BEST PRACTICES
FUEL EFFICIENCY TIPS
Get the most out of each litre
Submitted by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers
Fuel is one of the greatest operating costs for any contractor
who owns heavy equipment and/or trucks. Working in a way
that can save fuel can end up saving a lot of money.
“To reduce fuel use, you have to know how and when fuel is being wasted,”
said William “Bernie” Bernhard, technical and safety services manager
for the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM).
Start by examining top fuel usage influencers in off-highway applications.
“Machines equipped with telematics can provide actionable data by
tracking dozens of data points so that workers can gain valuable insights to
help save fuel,” said Bernhard.
Idle time – A key factor
Idle time is often the largest contributor to fuel inefficiency and a good
start to manage fuel consumption.
To decrease idle times, operators can take advantage of fuel-saving technology,
such as auto-idle. Also popular is auto-shutdown where a machine
can idle for a preset period of time.
Examine the patterns in your machine’s idle times. If a machine idles for
short periods of time (a few seconds to a few minutes) frequently throughout
the day, that may mean the machine is at a bottleneck in the workflow.
An example is an operator having to wait for another operator to complete
a task before continuing work. In this case, either machine selection,
material location or some other jobsite factor needs to change to reduce
idle time.
However, if a machine idles for several minutes at a time or more, infrequently
throughout the day, that probably means the operator is not
shutting down the machine when on break or on the phone, when exiting
the machine, or when having their work interrupted for a longer period
of time.
In these cases, a discussion is needed with the operator regarding company
expectations, to take the necessary steps to decrease idle time.
Equipment operation
How an operator uses a machine can influence fuel efficiency. Small changes
in behaviour can have large effects on fuel use.
One easy way that operators can save fuel is by using the appropriate
work mode, which makes it easier for operators to match the power needed
to the application at hand.
In order to set up a jobsite to optimize fuel use, a company needs to examine
data related to jobsite workflow, including equipment capacities, the
number of each machine on site, equipment and material locations, terrain
and more.
Maintenance is also an issue, for example, checking fuel filters on the
machines, from your suppliers, the storage tanks at your jobsites and your
base fuel storage facilities, according to Bernhard.
“By tracking how much fuel is used in applications, the amount and type
of idle time, and analyzing other machine data, you can get a good picture
of when fuel is wasted,” he said. “Combine this with fully understanding
and using the fuel-saving features of your machines, and you will be able to
get the most out of each gallon.”
Visit aem.org for fuel-related best-practices.
thinkbigmagazine.ca | Quarter 1 2020 | Think BIG 59
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