrong? And with all the technology available now, should it be left to guesswork these days at all?

If you are, we'll be happy to have a chat next week at the NEC. Don't forget now, stand 5P151. It could be quite a profitable conversation.

Axle weighing is easy, right?

Installing an axle weighbridge is easy isn’t it? Just fit four load cells under a piece of steel, sink it into a hole in the ground, mount a weight display somewhere and start parking axles on it. Easy right?

If only it was that simple.

If it was that simple, we wouldn’t go to the trouble of doing levels surveys at every site, making a complex frame design to an extremely high tolerance, invest in expensive on site testing equipment or using some of the most expensive construction materials on the market.

Getting it right takes a lot more effort and knowledge than it seems.

And getting it wrong can sometimes prove costly to correct.

A major high street retailer installed an axle weighbridge at a large distribution centre. Unfortunately for them, the contractor who built the warehouse chose the cheapest system he could find and then installed it himself.

The client was only weighing 2-axle rigid vehicles, normally the simplest vehicles to weigh but despite the best efforts of the axle weighbridge supplier, they came and replaced all the electronics and load cells not once but twice, it still wouldn’t weigh these simple vehicles accurately.

So we were call in to give a second opinion. And we spotted the problem within about 15 minutes of arriving on site, ten of which consisted of signing in and waiting for our contact to arrive!

The client was using shunting vehicles to weigh drop-bodies before parking them up ready for the distribution fleet to take them away in the morning. These off-road shunters had a very soft suspension which meant it reacted to every bump and hollow in the yard.

The axle weighbridge had been installed about 5mm proud of the approach concrete which, combined with the soft suspension caused the axles to bounce as they crossed the platform. Any weighing machine will only record the weight applied to it and if the axle is bouncing as it crossed the platform, the wrong weight will be applied and the wrong weight recorded.

A correctly installed axle weighbridge - unlike some we see!

There was nothing wrong with the load cells or weight indicator at all just a lack of knowledge of what is needed to weigh axles accurately.

Having to dig the system up and install it correctly is never a cheap option but there was no alternative.

This is a common issue and a trap that many companies have fallen into over the years.

It’s not the only one example. We’ve seen many installations using perfectly good load cells and mountings which simply do not weigh axles correctly. The only trouble is these load cells are perfectly good for many applications but are simply not designed for the job they’re being asked to do.

All we have to do is fit four load cells under a piece of steel, sink it into a hole in the ground and start parking axles on it isn’t it? Not true and demonstrably so in many of the sub-standard installations we see.

If you think hiring an expert is expensive....

Just wait until you hire an amateur.

We’ve just priced up a job for a major national company who need to check raw materials arriving at their factory. They’re not claiming that their suppliers are defrauding them but they just want to make sure that what is on the invoice s what actually arrives.

The site presents some challenges, slopes, a two way road, remote printing location amongst others, so to do it correctly means the investment in the project overall will be substantial.

But at the end of it, the system will be highly accurate and provide the customer with the information he needs for many years. We maintain some systems which are nearly 40 years old and still going strong for instance.

There are though, plenty out there who will do the job on the cheap. Poorly designed, badly installed and not really up to the job and, in just about every case, considerably cheaper.

A recent enquiry came from a customer who had just been quoted £4,500.00 to replace all the load cells and mountings on his axle weighbridge only four years after he had previously had them all replaced at a similar cost.

Bluntly he’d been persuaded to buy a cheap system which wasn’t really up to the job and unless he invested in a more hard wearing installation he was going to be spending that £4,500.00 every few years for ever.

So that initial investment turned out not to be as cheap as he thought.

Shouldn't that weighbridge cable be in a duct underground??

Not only that, we’ve seen some very sub-standard and in some cases downright dangerous installations as per the photograph.

Unsurprisingly, this is an issue that some of our customers find as well. One provides specialist excavating services and designs and builds a lot of his own equipment. He has similar tales to tell of companies  who make all manner of claims as to what they can achieve at a fraction of the price of the experts.

We all want to pay as little as possible for the equipment and services we buy and driving a hard bargain is something we all do. It’s something we expect our customers to do. But there’s a difference between negotiating a fair price for all and being blinkered to what the experts are saying because someone else has offered a considerably cheaper price.

Some people are blinded by the price and never question why a complex installation is so much cheaper from someone else. There is always a reason for it.

Many of our staff have been involved in axle weighing for over 30 years and in that time we’ve learnt an awful lot about the subject. We look at each application closely and work closely with our clients to make sure we fully understand what information the require and where and how it is going to be used.

Only by doing that and specifying the right system for the job including all the items that are essential for it to work will it do what the client wants and have a long life.

There are though, much cheaper ways of doing it if that’s what you want!

