Analyzing Log and Chip Truck Performance in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with GPS Tracking Devices

Details

• Creators:
  Lautala, Pasi Tapio ; Pouryousef, Hamed ; Stewart, Richard ; Ogard, Libby ; Vartiainen, Janne
• Corporate Creators:
  University of Wisconsin--Madison. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering ; University of Wisconsin--Superior
• Corporate Contributors:
  National Center for Freight and Infrastructure Research and Education (U.S.)
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Global Positioning System
  • Logging trucks
  • Forest products
• Publication/ Report Number:
  University of Wisconsin, Superior paper no. 02-22:1
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  Michigan
• Corporate Publisher:
  National Center for Freight and Infrastructure Research and Education (U.S.)
• Abstract:
  "Minimizing transportation costs is essential in the forest products industry, as the ; relatively low value ; and high weight of the products causes transportation to account for exceptionally high ; portion of the ; overall cost. The Midwest forest products industry competes in a global market, and the ; region’s value ; proposition is highly dependent on affordable and efficient transportation system. ; Understanding of ; system efficiencies requires sufficient data, but while most individual forest products ; companies collect ; data on origins and destinations of truck trips, little is known about the actual aggregate ; movements along ; the route. One alternative to collect data on truck movements is with Global Positioning ; Systems (GPS) ; data receivers. Since the cell phone coverage in the region is very sparse and unreliable, ; using satellite ; based GPS is a logical alternative, but the use of such devices has been limited in the ; forest products ; industry, partially due to high cost of devices and the carrier’s reluctance for ; centralized dispatching. ; The research, sponsored by National Center for Freight & Infrastructure Research & ; Education ; (CFIRE), focused on using GPS data recorders on both log and chip trucks operating in the ; Upper ; Peninsula of Michigan (UP) and analyzed the data to validate trends and to ; identify potential ; improvements and savings. A Trine XL data collector was selected for this research effort ; because it is ; inexpensive, easy to use and provides the necessary geospatial information to perform ; truck movement ; analysis. Since this GPS system doesn’t have real-time tracking capabilities, log sheets ; were developed ; for truck drivers to compliment the geospatial data. With combination of GPS data and ; filled out log ; sheets, the research team was able to make interpretations of truck movements and ; activities during stops ; or idling periods. ; This paper presents a brief literature review of past truck tracking studies and ; alternative GPS devices ; available for tracking purposes. It introduces the three project steps and reviews the ; outcomes of the ; project. The research concluded that there are significant similarities between ; log and chip truck ; movements. It also validated the fact that the main hindrance for truck productivity ; involves numerous ; truck stops required either for loading or unloading, totaling almost fifty percent of the ; overall operational ; time. On the other hand, chip trucks had significantly shorter unloading times when ; compared to the log ; trucks and they recorded higher average daily mileage. The research did not ; identify specific ; inefficiencies in the actions of truck drivers, but it was recognized that trucks ; experience extensive idle ; periods during operations. The sensitivity analysis conducted to identify potential ; savings from reduced ; idling suggested that several thousand dollars in fuel savings could be realized by each ; individual truck ; annually, if idling could be reduced.
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• Format:
  PDF
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/25340/dot_25340_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 769.32 KB]
• Collection(s):
  University Transportation Centers ; US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:896e30dda2054a30f0d4ec2b4e9542640fe8b5cf1d029fe3f65a6050d02aed0dc17a0d4042f5cd3893045b8cee3af9fc58674f7111aaa1efca47c9ba334586b6