Fleet Management Case Study

Casella Waste Systems Enhances Fleet Operations and Sustainability

With its fleet management solution, Casella can deliver real-time and fully automated service verification to track individual container and customer activity more efficiently and with a greater degree of accuracy.

Martin Demers

Casella Waste Systems, Inc., headquartered in Rutland, VT, provides solid waste, recycling and resource management services in seven Northeastern U.S. states. Casella’s operations include seven recycling facilities, 12 disposals facilities, 31 collection operations and 29 transfer stations. Casella’s annual revenues top $500 million.

Since 1975, Casella has been leading the solid waste industry with an innovative business strategy that seeks to create sustainable value beyond the traditional disposal model. Casella views waste as a resource for producing renewable energy and a raw material for manufacturing new products.

Challenge

Casella has a distinct vision for company-wide operational innovation and excellence, including fleet operations. It was therefore of utmost importance to them that a fleet management solution had to support the company’s high standards for sustainability and service. “We wanted to invest in fleet management technology to improve the quality of our customer experience, as well as deliver real environmental health benefits through the improved efficiency of our vehicles,” said Bill Tavares, Vice President of Transportation.

Solution

After many months spent reviewing four fleet management system vendors, Casella selected FleetMind’s (Montreal, QC) solution for waste and recycling organizations that includes tools for onboard computing, fleet mapping, reporting and analysis, driver direction, automated service verification, wireless communications and more. Casella selected FleetMind primarily for its driver interface and ease of use—a distinct advantage in terms of adoption rates and acceptance.

Casella started with a small pilot deployment in July 2008 to test the system. From June 2010 to present, Casella phased out the rollout of the FleetMind system to more than 150 Casella collection vehicles and 11 sites. The implementation included both hardware and software installations in vehicles and offices, and back-office systems integration.

The FleetMind-Casella Advantage

Casella invested in the FleetMind fleet management system to help improve its operations and underscore its corporate commitment to innovation, service and responsibility. Most notably, Casella has seen measurable improvements to customer service updates, data accuracy and overall productivity. Casella’s improvements as a result of the FleetMind system include the following.

Greener

Green fleets are focused on reducing fuel consumption, mileage and exhaust emissions, and on driving more safely and efficiently. With fleet management tools, Casella supports leaner and greener fleets by: a) optimizing each truck’s routes to reduce time spent on the road and the number of engine hours per day, b) reducing the amount of fuel burned by using alarms to monitor and reduce idling (by an estimated five percent), and c) identifying inefficient driving patterns and vehicle maintenance issues for immediate resolution.

Safer

Fleet safety is about reducing risk and reinforcing safe driving behavior. With fleet-mapping and reporting capabilities, Casella has real-time visibility into driver activity and behavior to make sure that its managers have the tools and information they need to pro-actively implement fleet safety initiatives and mitigate associated risks.

More Responsive

Customer service excellence is one of Casella’s core values. With its fleet management solution, Casella can now deliver real-time and fully automated service verification to track individual container and customer activity. Its new fleet management dashboard delivers a single-view interface into all fleet operations and performance to identify and respond to customer service requirements more efficiently and with a greater degree of accuracy.

On Top of its Fleet 24/7

To run an effective waste disposal operation, fleet managers need to know what’s going on for every route, vehicle and container in real-time. Casella now has complete visibility into its entire fleet – every stop of the way. This helps us to ensure optimal operational efficiencies, productivity, safety and customer service.

Optimizes Decision-Making

Casella can now view multiple items of vehicle information on the map simultaneously including the current vehicle location, alarm locations, vehicle activities, containers and the breadcrumb trail. This allows dispatch personnel to identify in real-time the current position of vehicles for quick and accurate dispatch decision-making.

Improves Billing Accuracies

With improved reporting capabilities, Casella is easily able to identify accounts that may have been inaccurately priced, as well as simplify driver and route comparisons for productions, time, miles, etc. Landfill invoice reconciliation is easier and faster as drivers are able to enter the dump location, commodity, tons and more.

“Customers will benefit from our enhanced ability to now provide real-time on-route information, while we can all breathe easier knowing that our FleetMind-equipped vehicles are helping us reduce vehicle mileage and fuel consumption, as well as overall greenhouse gas emissions,” concluded Tavares.

Martin Demers is a proven C-level technology executive with over 20 years experience in the technology and communications sectors. He joined FleetMind in 2007 as co-owner and became the Company’s CEO. He has often been published and quoted in industry publications including the FleetOwner Magazine, Trucking Info Magazine and RFID Journal. Martin can be reached via e-mail at [email protected] or visit

www.fleetmind.com.

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