Applications:

S.W. Rodgers Finds
‘Knowledge is Power’ in Quest
to Control Fuel Consumption

S. W. Rodgers Co., Inc. is a site development, heavy highway, and utility contractor
headquartered in Gainesville, Virginia, a suburb of the nation’s capital. Founded in
1980, the firm has numerous nationally-recognized projects to its credit, including
Reston Town Center, Lansdowne Conference Resort and Golf Course, and Tyson’s
Galleria, Washington D.C.'s premier upscale shopping and dining destination.

S.W. Rodgers is a turnkey company, providing comprehensive services, “from site
clearing to final pavement,” according to Rodgers’ Vice President, Equipment
Division, Richard Byrd.

2005 was a landmark year for the company. S.W. Rodgers commemorated its
25th year, and had the largest number of active jobsites in its history. It was also
a year of challenges. Land scarcity, competitive pressures, and regulatory changes
were all key, but the company’s greatest challenge was finding high quality
equipment operators.

Pump Tracker records and stores fuel use history and performs calculations and analyses, including gallons consumed per hour, per machine.

Explains Byrd, “the cost of commuting here, and statutory restrictions on CDL
driver hours, pose a real issue. Because construction is limited to 38 weeks or
so a year, we saw productivity as being one of the two most promising possibilities
for bottom line improvement.”

The other one? “Managing fuel costs,” says Byrd. “It was critical then, and of course,
is much more so today.”

Searching for a solution, Byrd began discussions, in early 2005, with OEM Controls,
a company specializing in hardened data management systems for construction and
other “extreme service” jobsite applications.

The OEM Data Delivery team from OEM Controls (now OEM Data Delivery –
“OEMDD”) had talked with S.W. Rodgers as early as 2003 about their equipment
tracking technology. More recently, OEM Data Delivery had brought to market a new
generation of tracking and management systems that allowed a wide range of
jobsite data – from crew hours to materials, fuel consumption to equipment usage –
to be collected accurately, transmitted securely to a DataVault, and reported nightly
via the web. Most notably, it made this information available in a form that was
immediately useful to managers and resource planners.

S.W. Rodgers viewed the OEM technology as a way to gain control over some of
the most variable aspects of its operations. “More precisely," says Byrd, “we saw it
as a way to free drivers from the task of climbing on machines, often while it was still
dark out, and sometimes when machines were still locked and unavailable – to get
hour meter readings on equipment. Could we save 15 minutes per shift, and
eliminate human error? That seemed realistic to us. And, at that rate, the math
was very compelling. The fact that we could also make all fuel fully and specifically
accounted for, with documentation generated automatically every night, would
be the other major payoff.”

In mid-2005, S.W. Rodgers began implementation of OEM Pump Tracker and
Service Tracker technology– two components of a comprehensive suite of solutions
developed specifically for construction and similar jobsite environments. It provides
equipment hours, location, and fuel gallons dispensed.

The company’s five fuel trucks were outfitted immediately with Pump Trackers.
Pump Tracker was developed to manage diesel and other consumables, such
as oil and hydraulic fluids. It works in conjunction with a pulse flowmeter, and is
controlled through a hand-held PDA interface. It was engineered to work
in tandem with OEM’s Service Tracker.

Pump Tracker records and stores fuel use history and performs key calculations
and analyses, including gallons consumed per hour, per machine. “It’s also an
excellent tool for preventing fuel theft,” according to Byrd, “because there are no
work-arounds: the systems makes accountability a non-option.”

Explains Byrd, “there’s a unit on every fuel truck. The operator beams the
equipment he’s about to fuel, and the system demands allocation to a specific
unit of equipment. When fueling is finished, the operator beams the fuel truck to
complete the transaction, and the system confirms the gallons dispensed into the
specific loader, excavator – or whatever it may be. Now, the refueler is accounting
for every gallon out of the truck – and aberrations can be spotted quickly.” After
the pump dispenses, the operator uses the PDA to download the data from the
Pump Tracker and Service Tracker using a simple point-and-click routine –
and vehicle hours and fuel gallons are documented.

