World Trade - February 2009 - (Page 29)

SUVs and electric hybrids—saved more than $100,000 annually in fuel costs without sacriﬁcing cargo space, or the traction and maneuverability needed during the Canadian winters, Rossi says. In Europe, the ﬂeet includes many personal cars, Rossi continues. For those, Xerox began using 1.9 liter, clean diesel engines in 2002. Now it’s using 1.3 liter, 90 horse power engines. The change increased mileage from 47 to 59 miles per imperial galleon, Rossi says. In the process, CO2 emissions were reduced by ﬁve to six tons. “In the U.S., we have mainly a service ﬂeet,” Rossi points out. The challenge here is to have the right mix of cargo vans, minivans, station wagons and hatchbacks to ensure that each individual is in the right vehicle for the assignment and territory. Dispatch operations provided an obvious avenue for improvement. Xerox is transitioning from a situation in which service team members decide who is nearest the next call, to one in which members’ GPS units are integrated into the dispatch system. “Currently, they all talk to each other and determine who’s nearest the call,” Rossi says. The new conﬁguration can transform dispatches from debates to ﬁrm assignments, thus increasing productivity. Fuel Quest provides another way to cut fuel costs through localized arbitrage for bulk purchases. “We help companies decide which supply sources is correct,” explains Ryan Mossman, Vice President and General Manager of fuel management. That includes the timing of bulk buys, the choice of buying from distributors or directly from oil companies, and the locations involved. Other options, like wet hosing, in which smaller tankers with nozzles ﬁll up the ﬂeet at the yard, and installing tanks and fueling facilities also ﬁgure into the calculations. “Companies often keep way too much fuel,” Mossman says. Optimizing the order and guaranteeing delivery to within a two hour timeframe can free up tens of thousands of dollars, particularly in a volatile fuel market. The rack price of fuel lags about one day from the movement of oil on the stock exchange, he explains. Therefore, “It’s possible to have some idea of tomorrow’s market conditions,” he says and time orders accordingly. Alternative fuels The Wheels Go ‘Round… Everybody knows that proper tire inﬂation makes a huge impact on gas mileage. What you may not realize is that the type of tire also has a signiﬁcant impact. Michelin America Truck Tires has introduced the X One® wide-sized tire to replace two dual tires on tractor-trailers. Bill Knee, group leader, transportation technology research group, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, reports that in a 700,000 plus mile test of six tractor trailers, running in all conditions and weighted states, averaged at least a 6 percent increase in fuel efﬁciency. When they were fully loaded, fuel efﬁciency was 10 percent higher than for rigs running with dual tires. Michelin’s customers report similar results, according to Michelin’s Don Baldwin, Product Marketing Manager. There may be another beneﬁt, too. Preliminary evidence suggests, “There may be a positive effect on roll stability,” Knee adds. Data on that aspect of the tires is being compiled now, with analysis expected to begin by June. Users also report a tighter turning radius—by about 8 or 9 feet—and dramatically reduced rutting of roads, which is an important consideration for logging trucks and other off-road applications. They also reduce the overall weight of the vehicles, allowing them to carry more. A tanker truck, for example, can carry about 130 gallons more liquid simply by changing to wide tires. Baldwin says the tires also reduce the number of ﬂats simply because they are readily accessible, unlike the inner tires on dual conﬁgurations. In terms of fuel, “We’re experimenting with just about everything out there,” UPS spokesperson Donna Barrett says. UPS has one of the largest alternative fuel ﬂeets in the nation, with 1,576 alternative fuel vehicles in its small package ﬂeet. Biodiesel, natural gas, electric hybrids and other options have all made their appearance. A hydraulic hybrid developed by NavStar and the EPA is showing a 40 to 50 percent reduction in energy consumption, she says. At Xerox, “all the vans purchased in the past three years have been E85 compliant,” Rossi says, so they can run on fuel with up to a 15 percent ethanol blend. However, he adds, “The economics didn’t pan out.” Now the company is moving towards hybrids, with about 100 in the ﬂeet. Unlike many ﬂeets, which keep vehicles a speciﬁed timeframe, Xerox bases retention on mileage. Keeping vehicles till the odometer reaches 100,000 to 110,000 miles is typical, Rossi says. That equates to about ﬁve or six years, but with the recession, he may keep them a bit longer. “We have an open ended lease with GE Fleet that is paid for over 50 months, so after that, we’re only paying for the gas,” he says. Beyond fuel With a ﬂeet of more than 250 over-the-road tractors, Kraft is working closely with the EPA’s SmartWay Transport Partnership program to test and deploy a range of solutions to optimize ﬂeet management. For example, “We’ve replaced nearly 100 tractors from 2003 with newer, cleaner burning, 2008 models and outﬁtted them with idle-reducing auxiliary power units (APUs). We’ve implemented a no idling policy at all of our mixing centers and many of our plants, and have reduced governed top speeds on all our over-the-road tractors from 65 to WWW.WORLDTRADEMAG.COM 29 http://WWW.WORLDTRADEMAG.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of World Trade - February 2009

World Trade - February 2009 Contents Taking Stock in America Confronting Corruption in Latin America Supply Chain Watch Tradewinds Where's the Goods? Where's the Money? Hope on the Horizon Managing Fleets in Turbulent Times The Impact of China's Economic Slowdown on U.S. Supply Chains The Fuel Volatile Supply Chain Getting the Most from On-the-Fly Transactions Managing Supply Chain Risk by Managing China Sourcing Capacity OECD Global Economic Outlook for 2009 'Natural' Agricultural Monopolies No More

World Trade - February 2009

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.