|
Search this Thread | 34,574 views |
13th August 2018, 15:40 | #16 | |
Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: Delhi-NCR
Posts: 4,042
Thanked: 63,675 Times
| Re: Niggling Issues in the Commercial Vehicle industry - An Insider's Perspective Quote:
I think the industry is in the midst of a storm of changes driven by telephony, GPS, proper highways and digital records. The face maybe very different in 12 to 15 years time. When our unscrupulous cops will change I don't have the gumption to hazard a guess. | |
(10) Thanks |
The following 10 BHPians Thank V.Narayan for this useful post: | Alfresco, ankan.m.blr, arun687, DrANTO, GTO, harikrishna.te, nitinmurali, R2D2, Sutripta, tharian |
|
14th August 2018, 03:33 | #17 | |
BHPian Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney, AU
Posts: 935
Thanked: 796 Times
| Re: Niggling Issues in the Commercial Vehicle industry - An Insider's Perspective Quote:
Navistar had an understanding with Mahindra to buy engines and engine parts from another JV (Mahindra Navistar Engines Pvt Ltd, later renamed as Mahindra Heavy Engines Pvt Ltd) which both of them formed. Unfortunately, I don't have any recent updates about that. Very true. In Australia, in the state (NSW) where we reside, the heavy vehicle movements are tracked using GPS and drivers are mandated to take breaks. Both the driver and his organization are accountable for this. Something similar may come up soon. | |
(2) Thanks |
The following 2 BHPians Thank MaxTorque for this useful post: | GTO, harikrishna.te |
14th August 2018, 08:46 | #18 | ||||
BHPian Join Date: May 2018 Location: Chennai
Posts: 55
Thanked: 206 Times
| Re: Niggling Issues in the Commercial Vehicle industry - An Insider's Perspective Quote:
If you read the book 'Icon' by Frederick Forsyth, you can get a sense of the relationship between the service/sales engineer and the customer. Though the analogy is a bit far-fetched since the book talks about the relationship between spies and their handlers, the service/sales engineer is in a similar position. He/She develops a close bond with the customer and is sometimes forced into a position that is right in the middle of the company and the customer. The life of a service engineer is one of midnight wake up calls, irregularly timed meals and tea. A customer once called a service engineer at 2 AM and said 'You don't have any moral ground to sleep when my vehicle is off the road because of a breakdown!'. Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Last edited by harikrishna.te : 14th August 2018 at 08:51. | ||||
(2) Thanks |
The following 2 BHPians Thank harikrishna.te for this useful post: | GTO, MaxTorque |
14th August 2018, 09:06 | #19 | |
Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Electri-City
Posts: 2,334
Thanked: 2,188 Times
| Re: Niggling Issues in the Commercial Vehicle industry - An Insider's Perspective Thank you, harikrishna.te for a good write-up Quote:
More than these two, there has to be a cultural shift in the way drivers are treated. It has to start from the other motorists to the authorities. The cabins of fully built trucks are as comfy as they can get, some offer AC as an optional add-on to the standard blower system. Automatic gearboxes would result in savings only for fleet owners when the variance in fuel economy due to driver skill is huge. For small players with just 1-2 drivers per vehicle, it's good enough if the power train is maintained well, and all new trucks have hydraulically assisted clutch systems and synchro'ed gears. | |
(2) Thanks |
The following 2 BHPians Thank silversteed for this useful post: | GTO, harikrishna.te |
14th August 2018, 09:34 | #20 | |
BHPian Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney, AU
Posts: 935
Thanked: 796 Times
| Re: Niggling Issues in the Commercial Vehicle industry - An Insider's Perspective Quote:
National heavy vehicle driver fatigue laws apply to fatigue-regulated heavy vehicles, which are: a vehicle with a Gross Vehicle Mass (GVM) of over 12t a combination when the total of the GVM is over 12t buses with a GVM over 4.5t fitted to carry more than 12 adults (including the driver) a truck, or a combination including a truck, with a GVM of over 12t with a machine or implement attached. The drivers need to maintain a diary of their work and rest hours and the vehicle movements are monitored using GPS. The time to cover the distance two monitoring points are recorded and the diaries are cross-checked by authorities. One guideline related to rest and working hours has been attached. This can be done in anywhere but we better know our limitations and problems. So not detailing. More details are here | |
