Page 22 - CTB N12 - 2015-04

FLEET PROFILE
PepsiCo Reduces Breakdowns by 70% with PNEUSCAN System from Ventech
PepsiCo UK’s vehicle fleet has achieved a 70% reduction in breakdowns since the installation earlier this year of a PNEUSCAN tyre control system from Ventech at the company’s Leicester site. The Madeline Road site – headquarters for Walkers Crisps – is the focal point for the management of the 212 tractor units and 517 trailers that make up PepsiCo’s UK Fleet,
weight and tread depth, which gives us much greater analytical capabilities.”
The PNEUSCAN system, which was installed at Leicester at the start of 2015, offers four key functions - PNEUSCAN ATM Tire Pressure Check, PNEUSCAN Pro Tread Depth Check, the PNEUSCAN ID – vehicle identification system and the PNEUSCAN DAT data management
tolerance of +/- 15 PSI, but narrowing the tolerance in June to +/- 7 PSI. According to King, in February only 34% of tyres were within the 15 PSI tolerance. By August as many as 53% were within the narrower 7 PSI tolerance and a massive 80% within the wider acceptable parameters, so there was a significant improvement in the accuracy in the tread pressures across the fleet.
“Previously, it was down to our contracted tyre fitter to check pressures and tread depths. We used to check tyres ever y eight weeks on the tractor units and
ever y twelve weeks on the trailers. However, now, ever y trailer and tractor passes through the system at least once a week. Furthermore, because 162 vehicles are based at this site, many go over the machine twice daily.”
PepsiCo have located the PNEUSCAN system in the truck lane for exiting the site, so every vehicle leaving the facility, including those belonging to suppliers and sub-contractors, have their tyres monitored. The drivers can see the results of their scan on a screen as they leave the facility, the results being displayed on a VDU screen in an easy-to-analyse traffic-light system, clearly showing when tyre pressures, tread depths or axle weights need to be looked at. This is able to be viewed by the fleet manager in PNEUSCAN’s “Live
using Conti owned service provider Unityre to provide full time on-site service. The company uses Continental hybrids so they are already following an optimum rolling resistance policy. The company also follows a retread policy using Conti-re retreads manufactured at Continental’s ContiLifeCycle facility in Germany. “We manage our tyres really tightly,” says Kevin King, “but the Ventech system is helping us to manage our tyres better than ever before, which means we are getting the optimum life out of our tyres.” Key benefits of the system, according to King, include fuel saving due to improved rolling resistance of properly inflated tyres, the timely capture of punctures and the efficient management of tyre wear. The fact that the driver and fleet manager can see both tyre pressures and weights at the time the vehicle was driven over the plate can also be helpful in helping assure the optimum distribution of load across the axles.
In addition, there is also a major potential benefit of being in a stronger position when it eventually comes to renegotiating a renewal to their PPK contract.
Says King; “One question fleet managers should be constantly asking themselves is whether they are catching all of their tyres all of the time. We can now say that we are. This is the main benefit of the
Kevin King demonstrates the PNEUSCAN tyre control system at PepsiCo’s site in Leicester.
All trucks pass over the measurement plate before exiting the site at PepsiCo’s site in Leicester.
and we talked to National Fleet Engineer Kevin King to find out why the company had decided to buy the equipment and the benefits it had gained since installation.
“We are always looking for innovation,” said King, “and we were interested in finding efficient and cost-effective ways of reducing the number of breakdowns within the fleet, which were running at around ten per week. We looked at onboard TPMS systems and their cost, but because our vehicles and trailers pass through this site on a regular basis, we decided that a drive-through system would be more appropriate. We looked at systems from alternative suppliers, but we were introduced to the Ventech system by our American colleagues. The big advantage of PNEUSCAN is that, in addition to tyre pressures, it can also measure
system for more detailed vehicle analyses.
According to King, after an implementation period at the start of the year during which operators started to get used to the equipment, breakdowns started to drop rapidly.
“You can’t completely eliminate blowouts,” said King, but we have achieved a huge 70% drop in breakdowns, which are now running at around three per week. The reduction in breakdowns means less downtime, which is vital for a business like ours, where we are on fixed deliver y slots. Of course, there are also savings on tyres due to the reduction in blowouts.”
In order to achieve the reduction in blowouts PepsiCo tracked the degree of accuracy of tyre inflation within their fleet from Februar y onwards, initially starting with a
View” module, which means the results can be viewed easily rather than the need for a separate data analyst to scan the results for problems within the fleet. PepsiCo’s tyres are managed on a PPK contract with Continental,
PNEUSCAN system. We have a full time tyre fitter located at this site, but he is just one man. The PNEUSCAN system captures the condition of our fleet’s tyres on a “live” basis all of the time.”
22 Commercial Tyre Business