Swachh Bharat — an ICBM perspective

You might have heard of Solid Waste Management or Liquid Waste Management, but have you heard of an Integrated Clutch Brake Management (ICBM) approach for a Swachh Bharat? Well here’s a different perspective.

ICBM is no esoteric management technique taught in business schools. It has definitely not been documented in any textbook, nor has it been talked about in the seminar/webinar circuit, but believe me it is one of the core elements that makes or mars management of solid wastes. Ask any city manager!

As a city manager, I followed a simple but very effective principle to keep the streets free of garbage:

• Ensure that the maximum number of garbage trucks march out
• Set garbage collection targets
• Measure performance
• Incentivize/Penalize performance

The key element was to ensure the fleet of garbage trucks was available day after day, every day. We did a root cause analysis to find out what causes these vehicles to be unavailable. We found out that the primary reason was the wearing out of the clutch plate or the brake pads since the garbage vehicle had to start and stop frequently to collect garbage. Solving this problem was key to ensuring efficient fleet management. Thus, evolved the concept of ICBM.

Using vehicles with automatic transmission would definitely eliminate part of the problem- that of clutch riding but the other problem of brake lining/pads would not be solved. Moreover, the costs are prohibitive. Original equipment manufacturers should definitely come out with a custom-made solution for this problem. There is enough volume of business across the Government in not only this sector but also in public transportation to merit legislative intervention to make the manufacturers comply. However, that is a different story.

We had to somehow find a way to streamline the clutch and brake management system. We developed a multipronged strategy involving the following:

1. Drivers were educated on the costs of defective driving.
2. Preventive maintenance and repairs in the area of clutch and brake were standardized to ensure sustained availability and turn around.
3. Vehicle history sheets were opened and maintained.
4. Inventory of spare parts was rationalised.
5. The infrastructure at the maintenance depots was upgraded.
6. Effective SOPs were put in place to ensure quick turn around.
7. The fleet turnout was monitored on a daily basis.
8. Efficiency was incentivized.

Reminds you of the lines of the quote by Benjamin Franklin doesn’t it?

“For the want of a nail the shoe was lost, … For the want of a rider the battle was lost, For the want of a battle the kingdom was lost, And all for the want of a horseshoe-nail.”

Yes, small things like Clutches and brakes matter! Let’s now take a deeper dive into fleet management.

Annual Maintenance and Inspection: A significant management problem that affects fleet availability is the issue of bunching of vehicles for annual maintenance and Fitness Check (FC) by the Transport Authorities (RTO). Vehicles in civic bodies are usually purchased in batches and their annual maintenance cycle becomes due in the same period. If not planned carefully, the entire batch of vehicles is off-road, one fine day, on account of the statutory inspection. Simply staggering of the cycle of annual maintenance and inspection would solve this problem, but unfortunately, such common sense is often not so common in civic bodies.

Composition of the fleet by make/brand: Strategic decisions are required to acquire vehicles of a particular make/brand so that maintenance of spares inventory and developing expertise in repairs and maintenance is possible. In public procurement, this is not possible. Therefore, the solution lies in developing the infrastructure in the maintenance depots brand/make wise or to outsource this function to third party experts.

Composition of the fleet by capacity: Off the shelf mechanized transport vehicles come in fixed ranges. It is standard practice to have a large fleet of large trucks (6–8 ton capacity) and a medium fleet of mid-size vehicles (3–5 ton capacity). The third range of vehicles is in the mini-size (1–2 ton capacity). The ground reality is that these standard vehicles cannot manoeuvre in narrow city streets. This necessitates the deployment of mini vehicles of much lesser capacity and even non-mechanized means of transport like tricycles (motorized or non-motorized). The dilemma of the city manager is that smaller vehicles are less efficient and more costly. One solution is a mixed transportation model of collection by mini vehicles, intermediate dumping at collection points and then use of larger vehicles to haul larger capacities to the dumping ground.

Loading/Unloading: Efficient design of such intermediate collection points and smart handling of the dumped garbage becomes vital in such situations. Multiple handling of garbage is not only inefficient and costly but poses its own host of civic problems and public resistance.

Compacting: It is quite fashionable for civic bodies to maintain and deploy compacting equipment. Practical experience is however contrary: the composition of the garbage in India is such that there is very little scope for compaction. This coupled with the need to efficiently manage the hydraulic systems in these machines and the high costs involved raises the question of whether using compacting equipment is worth it.

Moving/Dozing: The fleet also consists of heavy-duty vehicles needed at the dumping ground like bulldozers, earthmovers, tractors and JCBs. These are specialized equipment and have to be handled with care. Developing expertise in handling, maintaining and repair of such equipment should also be a subject of careful analysis.

Body Design: Efficient design of garbage vehicles is another aspect that needs examination. Transport vehicles are designed on the basis of the weight (tonnage) they can carry. Garbage, on the other hand, has more volume and lesser weight. Vehicles have to be designed with this in view. The design should be optimized depending on whether the particular vehicle is deployed for primary street collection, collection from intermediate collection points or used for hauling the garbage to distant dumping grounds. It is time that national standards are introduced in this regard.

Route Design and Monitoring: Closely connected to fleet management is the issue of route design. Scientific techniques are available to design efficient routes and should be used extensively. Once designed, ensuring that the vehicles follow the route and time schedule becomes the priority. Interventions like the use of GPS tracking, RFID tagging offer solutions that can be used to enhance efficiency and ensure compliance. Drone technology also offers exciting possibilities. Development and deployment of Applications to crowdsource information on public sanitation is the absolute need of the hour.

Cover during Transportation: Garbage flying out of uncovered trucks or ill covered trucks is common. Currently, tarpaulin is used to cover the garbage. However, these covers are heavy and difficult to handle. The sanitation workers, therefore, wait till the truck is finally full before covering and securing the tarpaulin. This leads to the garbage spilling from moving vehicles. An easily available substitute is nylon fish-nets. This is light-weight, easy to handle and durable. Use of similar such material should be researched and deployed.

Personal Experience: My personal experience as a city manager would be worth recounting for a few takeaways. The Corporation of Chennai was deploying a large fleet of bullock carts for primary collection of garbage. Our first task was to design alternatives to replace this ancient mode of transport. We started with tricycles with metal containers. Our initial experience with this was hilarious if not disastrous. The tricycles were so heavy that it took tremendous effort to move them. Further, they would topple backwards when loaded with garbage, very often with the driver in the seat! We resolved this issue by replacing metal with fibreglass which was lightweight and durable. Tubeless tyres with heavy-duty spokes ensured this new design was workable. Next on our agenda, therefore, was to design efficient transfer stations that would eliminate multiple handling. A simple solution was to build a ramp and tilt the garbage straight from the tricycle to larger vehicles for hauling away. This proved highly successful.

Then came the issue of designing routes and scheduling the primary collection. Each street receptacle was mapped and a route chart designed. The clearance time was also indicated on the receptacle for public information. Flying squads were then deployed to ensure compliance. Again, a measure that found wide-spread welcome.

Now comes the part that evoked the greatest scepticism. Large commercial computerized weighbridges were installed at the dumping grounds. Every laden vehicle was weighed and the report of actually weighed garbage collected and compiled vehicle-wise and trip-wise. The result of this simple exercise had far and unforeseen consequences. On the one hand, the Management Information System enabled managers to track performance on an empirical basis. On the other, it spurred competition amongst the field officers to a level that was beyond imagination. Reports of vehicles carrying construction debris instead of garbage started streaming in and squads had to be deployed to verify such claims! Another incredible claim among field officers was that garbage was being stolen from other areas to show improved performance. The end result — a perceptibly cleaner city!