The unofficial rivalry among Cemex’s quarry plant operators was stoked up after dealer Finning ran a special set of courses to promote cost effective production.
Now drivers at sites up and down the country are pulling out the stops to see who is the best operator, based on fuel savings and output.
Cemex UK’s national operations project manager, Craig Hooper said: “The training has instilled a culture shift into the everyday running of the business.
“A great example of this is the competition that has now developed between operators at sites to see who is the most fuel efficient, with the lowest cost per litre, making a serious topic fun.
He added: “Energy, a topic we have talked about for years, is one of the issues at the forefront of everyone’s thinking as they can see the financial and environmental benefits of good practice.”
All the drivers went through the Finning Eco-Drive programme a few months ago and now bosses are comparing pre and post training results.
As Finning’s largest Eco-Drive programme user to date Cemex UK worked with the Finning team to develop the programme delivery across its operations.
This saw Finning staff put together a detailed personal development programme for each operator, which is now paying off.
Craig said: “We have now collected post training data for a number of months of fully trained operator activity, so are able to understand the impact training has had on our UK operations.
“As a business, we therefore know that at every one of our sites across the UK we have benefitted from efficiency savings in both litres per tonne and plant maintenance.
“From a financial return perspective the time and resources invested in the training has already more than paid for itself.”
Craig added: “With the development programme and improvement suggestions we were able to gain knowledge on how to help each individual perform their role better.”