(3) Thanks |
The following 3 BHPians Thank MaxTorque for this useful post: | GTO, harikrishna.te, Sutripta |
14th August 2018, 12:12 | #21 | ||
Senior - BHPian | Re: Niggling Issues in the Commercial Vehicle industry - An Insider's Perspective Quote:
Quote:
The newer telematics (since you are in chennai, I guess you work for the big German brand), as in the German trucks are integrated in the vehicle management system. There has to be a 15min break for every 3 hrs driven and total driving time shall not exceed 9 hrs (i am not 100% sure about this number though) and need to have a break of 12 hrs. In some countries like Austria, weekends (saturday and sunday) and other festival days are completely drive prohibition for heavy vehicles. Some countries like Belgium even mandate that the drivers should not spend their rest time in their truck cabins rather only in hotels or motels. The company employing them will be fined heavily if caught. The trucks won't start if the pause time is not attained and once the time to take a break is reached, the truck gives out a nagging audible warning to the drivers. This gets really annoying when ignored. The best solution atleast in Swiss and Austria is that if there is no need for a truck to be on the road (non-perishable/non-urgent deliveries), they are loaded on the Rail-Road trains. In genenral, the fines for not obeying the break rules are quite heavy. The police usually run random checks at highway rest places and pick trucks out of the highway to check their running time etc. More than all of this, emergency brakes, collision avoidance brakes are mandatory and soon the blind spot warning will be made mandatory. Further, the Swiss and the Austrian government will fine the owners/employers/logistics company heavily if they choose to take the road than the Rail-Road train system for goods of other than urgent/perishable nature. Slowly, Europe is making the trucks as the last mile connectivity system and not the full fledged transport/logistic solution. Last edited by AlphaKilo : 14th August 2018 at 12:18. | ||
(3) Thanks |
The following 3 BHPians Thank AlphaKilo for this useful post: | GTO, harikrishna.te, Sutripta |
14th August 2018, 12:51 | #22 | ||||
BHPian Join Date: May 2018 Location: Chennai
Posts: 55
Thanked: 206 Times
| Re: Niggling Issues in the Commercial Vehicle industry - An Insider's Perspective Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
| ||||
() Thanks |
14th August 2018, 13:36 | #23 | ||
Senior - BHPian | Re: Niggling Issues in the Commercial Vehicle industry - An Insider's Perspective Quote:
Quote:
I have heard a lot of complaints from the drivers here in Germany about the emergency collision avoidance systems. They are prone to brake the vehicle abruptly due to false positive detections like road seperation islands or the road signs etc. Also, on the highway, when a vehicle merges too close in front of the truck, the system triggers an emergency brake which can cause a following collision. Such accidents have happened. IMHO, No technology is foolproof unless the human behind it is alert enough. A foolproof system for India need to be based on fully integrated in-vehicle systems that cannot be overridden by external brute force attacks. At the end of the chain, the owners or operators need to see this as a utility and savings for their assets and the drivers need to see this as driver aids and not as something intervening in their profession. | ||
(1) Thanks |
The following BHPian Thanks AlphaKilo for this useful post: | harikrishna.te |
14th August 2018, 13:43 | #24 |
BHPian Join Date: May 2015 Location: Gurgaon
Posts: 183
Thanked: 384 Times
| Re: Niggling Issues in the Commercial Vehicle industry - An Insider's Perspective If a vehicle is designed for overloading, then it will definitely be overloaded. The key to avoid overloading is that the vehicle design itself should prohibit overloading (beyond a safety factor of course). E.g. a 25 tonnes capacity vehicle with a 10% safety margin should sink on its suspension and be non-drivable if loaded beyond 28 tonnes. But, then overloading is what keeps the entire CV ecosystem (from manufacturer to transporter and law enforcement) alive. |
