Show Me the Weigh

The challenges at transfer stations and landfills are numerous, often related to such factors as capacity and logistics, notes Jon Leeds, vice president, Carolina Software.

Case in point: Larimer County, Colorado’s solid waste department.

Managers knew they needed to find a way to improve processes. Carolina Software provided two solutions: WasteWIZARD, and electronic billing through the WasteWORKS Auto email module.

The WasteWIZARD module allows the department to give its large-volume trash haulers an RFID sticker for their windshield linked to the customer's account and volume information. An RFID reader at the landfill’s fourth gate house turned it into an express lane for customers with tags.

Once drivers saw how quickly they were able to get in and out and avoid long lines, they signed up.

Now, most of the department’s customers with compact or trash trucks use the WasteWIZARD Lane. Implementing the solution has reduced vehicle wait times and reduced traffic backups.

The electronic billing module has taken the billing process from five hours to less than an hour from start to finish. Copies of daily tickets and monthly statements are sent to customers via email, saving the department money on paper, ink, and postage.

Larimer County customers receive statements quicker and send payments earlier, with any discrepancies worked out in a timely fashion.

When end users ask for Carolina Software, they are usually replacing systems that are “outdated, slow, unsupported, or a combination of all of those things,” says Leeds, adding those who incorporate WasteWORKS technology into their operation for ticketing, reporting, and billing are looking for 24/7/365 support.

“Like a lot of businesses, scale house operations tend to be reactionary—not always, but most of the time,” says Leeds. “You build a facility that is adequate for your community at a certain time, and it’s not until trucks back up out to the highway that you realize you should have had a longer-term plan.”

The future in waste can be difficult to envision, he points out.

“Many rural counties could never have imagined the growth that they’ve seen in recent years, and that’s left many solid waste operations scrambling to expand capacity,” Leeds adds.

This usually entails buying more land for landfills or building larger transfer stations, and that means adding more lanes and scales.

“It doesn’t matter how fast your weighmasters are and how efficient your software is—capacity is capacity,” says Leeds. “With this said, there are things you can do to increase your capacity before moving to an expansion phase. Making sure that your software is producing transactions quickly is the first step.”

WasteWORKS is designed to provide a comprehensive, yet simple approach to waste management information. A full featured, CPA-designed billing system is included.

A wide range of management and financial reports are built in and tailored to the needs of solid waste managers and administrative staff. Reports are designed to be fast and flexible, providing full access to important material and financial information, as well as date/time analysis data for planning and budgeting.

The WasteWORKS package is designed to produce tickets as quickly as possible while still capturing all the necessary data. End users can choose to use defaults such as having a packer truck default to MSW or use the optional stored tare weight feature to cut down on the steps—and trips across the scale—required to create a ticket.

The scale house of the future

Automation is another important tool for combatting throughput limitations. 

“Even single-scale facilities can benefit from adding automation,” notes Leeds. “Perhaps you can open earlier or stay open later for your redundant trash fleets. Installing a WasteWORKS Express kiosk has allowed many end users to expand their hours without having to pay employees to man the scales.

“And if you have more than one scale, that’s where automation really pays off. By dedicating a lane to act as an express lane, efficiencies really jump. And, in some cases, it might buy you some years before you have to implement your expansion plans.”

WasteWORKS Express is an automated weigh station that operates in staffed or unstaffed facilities 24/7/365.

Dedicated WasteWORKS Express lanes are designed to maximize efficiency, reduce staffing, and significantly speed up the process so drivers are in and out quickly. A wide range of driver interface and peripheral options are available.

Unattended Scale Operation is designed for after-hours operation or going completely unstaffed.

The automated weigh master turns any scale lane into an express lane. Numerous driver interface and peripheral options are available.

The system enables operators to create the maximum number of transactions and minimize lines.

Another part of the ticketing process that can be enhanced to speed up the process is the payment and printing portion.

“Waiting for customers to pay by handling cash and check writing adds time to ticketing,” notes Leeds. “Waiting for a receipt to print and handing it to the driver is another part.”

WasteWORKS utilizes a ‘Card-On-File’ feature for electronic credit card processing. This enables end users to process credit cards without handling cards to save a significant amount of time in a secure fashion. The seamless integration eliminates double entry errors. The system features enhanced functionality for card-on-file and online bill payment.

End users can choose from invoicing, statements, or both.

