Two-and-a-half years ago Weldcoa asked—when delivering cylinders, how does the driver interact with his truck, and are the interactions efficient? To find out, we studied the driver in the field during normal route deliveries.
This is what we observed: A driver arrives at a client. He exits his cab and activates the lift gate on the back of his truck. The lift gate travels down empty (that is, with no cylinders). The driver boards the gate, which raises him to the truck bed. He rolls his cargo to the lift gate, secures his load, and rides the gate down. He exits the gate and makes his delivery. He returns with empty cylinders and loads them on to the gate. He then rides up to the bed level. He stows the empties and then rides the gate back down. Upon exiting the gate the driver stows the gate and it rises back up empty one more time.
We measured how far the driver walked; how he physically entered the bed of his truck; how he got down from the truck; and the time involved in each step. The most significant finding of our analysis of this process was that it consumed a staggering amount of time.
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