Servicing Expensive? Not always

A question that comes up often is the cost of maintaining an axle weighing system.  We’ve just been advising one customer who had exactly that query before he placed his order.

It’s an important question because whilst buying the system is the biggest investment, there could be ongoing maintenance costs either for routine servicing or repairs.

Most systems need very little maintenance these days although some busier or dirtier applications might benefit regular servicing. That can prove to be a very worthwhile investment for some and there are axle weighbridges that are still in very good order after nearly 40 years of operation.

But some types of system are not best suited to such contracts. Our OnBoard Load Indicator is fitted to thousands of vehicles and sending engineers to do routine maintenance on them would be inefficient and costly.

The Axtec OnBoard Load indicator, like all systems of this type, monitors the vehicle suspension. And simply by using the vehicle the suspension will weaken over time. This can result in inaccurate readings being shown on the weight display. A minor adjustment is all that is needed but it would be expensive for a service engineer to visit every time this happened.

The cost of sending an engineer to check a system on only one vehicle might be prohibitive. But with a larger fleet of vehicles, the cost is only part of the issue.

Whilst in theory it might be possible to get 5, 10, 20 or more vehicles all back in the yard at the same time, in reality it’s rarely possible. Vehicles will be stuck on jobs, away for MOT’s, being repaired etc. But making multiple visits to catch up with missed vehicles for routine maintenance could be a costly and time consuming exercise.

Axtec OnBoard Load Indicator

We recognised that cost and inconvenience were important factors in owning this type of system many years ago. So all Axtec OnBoard Load Indicators allow customers to do their own routine calibrations.  It’s a simple procedure that takes just seconds. Which means customers not only save hugely on service costs but can do it at the time most convenient to them.

Missed  a vehicle because it was stuck on a job?  No problem, just catch up with it tomorrow.

But what about if the system breaks? Well, reliable as they are any electronic system can go wrong. But one reason for faults that we’ve removed is driver interference. There are no knobs, buttons or switches anywhere on the system. Nothing for the driver to fiddle with or break.

And no cries of ‘I don’t know how to use it!’ Drivers just have to look at it the same as every other guage in the vehicle.

Whilst we’re sure all your drivers are paragons of virtue, we know from experience of an early version of the system which had one knob for the drivers to operate, it was only ever that knob that got broken!

So making the axle weighing system driver proof and simple for customers’ to calibrate seemed to make sense and has certainly saved our customers an awful lot of money over the years.

Weight Indicator? Camera Screen? Or why not have both?

When you have your own in-house development and software people means you can develop new ideas quickly and efficiently. Responding to customer requests and new ideas is much quicker when you have all the facilities in one premises.

Whilst our prime focus will always be axle weighing and preventing overloading, a problem which effects all the major components of the vehicle – brakes, steering, clutch, suspension, tyres - we have developed our OnBoard Load Indicator so that it has some extra and very important safety features.

The OnBoard Display, which normally shows axle and gross weights, is a 96mm colour tft screen. And with sophisticated internal circuitry and software it can be made to do other things adding to vehicle safety and operating efficiency.

A subject that frequently arises during conversations with customers is the lack of space in modern cabs, especially lighter vehicles. And yet the range of electronic gadgets available to help run those vehicles – sat navs, mobile phones, etc is increasing and more and more of them are appearing on the dashboard. This can sometimes lead to a confusing and cluttered cab.

And of course the more gadgets there are, the more the driver has to concentrate on and the more there is to go wrong.

We can’t resolve all of these issues but we have helped with one by developing our OnBoard display so that it can take an input from both a reversing and a nearside camera.

In normal operating mode, the screen is showing the axle and gross weights and warning the driver of any overloads. But with the cameras fitted the screen can automatically show the view from behind or down the nearside of the vehicle.

Weight Display or nearside camera screen? It's both!

We’ve even developed the system so that for those customers who need it we can show a view from a camera focused on the load bed.

No input is required from the driver. He simply selects reverse gear or indicates left and the software will automatically select the right camera and replace the weight display with rear or nearside view. The screen reverts to the weight display when another gear is selected or the left indicator is cancelled.

These cameras offer enormous benefits. Improved safety when reversing or turning left, vital with the growing number of cyclists, some less safety conscious than others, in the country, less vehicle damage, lower repair bills, less vehicle downtime and possibly lower insurance costs.

The initial investment in them isn’t great and they pay for themselves many times over.

There is another important benefit in connecting the cameras to the OnBoard Load Indicator unit though; it removes one display from an already tightly packed dashboard.

Many companies don’t have in-house facilities t develop their products instead using third parties to write software and produce prototypes. A much slower process that can be expensive and lead to mistakes.

Having in-house development facilities meant we could develop our OnBoard quickly  and efficiently getting it out to our customers so that more of them can benefit from improved safety and reduced costs.