Nothing validates a solution as instant and irrefutable results can. In June, July and August 2022, Rombit rolled out DriveDigital Driver Coach. A personal driver coaching solution for forklifts, on 3 sites of a major logistics player. The first results are in! On top of confirmed vital results in the primary safety objective, the numbers also reveal a significant positive impact on several other key performance indicators. Not in the least on energy savings.
Slow is smooth and smooth is fast
Eco-driving stands for a sustainable and energy efficient use of motorized vehicles. The most common examples of non-eco driving in the case of forklifts are speeding and needless and frequent high-acceleration events.
Too often the perilous notion prevails that “fast equals a higher productivity”. Equally misleading is the commonly assumed speed-accuracy trade-off. Luckily both premises are being gradually debunked.
An Erim Europe study in 2019 showed that drivers scoring high on prevention (presenting a safer, more disciplined driver behavior), made as much as 60% less mistakes.
Furthermore, safe and eco-driving makes for a lower energy use, less maintenance hours, and less wear and tear on tires and less spare part usage. Combined these results indicate that it is possible to create a situation in which companies can coach and trigger drivers to combine productivity with safety and sustainability.
And sustainability, in this case by way of coaching forklift operators in eco-driving, not only benefits the environment, it also cuts costs. These energy savings can add up to a surprisingly substantial amount and are within everyone’s reach.
But we promised you results
The data collected contains the count of non-eco driving events by driver, per consecutive month.
Site A showed an immediate decrease in the Non-Eco driving count. From +4K to just above 2K in the first month after Digital Driver Coach was implemented. This number then consistently kept decreasing to less than 200 events in the fifth month.
Site B showed a decrease from 600+ to 500+ in the first month, and a further reduction of the non-eco driving event count to 300 in month three.
Site C showed no immediate reduction of the Non-Eco driving count. But by month four the number more than halved from 1600 to 650. The individual driver approach of Rombit Driver Behavior solution made the exceptional trend in that first month easy to analyze, explain and ultimately attribute to one distinctly ‘bad student’. A valuable insight on and by itself.
Digital Driver Coach in Euro’s/Dollars
A clear and steadfast decrease in the count of non-eco driving is good. Getting a precise picture of how much money this will save you, is better.
So based on 1) the data-driven results from the three sites shown above, 2) the price paid per Kwh of energy, and 3) calculated on a yearly basis, Digital Driver Coach effectively saved that logistics company about 22% or €2.361/$2.510 in energy costs.
Add a decrease in cost for maintenance of €714/$759 and another €321/$341 through damage reduction, both simultaneously registered results of other focal points in Digital Driver Coach.
For this logistics company that adds up to saving up to €3.300+/$3.500+ …
… on a yearly basis …
… and per forklift.
Again, all this without taking into account the costs saved by preventing accidents.
Which begs the question:
“How many forklifts operate at your site(s)?”
