All collection trucks equipped with onboard computing
Technology at forefront of transformation
HOUSTON – Onboard computers are crucial to Waste
Management’s transformation and now — following a
roll out that lasted approximately three years — they
are a standard operating piece of equipment in each
of the company’s collection vehicles. This is a
significant milestone when considering that the
company’s fleet is made up of more than 18,000
trucks.
“Like all change, some loved it and some hated it,”
said Doug Wesney, manager of business solutions for
Waste Management. “However, even when it came
to the employees that were hardest to reach, I
didn’t find anyone that wasn’t able to adapt. The
reason is because onboard computers truly make
the job easier.”
Beginning in early 2011, Waste Management began
to roll out its onboard computing system to a select
number of Areas. After the first year, it was clear
they were returning a lot of value despite the
challenges that came with transitioning from paper
routes to electronic scheduling. As a result, over
the last two years the deployment of this technology
increased significantly with the majority of field
employees being trained during that time.
Accelerating the deployment timeline came with
several challenges. According to Wesney, getting
field employees trained on the new technology was
just one facet of the overall plan. Managing the
logistics of the deployment across an entire continent,
scaling the device to suit the needs of each locality
and selecting the right device required a lot of effort
and planning. However, the end result is a more
dynamic operation.
“In a factory, you see a problem and it’s visible,”
Wesney said. “Before onboard computers, we had
limited visibility — you might not know what happened
during a route until the end of the day. Now we
can see exactly what’s ahead.”
With onboard computers now standard across all collection
vehicles, a number of opportunities are available for
Waste Management to improve customer service and
engagement, including:
- Automating the Haul or Call process, where WM
communicates with a customer in the event that
something is preventing service, like a locked gate - Connecting operations data with customer service
and sales to help identify the root cause of service
failures, as well as opportunities to up-sell - Allowing customers to visit WM’s website to see
when their collection will take place, eliminating
unnecessary calls to a contact center
“We have a very robust roadmap ahead for onboarding computing,”
said Mark Madsen, vice president of IT. “We’ve just scratched the
very tip of the surface, and this will truly make us a unique service
provider since no one else in the industry is at our level.”
Special thanks to these employees for making the roll out of
onboard computers a success.
Chris Lomax, senior manager of IT
- Jason McIntyre, project manager
- Mark Molligi, ops improvement manager
- Pedro Tapia de Miguel, process analyst
- Mike Streetman, support engineer
- Jim Holtzman, tech support
- Darren Danko, tech support
- All Area Operations Improvement Managers, Route Managers
and District Managers for making this possible