The role of preventive maintenance of fleets powered by conventional and alternative fuels in road transport of dangerous goods

The paper surveys two companies that have homogeneous fleets for the transport of dangerous goods. The observed companies use fleets of various propulsion, conventional diesel fuel and compressed natural gas to carry out the transport process, and strive to ensure greater reliability and availability of vehicles at the lowest possible cost of preventive maintenance. In that sense, the role of preventive maintenance of fleets with different propulsion, diesel and compressed natural gas is analysed, and differences in terms of construction and operational characteristics of vehicles, procedures and costs of preventive maintenance are presented. Fleet managers must take into account environmental impacts, requirements and regulations defined in the European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Good by Road when managing the operation and maintenance of vehicle fleet in the road transport of dangerous goods. The conducted research shows that vehicles with compressed natural gas drive achieve certain advantages in terms of preventive maintenance in relation to conventional diesel vehicles and can be successfully used in road transport of dangerous goods

Contribution to the development of the vehicle fleet maintenance management

U ovoj doktorskoj disertaciji istražuje se uticaj upravljanja procesom održavanja drumskih voznih parkova na efikasnu i racionalnu realizaciju zadatog transportnog rada. Kako bi preduzeća sa sopstvenim voznim parkom tokom obavljanja zadatog transportnog rada ostvarila manje ukupne troškove transporta i održavanja, odnosno veći profit, potrebno je da njihovi rukovodioci, između ostalog, efikasnije upravljaju procesom održavanja. Da bi upravljanje procesom održavanja voznih parkova bilo efikasno ideja je da se zajedno posmatra transportni proces, proces održavanja vozila i okruženje. Za ovako integrisano upravljanje procesom održavanja biće primenjena koncepcija „Održavanje zasnovano na procesu“. U tom smislu, predstavljeni su osnovni kriterijumi za sprovođenje integrisanog upravljanja procesom održavanja voznih parkova. Primenom navedenih kriterijuma rukovodioci imaju uvid u neophodan broj pogodnih vozila za obavljanje zadatog transportnog rada u periodu posmatranja i omogućeno im je lakše uočavanje potencijalnih rezervi za poboljšanje upravljanja procesom održavanja. Kao cilj doktorske disertacije razvijena je metodologija za integrisano upravljanje procesom održavanja voznih parkova. U okviru razvijene metodologije podržani su kriterijumi integrisanog upravljanja i primenjena je koncepcija „Održavanje zasnovano na procesu“. Jedan od efekata primene razvijene metodologije je povećanje energetske efikasnosti voznih parkova. Da bi se efekti primene određenih mera poboljšanja izmerili, u okviru razvijene metodologije definisani su pokazatelji upravljanja održavanjem. Kombinovanom primenom dva metoda: „Decision Making Trial and Evaulation Laboratory“ (DEMATEL) i „Analytic Network Process“ (ANP) izračunata je značajnost definisanih pokazatelja na donošenje upravljačkih odluka...In this doctoral thesis the influence of the road vehicle fleet maintenance management for the rational and efficient realization of the given transport volume was researched. In order to achieve a lower total cost of transport and maintenance to make more profit by performing given transport volume, it is necessary that the managers of the companies with their own vehicle fleets, among the other things, manage the maintenance process more efficiently. For the efficient vehicle fleet maintenance management the idea is to jointly observe the transport process, vehicle maintenance process and the environment. For the integrated maintenance management the concept “Process based maintenance” will be applied. In this sense, basic criteria for conducting an integrated management of the vehicle fleet maintenance are represented. By following these criteria, managers have a good insight in the required number of suited vehicles in the state “ready for operation”, which are necessary for performing of the given transport volume in the period of observation and they are enable to spot easily the potential reserves for improving the management of the maintenance process. As an aim of doctoral dissertation, the methodology for an integrated management of the vehicle fleet maintenance process was developed. Within the developed methodology the criteria of the integrated management were supported and the concept „Process based maintenance” was applied. One of the developed methodology use effects is the increase of vehicle fleet energy efficiency. In order to measure the implementation effects of certain improvement measures, within the developed methodology the indicators of maintenance management are defined. With the combined use of two methods: „Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory” (DEMATEL) and „Analytic Network Process” (ANP) the importance of defined indicators for the management decision making was calculated..

