Idling is a waste of fuel and causes unnecessary wear and tear on engines. And if you, like the construction group Aarsleff, have 450 excavators, dumpers and bulldozers at your disposal, it turns into a good chunk of money that unnecessarily goes up in smoke every year.
This year’s idle price
This is the cash basis for the fact that five years ago Aarsleff launched an active effort to reduce idle time. One of the concrete measures was the introduction of the “Idle price of the year”. Here, the machine operator who has the year’s lowest idle percentage, or has had the year’s greatest reduction in idle time, is rewarded.
The year idling award 2023 went to machine operator Lasse Baandhagen, whose machine has only been idling 17 percent of the time in the last year:
– It was probably a somewhat lower idle than I had expected, says Lasse Baandhagen in a post from Aarsleff on LinkedIn.
This year’s idle prize consists of a walking trophy and a gift check for DKK 12,000. The cash prize was only introduced this year to create even more awareness of the idling problem.
Idling decreased from 45 to 27 percent
And after five years, the initiative can be found to be a success. In total, the average idle time for Aarsleff’s machines has fallen from 45 percent to 27 percent. It can be read directly on the bottom line in the form of an annual saving of a total of around four million kroner on fuel, maintenance and depreciation. This corresponds in round numbers to the price of two large dumper trucks, so there is a lot to be gained.
Always brings up idle time
It is machine instructor Frank Andreasen who is behind this year’s idle price in Aarsleff. And the work to bring the number down continues.
– When I get calls from the machine operators about machine control, I always get idling running into the conversation. So as the efforts have taken hold and we have got more machines, it has become a big task, says Frank Andreasen, in the LinkedIn post.
“Nothing special”
Machine operator Lasse Baandhagen was surprised with a gift cheque, walking trophy and hot dog cart, while he was rerouting a 27 kilometer long gas pipeline on Funen with his CAT 330 New Generation excavator. And despite the fact that the machine operator is aware of stopping the engine when the machine is not working, he himself had not considered it to be anything special.
– When I leave the machine or during small breaks in work, I switch off the engine. But I didn’t think that I was doing anything special, says Lasse Baandhagen and reveals a certain Jutland humility. But now he’s got blood on his teeth.
– I think it is possible to reduce the idle percentage even further. So I will definitely focus on that, says Lasse Baandhagen. Part of the prize money has already been invested in a high-pressure cleaner.
