First of all: If you have a skilled driver in your wheel loader, dump truck or excavator, let him go first in line at lunch, spit on him at the next payday, or give him a hug. He’s worth it.
Why is that?
1. He prevents negative ripple effects throughout production
Drilling patterns and bits are often sloppy on blasting jobs. Then all the fine material will remain as a cone in the middle, while the coarse material will spill out to the sides.
A skilled driver knows this and compensates by mixing the load. He picks up a lot from different places and ensures an even mix of fine and coarse material, large and small stones in each load. In this way, he lays the foundation for optimal flow throughout the crushing and screening process, as one load of fine and one load of coarse will make the entire production uneven.
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2. He spares the feeder
The feeder is not built to hover at idle. If it runs out, it receives a lot of impact when new stone is tipped, which stresses the steel, causing it to bend and break in a short time.
A driver with an overview tips new loads before the feeder is completely emptied. This gives you much longer feeder life. Money saved.
3. He saves you from cleaning
The driver with knowledge of blasted rock looks up at the sky every now and then. If it’s pouring rain, he knows that the mass at the bottom is in a pond of water. This means he doesn’t take loads that are lying on the ground.
He knows that water causes the fines in the pulp to stick together, and he knows that this ends up as tough graps that cause sprouting in screen cloths, clogged drains and pulp that builds up on rollers and drums. In other words, the rest of you don’t have to lie head-first in drains and aim for cleaning assignments once a week to ensure good production.
Read more:
The most common bottlenecks in crushed rock plants: How to fix them
4. He makes the work profitable
The production cost is increased by NOK 5 per ton for each time a diesel-powered machine is used to load pulp.
It’s even more expensive if the driver thinks he’s Petter Solberg trying to make a comeback in the World Rally Cup. If, on top of that, he doesn’t plan his journey and only carries loads in one direction and then returns empty, the price goes up another notch. A driver with an overview does neither.
Many people don’t understand how important the job of drivers is. This often applies to the drivers themselves.
Olav Gilje, technical support at Nordic Bulk
5. Creates better customer relationships
Punctuality is especially important when loading a vehicle. Often, several vehicles need to be loaded one after the other, and the vehicles may have a tight schedule for onward transportation. A good driver knows how long things take and avoids keeping cars waiting.
Good truck turnaround time inside your facility is a major competitive advantage that keeps you from losing customers.
Read more about roundtrip time and better customer relationships here:
How to crush the competition in a crowded market
Remember the drivers’ day
Contrary to popular belief, the driver’s job is not just to load and tip stones. The job is to have knowledge of the whole of a facility and load/unload in relation to it. All in all, a skilled driver prevents a pile of maintenance and saves owners an even bigger pile of money.
We would therefore like to remind everyone about Drivers’ Day. According to skyss.no, the 18th. March is International Drivers’ Day. It’s a long time away, so make a note in your calendar, show some respect for the drivers in your work and buy him/her a cake.
Other things happening on the 18th. March: Aruba has Flag Day, in case you were wondering.
P.S:
If you want to be reminded on Drivers’ Day, the 18th. March 2020: sign up for the newsletter below and we’ll send you a reminder then.