Concept of selfmaintaining vehicles

Main task of this paper is to present idea of selfmaintaining and make corresponding concept of selfmaintaining vehicles. Through setting parameters of selfmaintaining and providing algorithm of selfmaintenance in vehicles author made attempt to set basic principles in this area of research. Paper presents researched suitability of different drive-trains of vehicles for selfmaintaining. Also, convenient artificial intelligence model for selfmaintaining was reviewed and discussed. Paper discuss near future and future development of maintenance of the vehicles according to presence of mechanical and electrical components. Conclusions made in this papers describes possible ways of future development of maintenance

Concept of selfmaintaining vehicles

Main task of this paper is to present idea of selfmaintaining and make corresponding concept of selfmaintaining vehicles. Through setting parameters of selfmaintaining and providing algorithm of selfmaintenance in vehicles author made attempt to set basic principles in this area of research. Paper presents researched suitability of different drive-trains of vehicles for selfmaintaining. Also, convenient artificial intelligence model for selfmaintaining was reviewed and discussed. Paper discuss near future and future development of maintenance of the vehicles according to presence of mechanical and electrical components. Conclusions made in this papers describes possible ways of future development of maintenance

Influence of the maintenance management with a comprehensive approach on the efficient and rational operation of vehicle fleets

Companies with own vehicle fleet for freight transport try to carry out the requested transport volume, with lowest possible transportation and maintenance costs. In order to make energy efficient and rational, the vehicle fleet operation the influence of the maintenance management has been considered in this paper. In this sense, a concept of maintenance management with a comprehensive approach has been developed. Within proposed concept the interdependent influences between vehicle maintenance process, transport process and environment as well have been described in detail, and the maintenance management activities on the strategical, tactical and operational level have been presented. The proposed concept was implemented in a company with vehicle fleet. Improvements were made in the vehicle fleet operation, which contributed to the reduction of transport and maintenance costs, whereby the requested transport volume in the observed period was performed

ENERGY EFFICIENCY AS A CRITERION IN THE VEHICLE FLEET MANAGEMENT PROCESS

Transport represents an industry sector with intense energy consumption, the road transport sector within is the dominant subsector. The objective of the research presented in this paper is in defining the activities which applied within road freight transport companies contribute to enhancing vehicles' energy efficiency. Vehicle fleet operation management process effects on fuel consumption decrease have been looked into. Operation parameters that influence vehicle fuel consumption were analysed. In this sense, a survey has been realised in order to evaluate the vehicle load factor impact on the specific fuel consumption. Measures for enhancing vehicle's logistics efficiency have been defined. As a tool for those measures' implementation an algorithm for vehicle fleet operation management was developed which represented a basis for a dedicated software package development for vehicle dispatching process decision support. A set of measures has been recommended and their effects in fuel savings were evaluated

A hybrid multi-criteria decision making model for the vehicle service center selection with the aim to increase the vehicle fleet energy efficiency

In this paper is researched how to achieve an effective fleet maintenance planning in transport companies, which contributes in increasing the fleet energy efficiency and in achieving the companies’ goal. Within the fleet maintenance planning, managers have to make the right decisions on the selection of vehicle service centers in the region where the maintenance work will be realized. The mentioned decision is affected by a number of different interdependent factors (criteria). Based on a survey, relevant factors (criteria) were defined. As defined factors are interdependent and differently influence the mentioned decision, an approach of decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL)-based analytic network process called DANP was applied. In this respect, authors propose a hybrid multi-criteria decision making model. The proposed model was applied in the companies to demonstrate how effective their managers are in the maintenance planning and how this effectiveness influences the fleet energy efficiency and fulfilment of companies’ goal. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 36027: Software development and national database for strategic management and development of transportation means and infrastructure in road, rail, air and inland waterways transport using the European transport network models

Evaluation of the influence of terrain and traffic road conditions on the driver’s driving performances by applying machine learning

In this paper, research is done in the influence of different terrain and traffic conditions on road sections on the driver’s driving performances, i.e. on the car energy efficiency and CO2 emission. A methodology aimed at determining to which extent unfavorable traffic and/or terrain conditions on a road section contribute to the driver’s worse driving performances, and also to determine when the driver’s aggressive driving style is responsible for greater fuel consumption and greater CO2 emission is proposed. In order to apply the proposed methodology, a research study was carried out in a cargo transportation company and 12 drives who drove the same vehicle on five different road sections were selected. As many as 284014 of the instances of the data about the defined parameters of the road section and the driver’s driving style were collected, based on which and with the help of machine learning a prediction of the scores for the road section and the scores for the driver’s driving style was performed. The obtained results have shown that the proposed methodology is a useful tool for managers enabling them to simply and quickly determine potential room for increasing the energy efficiency of the vehicle fleet and decreasing CO2 emission