Next Generation in Collection: East Waste with Isuzu's FVY Dual Control

In the sweet, cool mist of a spring morning there comes a quiet rumble, followed by the clink of glass on glass. From the inner-city Town of Walkerville to the broad sweeps of the Adelaide Hills, residents in the East Waste service area are waking up to the familiar sound of waste removal trucks, diligently going about their duty.

With a quick stop by every household within East Waste’s Seven Member Councils, up to 40 domestic side and rear loaders—including a fleet of new Isuzu FVY 240-300 Dual Control trucks—cruise the urban streets and climb steadily up the slopes to visit those perched in the higher regions.

The roads and services may differ markedly across the seven council areas, but East Waste’s approach remains constant: high quality, efficient waste and resource recovery that adapts with growing South Australian communities.

An integral part of this approach is to maintain a first-class fleet, and East Waste’s operations team—headed by Operations Co-ordinator, Ray Pawa, Manager of Operational Services, Brian Krombholz, and Risk & WHS Co-ordinator, Ian Lampre—are helping to ensure the company is keeping one step ahead of the competition, and living up to their Member Councils and community expectations.

Focus on safety

Covering over 1,200 square kilometres of collection area in the seven member councils, East Waste runs a five-day-per week operation.

In the suburbs close to Adelaide’s CBD, Ray’s operations logs record the drivers navigating around 100 kilometres a day of waste collection. Up in the Adelaide Hills precinct, it’s closer to 300 kms per day.

Getting behind the wheel at least once a week Ray, Brian and Ian note how new innovations in truck manufacturing are slowly changing the face of waste and resource recovery—driving safety, efficiency and environmental standards, while improving on the job working conditions for drivers.

“The development of the equipment over time is chalk and cheese, comparing these new models to what we used to run,” said Ray.

“We take our rules and regulations very seriously, constantly monitoring the weights, making sure we don’t overload the vehicles and looking out for the staff.”

Telematics improvements play a huge role here, giving both East Waste’s drivers and operations team detailed feedback on performance.

“All our trucks are hooked up with a 3Logix GPS system and six cameras around the vehicle. We know what speeds they’re doing, where they stop, how long they stop for, and this means we can make sure our drivers are having sufficient fatigue breaks,” said Ray.

“The community needs to have confidence that we’re doing the right thing, always.

“An independent auditor comes out annually to check the fleet, but we keep a close eye on repairs and make sure our vehicles are roadworthy,” Ray continues.

“North East Isuzu has already been a big help to us in this regard. They took on the audit this year and got through the whole fleet in just over two weeks—it was fantastic.

“It usually takes us three months to get through a comprehensive audit like that.”

With community and driver safety of utmost priority, Ray’s new fleet of Isuzu FVY 240-300 Dual Control models come highly recommended, featuring Isuzu’s standard offering of rugged anti-lock braking system (ABS), large electric mirrors and cornering lamps for urban laneway safety. Additionally, the FVY Dual Control comes updated with further elements including interlocks for control change over, and highly visible safety grab handles and steps.

Keeping costs down

With 20 years of experience behind the wheel as a side-lift operator and eight years in management, Ray’s industry knowledge stands him in good stead supporting East Waste’s operations team. And when it comes to waste and resource recovery, economy and reliability are non-negotiable, notes Ray.

“The councils are absolutely focused on financial performance and efficiency of the business, in terms of how we’re running things and the equipment we use to assist us—as they should be.

“We need to keep a close eye on the return figures, and a big part of that is the weight.”

Typically, the company looks at changing over their side and rear loading trucks every 190,000 to 250,000 kilometres, ensuring the fleet is up to date with the latest technology.

Like all their capital equipment acquisitions, the selection of a new East Waste truck goes through a rigorous evaluation process, considering many whole-of-life factors including purchase price, fuel efficiency, safety checks and ongoing maintenance and repairs.

Ray commenced the latest round of fleet upgrades in 2019, choosing Isuzu Trucks to provide a solution for East Waste’s growing requirements. North East Isuzu put in a successful tender to support East Waste with 15 new Isuzu FVY 240-300 Dual Control models, the last of which is due to hit the roads in early 2021.

“Our traditional supplier continues to make very nice trucks, but we just couldn’t get the payload we needed out of the newer models,” said Ray.

“The FVY Dual Controls offered 500 kg in weight savings per truck, maintaining our internal goals, while offering us the latest technology too.

“When you talk about 500 kg across an entire fleet, that’s a considerable weight saving of around a truck or a truck and a half.

“We’ve also experienced around an eight per cent reduction in fuel costs with the new Isuzus... you do the sums, it’s pretty straightforward.”

Easily integrated with a selection of Superior Pak compactor bodies, the advantages of better fuel efficiency and lower tare weight in the FVY chassis made a compelling argument for Ray to make the move to Isuzu’s newest generation of work-hard, work-smart, medium-duty trucks.

Letting the details determine

With greater focus on productivity in local government and civil services, Isuzu’s Dual Control offering has been gaining steady traction with operators seeking improved payload and operating efficiency. Certainly, the practical mix of price, smart engineering and capability for application is what brought the FVY 240-300 Dual Control to East Wastes Operations Team’s attention as a suitable fleet option.

The FVY 240-300 Dual Control features identical twin steering for maximum operator ease; the left-hand steering input is transferred through a gear driven cross shaft mounted inside the cab, meaning the steering columns adjust in unison for the optimum position.

Hendrickson airbag rear suspension and double acting shock absorbers provide an unrivalled weight advantage. For East Waste’s requirements, Ray also notes the 6-cyclinder Isuzu engine is well up to par: with peak power reaching 221kW (296 HP) @ 2,400 rpm and torque of 981 Nm @ 1,450 rpm.

Meritor axles in the front and rear (with the rear axle tandem set featuring driver-controlled inter-axle lock and cross-lock), Meritor “Q-Plus” air brakes and Allison LCT 3500 Series 6-speed automatic transmission rounds out a comprehensively engineered package.

Ray says driver acceptance of the new FVY models has been high, with positive feedback provided on the functional dual control layout—which can be adjusted with a simple switch on the dash.

The comfort of an ISRI 6860 pneumatic lumbar support driver’s seats on both sides of the cab have also been well received.

“Most of the people I put in the cab are head over heels for the new Isuzus. They’ve been totally converted from what we were using previously.

“Anyone driving a truck and operating the controls knows the physical toll it can take on you. It’s exhausting. It can be up to 8 or 10 hours a day,” he adds.

“The comfort in these new cabs is fantastic... and the Allison auto is definitely appreciated. The package is bullet proof.”