Angus HWRC Operations Go Digital
Angus Council has deployed an innovative real-time visibility system to improve the management of their HWRC network.
Angus operate a network of 7 HWRC’s, supporting the efficient recycling of household waste on behalf of their constituents. Responding to a series of challenges impacting their daily operations, the Angus team engaged with PIN – a technology provider specialising in waste container tracking – to develop a solution. Now fully operational, the fully-automated system enables Angus to plan and oversee operations in real time – vehicle movements, containers and tips – leading to improvements in cost, efficiency, customer service and sustainability.
HWRC Operational Challenges
Fluctuating Demand
Demand for HWRC services is difficult to predict. Fluctuating weather patterns combine with seasonal and weekend peaks to create large variations in customer activity. This makes resourcing decisions for HWRC Operators a real challenge. Deploy too many staff and vehicles and some will sit idle. Too few and the sites can become quickly overrun, which impacts customer service and has been shown to reduce recycling rates.
Vehicle Utilisation
Transport planning is a major challenge for HWRC operators, as the operation needs to be able to service a network of local sites dynamically in order run efficiently. A lack of visibility as to where demand is arising at each site and what vehicles are doing leads to poor vehicle utilisation and excess cost.
Container Visibility
Container visibility is also a problem. Because the containers are not tracked, HWRC operators aren’t able to see how many containers they have or where they are, resulting in unnecessary journeys to locate them and service interruptions when an empty container isn’t available to replace a full one.
Manual Systems
Underpinning these challenges is the lack of a system to provide visibility and insight as to how the operation is performing. Operations are typically planned and delivered using basic, manual processes.
This problem has a very significant cost across the 1,000 HWRC’s in the UK, estimated at up to £50 million PA in excess transport and container expenditure, thousands of tonnes of CO2 produced, compromised service to HWRC users and ultimately a reduction in recycling rates.
Angus worked in partnership with PIN to develop a solution tailored to the needs of the HWRC operator.
Deploying the PIN Solution
Tracking Devices
Tracking devices with a 5 year battery life were fitted to containers and vehicles with no operational disruption. Every movement and tip is automatically captured in real time.
PIN Software
Our waste management software presents the data insights to the Angus team via intuitive maps, charts and reports. Provides Angus with tools to optimise day-to-day operations, address operational inefficiencies, understand and measure capacity and to plan ahead.
"We can now plan more effectively and dynamically, delivering our recycling services with less vehicle capacity and fewer miles travelled. We are now actively looking at options to reduce the capacity of our fleet."
Grant EdwardsTeam Leader, Waste Operations
The Impact
Improved Transport & Resource Planning
The data insights enable Angus to:
- Understand how vehicles are being utilised.
- Match transport capacity with demand.
- Minimise empty running.
- React quickly when needed using the nearest available vehicle.
Container Availability
By tracking their containers, Angus can now see:
- Exactly how many RoRo’s they have.
- Where their containers are and how they move.
- Container inventory management, ensuring that there is always a spare available of the right type to maintain service at a site.
Driver Oversight
Real time visibility of vehicles means that Angus:
- Can see how the team of drivers are transporting waste consignments to and from tipping sites.
- Can see how long each tip takes to complete.
- Can ensure that efficient routes are always taken and that driver productivity is maintained.
- Can understand when vehicles are held up at sites or en route.
Activity KPI’s
This real time data enables Angus to:
- See how many tips have been carried out by site, waste type and vehicle.
- See a digital view of weekend and seasonal peaks which informs overall planning and helps to address the challenge of matching resources with expected demand.
The data that we are building up on our activity levels will mean that we can be more proactive in forward planning the resources that we need to maintain optimal customer service, whilst also carefully managing our costs.
Graeme DaillyService Leader, Environmental Services