The City of Calgary’s Transportation Operations Division faces unique challenges posed by rapidly changing weather patterns. Due to the city’s proximity to the Rocky Mountains, a Chinook can turn a crippling snowstorm into a warm day in a matter of hours. Enabled by forward-thinking management, the City’s fleet engineering and fabrication teams undertook the design and manufacturing of multiple bespoke attachments that enable enhanced and year-round functionality of trucks that would otherwise only be used for snow-clearing activities. The in-house designed attachments include sanders tailored to Calgary’s unique weather conditions, drip tanks that are easily reconfigurable based on operational requirements, and heated asphalt carriers that streamline pothole repair. While these attachments perform vastly different functions, their common electrical and hydraulic controls make them safe, simple, and fast to swap in and out of trucks. A focus on the operator was paramount in the design of all the attachments. Common controls, features, and functionality make operating the attachments safe and intuitive. Because of this, an operator trained to use a sander can easily be trained to feel confident loading and operating either a drip tank or asphalt carrier attachment. Furthermore, this allows operators to focus on challenging road conditions to provide the best service possible for citizens safely.

At the conclusion of this session, participants will be better able to:
• Recognize potential options for multi-use units in their fleet.
• Understand the financial benefits of multi-use chassis.
• Evaluate operations for potential reduction in fleet capital.

Contributor/Source

Kyle Hugo

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