Predictably, according to Byrd, there was some resistance on the part of fuel truck
drivers to this new way of working. “Change is always tough,” he says. “But now, it’s
completely turned around – and it would be difficult for them to revert to paper tickets.”

To implement Service Tracker technology on S.W. Rodgers’ 400 pieces of ‘big iron’
without generating downtime, installation was completed during regularly scheduled
maintenance. OEM did the original installs. “Their tech support was exceptional,”
says Byrd “and they worked well with our operators.” Rodgers’ mechanics now do
the installs, with the average piece of equipment taking less than an hour.

Service Trackers are versatile, multi-function machine data collectors. Capabilities
include a run time hour meter, the ability to track (and alarm) seven service intervals,
and internal storage of machine history, service notes and warranty information.
Service Trackers have proven to be, says Byrd, “a powerful maintenance
management tool, because you’re no longer under-or over-maintaining.”

Service Tracker builds a service and repair history by tracking mechanic activity.
This allows managers to know what repairs are most common, and the average
amount of time required for common maintenance tasks such as oil or belt changes,
It also produces “big picture” information, such as which equipment produces the
best ROI, (and which the most headaches) and which equipment has the best
profit/ loss performance.

Service Tracker, used with its Asset tracking module, adds another major capability
with its ability to track the use and movement of capital equipment and other high
value assets. The operator selects disposition, location, destination and delivery
method, then barcodes or communication-links the vehicle, and downloads data
into the computer.

The asset tracking module is an efficient way to paperlessly manage high-dollar
assets, and is a job costing tool as well. It is most often used at jobsites, in the
garage or warehouse during inventory, and when starting or closing-out a job.
In regard to the latter, job close-outs can easily become a hunt for equipment,
tools, laptops. This technology eliminates this time-consuming task.

On those occasions when the company rents equipment, Service Tracker
documents when the equipment was in service. And, if there’s a delay in the
rental firm retrieving the equipment after notification, Service Tracker documents
the last time the equipment was used, preventing a potential disagreement.

S.W. Rodgers now has six months experience with the OEMDD technology.
Byrd can log onto OEM’s JI Reports using Business Objects’ Crystal Reports
platform, and see, at a glance, the fuel dispensed prior day, hour meter readings,
and the location of each piece of equipment. Eventually, the company may add
crew and subcontractor tracking, another capability of OEM’s data capture
solutions, to its system.

“We achieved what we hoped in better fuel accountability and driver time savings,”
says Byrd. “But there’s more to it. The system saves a lot of time and aggravation
because data is accurate, and our fuel truck drivers are more efficient. And it helps
us bid jobs more efficiently, because we have the most accurate picture of
equipment rates and fuel costs. Given the competitive environment here,
it has proved to be an excellent investment.”

Preventive Maintenance: Technology "Muzzles" Fuel Costs
By G. C. Skipper, Contributing Editor, Construction Equipment

Read the comments of Richard Byrd,
CEM Vice President – Equipment Division, SW Rodgers

Coming Next: Profile of . . .

The Hubbard Group, America's 14th largest heavy construction
Company, with 2006 revenues of $450 million. Founded in 1920,
the company has been a prime contributor to growth in the southeast,
providing turnkey site development, thousands of miles of roads and
highways, and bridge construction. The firm’s resume includes work
for the Florida DOT, the U.S. Corps of Engineers, Walt Disney World
and the Orlando, Tampa and Jacksonville airports.

These pages discuss the issues that are most important to these decision-makers:
CEOs | CFOs | Operations Managers | Equipment Managers | IT Managers

S.W. Rodgers Finds ‘Knowledge is Power’ in Quest to Control Fuel Consumption

S.W. Rodgers Finds
‘Knowledge is Power’ in Quest
to Control Fuel Consumption