Weighing and automation specialist, Diversco, has a saying that echoes throughout everything it does within its measurement and service operations, and that is, “You can’t manage what you can’t measure”.
When it comes to legal-for-trade and weight-based billing this is especially true. When profitability is determined by using an on-board weighing system to calculate the container weight, it is important to get it right the first time, every time, according to a company spokesperson.
It’s not altogether uncommon for weight-based-billing operations to be 3-5 per cent off with each measurement event.
At the end of the day, these systems do wear down over time as do the reliability of their readings, so this is a reasonable expectation to have, especially for high-volume and active vehicles.
In the instances of under-weighing the contents of a container, operators have a direct loss with the potential to legally charge customers. Over time, while appearing insignificant initially, it will have implications to the overall profitability potential.
On the other end, if each measurement event is resulting in weight readings above the actual weight of the contents of the container, then the company could be liable for compensating their customer for what the provider has overcharged them. Not just that, though. If operations can be proven to be negligent regarding these procedures, the operator can be held legally liable and face legal proceedings.
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With what has been described above, the optimal way to ensure vehicles are correctly weighing and displaying a customer’s container contents is two-fold:
1. Have a weighing system that works for the operational aspects of the business. These options are commonly range from on-board systems to drive-on systems like weighbridges.
2. Have expert service technicians regularly service the weighing systems.
On the second point, engaging with a reputable and proven service provider is critical to ensuring that not only are best practices being followed by having the vehicles and weighing systems being calibrated in the first place, but also that the quality of service that is occurring is actually going to enable the customer’s vehicle to operate at the highest calibre and efficiency until the next service.
Calibrating waste vehicles
One of the primary examples of ensuring that customers are effectively measuring what they intend on managing is with waste vehicles. For customer-centric operations that collect waste from sites, the outline of effective weighing procedures isn’t more applicable than it is here.
A client of Diversco had its routine calibration scheduled and Diversco’s expert service team was there to certify its vehicles.
For this client, Diversco was certifying a range of their front-lift loader trucks, which is a common type of waste collection vehicle.
It consisted of utilising Diversco’s certified test masses to ensure the bin contents were being precisely measured and that the client could continue to operate in confidence, knowing they are charging their own customers correctly, while adhering to legislative requirements surrounding weight-based billing.