The Start of the Food Chain

The market for animal feed is highly competitive. For such a commodity, supply contracts are negotiated in advance and customers are usually very sensitive to changes in price. As one of Britain's top manufacturers and suppliers of animal feed products, ABN sees its future success as a shared commitment for improving the profitability of livestock farmers.

Currently ABN operates 19 production mills located throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland. Each of these sites operates a fleet of distribution vehicles tailored to the particular requirements of its customers. Bulk orders are delivered in specially designed sealed units equipped with powered blowers to discharge the load directly into the customers' storage silo. Smaller quantities, such as supplements and specialist feed are delivered in bags.

ABN feed products cover all classes of livestock, from chickens to pigs and dairy herds. Vehicles vary according to requirement and regional topography. Deliveries can also vary from multiple drops to single loads. In total the company operates a national fleet of around 200 vehicles. Mainly these are combinations of six and eight wheel, rigid and 44 tonne articulated bulk loaders. A number of curtain-side vehicles are used for bagged products.

ABN takes advantage of its corporate purchasing power for the procurement of vehicles and the negotiation of bulk prices for fuel supplies. Each of the mill sites is equipped with storage tanks and facilities for monitoring vehicle fuelling. The majority use Merridale Auditor control units and FuelFX management software. Merridale systems have been in service with ABN for a number of years and the equipment has become the preferred choice for upgrades and future installations.

"Traditionally fuel usage information has been processed locally, primarily for stock control purposes," explains ABN's commercial accountant, Duncan Gibbs. "In order to make full use of its potential functionality we have installed the Merridale software onto a central server, enabling fleet information to be collated and analysed to provide comparative data on vehicle fuel economy performance."

One of the main drivers for this development has been the introduction of on-board computer systems on new vehicles, together with software tools enabling a more detailed evaluation of the economic performance of the vehicle and individual drivers.

"In order to make the best use of these facilities we cross check the mpg figures recorded by the vehicle's on-board computer, against actual fuel drawn from the pump," says Duncan Gibbs.

"Effectively the Merridale system provides the benchmark standard for the actual fuel put into the vehicle, which is then set against the odometer reading to calculate miles per gallon. Our experience shows that there can be a significant variation between the vehicles' on-board systems and the Merridale figures.

From this data, we can then start looking at the comparison between vehicles and the impact of the individual drivers' performance."

"Previously, we could see variances between the vehicles but we didn't know why it was happening. Now, by comparing what the vehicle computers are telling us with the Merridale data, we have more reliable information for use in providing feedback to the drivers. This allows us to take full advantage of the data from the on-board systems to highlight areas where drivers can improve on the economic performance of their vehicles."

ABN's national distribution manager, Ken Hardgrave is responsible for the purchase of all the ABN fleet vehicles, working with colleagues on the design requirements. He sees a growing role in the use of the Merridale fuel monitoring system in helping to match vehicle specifications to different operational requirements.

"Measuring fuel consumption is crucial for managing the cost of distribution. We are now refining the Merridale database so that we can monitor specific models, by make, configuration, size of engine and gearbox. This enables us to build up an accurate profile of the performance of vehicles in service which can then be used to help in deciding which vehicles are most suitable for our duties."

"Another aspect of our business is the fact that vehicles are using fuel when discharging product by powered blowers. The advent of on-board monitoring systems provides a means of identifying the difference between unnecessary and wasteful idling and legitimate power take-off operations."

Ken Hardgrave sees significant potential savings through the introduction of driver training backed up by the measurement of economy performance. "Driver salaries and fuel costs, account for some 60 percent of the total expenditure on distribution. With an annual fuel bill of around £5 million per year an improvement of just half a mile per gallon would produce a saving of £300K," he said.