() Thanks |
14th August 2018, 15:50 | #25 | |||
Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Electri-City
Posts: 2,334
Thanked: 2,188 Times
| Re: Niggling Issues in the Commercial Vehicle industry - An Insider's Perspective Quote:
Quote:
Some fleet owners in the EU are very tech savvy, while others are only marginally better than our Indian counterparts. Heck, I have spoken to one fleet owner who was happy to lend one of their trucks for R&D, and also offered to do a pilot run for a certain niche technology. In India, VRL is one brand that tries to do a lot of R&D on their vehicles to reduce down time and also make them safer. Quote:
AL had brought in an ICV range branded as Cargo, in partnership with IVECO. The vehicle was advanced for its time, but it didn't take overloading that well, compared to the conventional trucks. It didn't do well in the market. Over-engineering is needed, based on the application and market. At the same time, enforcement of rules is also key Last edited by silversteed : 14th August 2018 at 15:57. | |||
(1) Thanks |
The following BHPian Thanks silversteed for this useful post: | AlphaKilo |
14th August 2018, 15:50 | #26 | ||||||
BHPian Join Date: May 2018 Location: Chennai
Posts: 55
Thanked: 206 Times
| Re: Niggling Issues in the Commercial Vehicle industry - An Insider's Perspective Quote:
Quote:
It gauges and predicts the fatigue level of the driver based on his position and alerts the driver/fleet owner accordingly. It was developed jointly with IIT Madras. Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Last edited by harikrishna.te : 14th August 2018 at 15:54. | ||||||
(1) Thanks |
The following BHPian Thanks harikrishna.te for this useful post: | AlphaKilo |
|
14th August 2018, 17:23 | #27 |
Team-BHP Support | Re: Niggling Issues in the Commercial Vehicle industry - An Insider's Perspective Good article An observation - I have never seen a truck driver who wears spectacles. It points to either vanity, a miracle or downright negligence about employee health. Coming to the latter, I remember 30 years ago when Simpson assembled Ford trucks. A friend of mine bought one for his factory, pulled out the nice comfy drivers seat and put it in their Standard 20 van and put a bone hard wicker seat in the truck. Thats how drivers are/were seen and treated! Abroad, tachographs measure and regulate driver hours. This does not happen here and nobody cares. Considering our long routes, large companies should consider a stagecoach method of things. i.e a driver takes the load from A to B and hands over to another driver and returns with another load travelling from B to A. However this is difficult to schedule but it would be better for drivers. Enough has been said about the vehicles and overloading. A friend of mine who worked with financing Volvo's initially found that owners were not interested in TCO, it was cheaper to overload a locally made 20 tonne truck by a factor of 2 and discard it after 3 years as opposed to procuring a 40 tonne truck for 3 times the price. Better sensible enforced regulation will bring in better trucks. |
(4) Thanks |
The following 4 BHPians Thank ajmat for this useful post: | GT3, harikrishna.te, SmartCat, V.Narayan |
14th August 2018, 21:16 | #28 | ||
Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Calcutta
Posts: 4,668
Thanked: 6,213 Times
| Re: Niggling Issues in the Commercial Vehicle industry - An Insider's Perspective Quote:
Quote:
GPS (and attendant movement tracking) is already mandatory in commercial vehicles now I think. Regards Sutripta | ||
(1) Thanks |
The following BHPian Thanks Sutripta for this useful post: | harikrishna.te |
14th August 2018, 23:11 | #29 | |
BHPian Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Gurgaon
Posts: 417
Thanked: 697 Times
| Re: Niggling Issues in the Commercial Vehicle industry - An Insider's Perspective Quote:
I do not see bespectacled drivers in North India though. | |
(1) Thanks |
The following BHPian Thanks chinkara for this useful post: | harikrishna.te |
16th August 2018, 13:38 | #30 | |||
BHPian Join Date: May 2018 Location: Chennai
Posts: 55
Thanked: 206 Times
| Re: Niggling Issues in the Commercial Vehicle industry - An Insider's Perspective Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
I wonder though, were they happy drivers back then? You are very uniquely placed to answer that, given your association with them! | |||
() Thanks |