Making Better use of Assets
After employees, the largest cost to public sector bodies is what they spend on their fixed assets - land, property, vehicles and equipment. The NEIEP and our partners are helping to identify under-utilised assets and reduce the cost of ownership by increasing energy efficiency that will deliver over £25m savings by 2013.
Improving Vehicle Fleet Operations
Route Optimisation
When piloted by Newcastle City Council, the implementation of new route optimisation software helped the authority to achieve savings of £148,000 in one year. The RouteSmart system is now being implemented in all 12 north east local authorities to plan more the efficient use of resources and enable the delivery of high quality services at reduced costs.
By synchronising depot start times and carefully balancing staff workloads, fuel costs and carbon emissions will be reduced and vehicle usage maximised. Initial forecasts from Durham and Northumberland predict the system will achieve reductions in mileage of 15 and 16 per cent respectively - over 1800 miles each week over both authorities.
This software can also be applied to a range of other council provisions, including gritting, meals-on-wheels and community and education services.
In addition to the roll-out of the new software, each refuse collection vehicle in the region will be fitted with an in-cab device which allows direct communication with the customer service centre. This will give drivers a greater flexibility to react to situations as they arise and promote higher levels of customer satisfaction.
The combination of well-monitored collection rounds and lower fuel costs, amongst more efficient use of resources, means that the regional implementation of these measures is expected to save authorities in the North East over £5.2m in the next three years.
Click here to read a press release (July 2010)
Email Mark Mohun for more information or telephone 07909 002 811
Fleet Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
In order to monitor the ongoing effectiveness of local authority waste management vehicles, a fleet KPI project is developing a toolkit which can be used across authorities. Vehicle availability, operational effectiveness, cost per activity and staff availability are amongst the indicators being monitored in the pilot, before the results and learning are shared across the region.
The KPIs will allow for improved planning and will optimise future fleet procurement, as well as helping authorities to deliver on carbon management targets. Together these efficiencies are predicted to save authorities over £1.4m by 2013.
