TIL Freight Group chief executive Jon Kyle takes his company’s commitment to the EECA Heavy Vehicle Fuel Efficiency programme so seriously, he’s put himself on the fuel efficiency working group for TIL’s pilot of the programme at South Island based subsidiary TNL Freighting.
Kyle says his number one motivation to support the heavy vehicle fuel efficiency programme was safety, followed by minimising environmental impact, and thirdly making sure that the company had the most efficient operating costs for itself and its customers.
The journey began in April 2014 when the first fuel management assessment at TNL was carried out and the first report was published in June. The TNL fuel efficiency working group committee, made up of a number of drivers, branch managers, the fleet manager, GM operations Mark Holland, EECA fuel management advisor Jim Pollard and CEO Jon Kyle, first met in July to get the ball rolling.
“It was important to maximise the buy-in from all across the business by having a broad representation of staff on the working group,” says Kyle.
“There’s an excellent cross-section of people within the group and it enables us to talk about subjects from all angles of the business.
“We are looking at all aspects of the operation, from scheduling and route management, to tyre pressure management, even checking such items as valve extensions on inner trailer tyres to make them easier for our team to check the tyre pressures.
“We have reduced the numbers of kilometres travelled to carry the same amount of freight, simply by having a conversation about the most efficient way to move the freight.”
Roughly 50% of the TIL Freight fleet is South Island based (running under the TNL banner), and EECA approved fuel management advisor Jim Pollard says that TNL is making very quick progress.
He concurs with Kyle that the working group has driven the changes because the open forum has created an atmosphere that has allowed everyone within to contribute.
“When topics are discussed, it’s an open forum where everyone is engaged and enthusiastic about the programme. It’s not a blame game, there’s no finger pointing, an issue is simply put on the table and dealt with.
“Jon attending the working group meetings sends the right message to the company that they have his full support, and he’s created a relaxed environment that people want to be part of,” says Pollard.
It was highlighted at a working group meeting that there were a number of runs which weren’t fuel efficient and so from that a sub-committee was born to reconfigure those particular runs to make better use of the fuel burn.
And the effort is already paying off with early results showing a 7% reduction in fuel burn and a 25% reduction in gear changes amongst the first 15 drivers to complete the SAFED driver training, as part of the programme. These early results have delighted Kyle.
“I believe the programme will more than repay the investment of time and money that has been spent on it thus far, already we’ve seen a significant reduction in fuel burn and we’ve barely scratched the surface,” says Kyle.
TNL now has four SAFED driver trainers who will continue to work with the more than 200 South Island drivers who have yet to start their heavy vehicle efficiency training.
Pollard comments that it’s not just the least experienced drivers that have made great gains in fuel saving and reduced gear changes – the most experienced and qualified drivers (of which TNL has many) have also made improvements.
He comments that the heavy vehicle efficiency programme is simply about working together to re-establish best practise in safer and more economic driving, fleet management, tyre management, dispatch and scheduling.
TNL covers a wide variety of trucking applications and operations, from metro deliveries to line-haul. The South Island company fleet is made up of general freight trucks, container truck and trailers, tippers, reefers, and tankers.
The only two categories of freight not handled by TNL are livestock and logs.
The company has a wide variety of truck brands too. Currently it prefers to buy MAN and Western Star heavy vehicles, but there are a number of other brands in the fleet including: Freightliner, Mitsubishi Fuso, Isuzu, Kenworth, Hino, DAF and Foden.
Kyle says that while South Island-based TNL are the first to undergo the EECA BUSINESS Heavy Vehicle Fuel Efficiency programme, they will be followed by sister brands RoadStar and Hooker Pacific, which all trade under the TIL Freight umbrella.