The Auto Email module provides for automated delivery of tickets to facility customers and scheduled or on-demand emailed reports and billing. Instead of drivers collecting paper tickets throughout the day, an email is sent at the end of the day with all of the tickets attached, including e-signatures and pictures. The software can also be programmed for automatic delivery of reports to internal staff. Emails and invoices can be customized with a logo.

WasteWORKS Vision provides snapshots of drivers, loads and/or license plates, up to four shots per lane. The shots match the ticket numbers and are stored for easy retrieval and reference. The software provides email images and ticket data to customers and staff, and it works with multiple camera options.

WasteWORKS Mobile is a portable ticketing system with live connectivity to a server. It can be installed on any Windows tablet, pairs with a lightweight thermal printer, and can process credit cards. It is designed to be suitable for flat-rate tickets and taming lines.

“All of these tools shave valuable seconds off each transaction and that means more efficient facilities and happier customers,” notes Leeds.

In addition to those challenges, facility design—specifically where the scale house and scales will be located—is something that isn’t always fully explored when constructing a new facility or updating an existing one. 

Carolina Software offers input at the beginning of the process to ensure the design produces the most efficient inbound/outbound setup possible, says Leeds.

“That makes the facility better and makes everyone involved happier in the end,” he adds. “A lot of what we do is consulting, and this is based on many years of combined experience among our staff. In most cases, our staff has seen more landfills, transfer stations, and scale houses than the consultants and engineers working on the project, so we can provide valuable input about what seems to work well and what doesn’t.”

Many issues that end users end up working around could have been avoided in the design phase, Leeds points out.

Having customers walk across lanes of traffic to get to the payment location, having long lines due to bi-directional traffic, or vehicle windows that are on the wrong side of the scale (opposite of the scale house) are typically avoidable problems with some planning.

“The biggest issue in these situations is the problem of designing for now, and not designing for the future,” Leeds adds.

Eliminating downtime and maintaining scale durability are paramount at waste industry sites, notes Morgan Clarke, spokesperson for METTLER-TOLEDO.

“When a truck scale goes down, it leads to operations coming to a halt and a customer either going elsewhere or causing a bottleneck at other scales within their site,” she says. “Most of the causes of down time revolve around the load cells and junction boxes under the scale. These electronic sensors are the heart of the scale and provide the weight on the driving surface.

“Additional issues with transaction management can be common at waste facilities.

During peak hours, a slow ticketing process such as manual ticketing can cause traffic to back up, leading to logistical issues and agitated drivers.”

There are a few steps that can be taken to help reduce the risk of down time and backups at the scale, notes Clarke.

“The best way to mitigate the possibility of electronic failures is to maintain a clean scale environment,” she points out. “The corrosive materials at a waste facility combined with damp, wet environments under these scales cause electronic connection points fail. Load cell systems which eliminate connection points and junction boxes perform much longer with less downtime.”

Another way to mitigate problems which may occur on load cell systems would be to purchase a load cell type which doesn't require a junction box or summing box, says Clarke.

“Junction boxes are often a hot spot for failure due to moisture ingress, especially in difficult environments like waste,” she says. “Systems which daisy chain together make replacing cables or load cells much quicker and less costly.”

Additionally, waste operations can opt for simple-to-use transaction management software to speed up ticketing at the scale. These software solutions also can promote better data cleanliness, eliminating human errors and potential fraud, she adds.

Smart POWERCELL Load Cells, which offer digital signal processing for advanced accuracy to maximize profits and is designed to handle harsh environments such as those found in waste management.

DataBridge Transaction Management Software is designed as a smart data management system to help boost productivity, ensure proper data tracking, and help block any cheating at the scale. It serves to mitigate the challenge of handwritten tickets that can slow down an operation, be unreliable, and are not secure, says Clarke.

These solutions work to help an operation be compliant with local regulations while being efficient and profitable, she adds. 

Solving problems using software

In an effort to improve how its company can assist end users with preventing costly issues such as vehicles that are not completely on the scale or lowering the risk of entry errors by operators or drivers, Paradigm Software has developed auditing processes that continuously monitor the scale and the transaction and alert the operator and/or management of any abnormalities that may occur, notes COO Jackie Barlow.

“The solution can limit what an operator or driver may select based on the configuration of that account or truck to reduce the risk of entry errors,” Barlow adds. “Our unattended solution is designed to keep the driver in the vehicle, provide an easy-to-use interface, and to process transactions quickly but efficiently.”

The software walks the driver through the transaction, asking for information for which it does not already have an answer.