Barbados' Sanitation Manager presents Certificates after completing refresher on 4-Day Seminar for Mechanical Workshop

The Sanitation Service Authority has presented certificates to eleven participants to a refresher in the RTA Fleet Management Software Systems for members of the Mechanical Department after a four-day workshop.

 

The seminar was prepared by Ron Turley Associates to conduct hands-on training to streamline and improve the department’s maintenance of the Authority’s vehicles; Technical Support Manager Bill Lawson hosted the course.

Ron Turley Associates developed this computer programme to assist the Authority in capturing and recording vital information on the vehicles as they perform their tasks daily.

 

The SSA’s Manager Stanton Alleyne says the objective of the seminar ensures participants in familiarity with the RTA Fleet Management Systems and its components. Once applied correctly then Management and users can make important decisions on how to maximise service on various routes.

In addition, by training members of the Mechanical Department in this workshop, they become multi-skilled and fulfill the Authority’s mandate of institutional strengthening.

Included among the features in this software;-

·        Financial history from purchase to scrap

·        The number of repairs done on any given vehicle

·        What parts were used and their cost – also logging who did the repairs

·        Service history, downtime, fuel and oil usage, etc.

 

The Authority’s Manager presented certificates to eleven members of the Mechanical Workshop who found the course very rewarding and valuable. 

In addition, a presentation of mementoes of Barbados to Mr Lawson was done as a token of appreciation for his excellent service.

US Supermarket chain's trucking fleet shifts to biodiesel

Safeway grocery trucks no longer just deliver vegetables. In a sense, they now run on vegetables, too. Safeway, the nation's third-largest grocery chain, said Friday that its entire nationwide trucking fleet now uses biodiesel, a renewable fuel that can be made from plant oils, used cooking grease or animal fat.

In Safeway's case, the biodiesel comes from soy oil or canola oil. It is blended with regular petroleum diesel before being pumped into the company's more than 1,000 trucks. The move is part of Safeway's broader effort to green its operations.

The Pleasanton company buys much of its electricity from wind farms, has switched to energy-efficient refrigeration and lighting, and is installing solar panels on 24 of its California stores.

Biodiesel generally produces less air pollution than diesel made from petroleum. And it helps rein in greenhouse gas emissions because the plants used to make it absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Safeway won't reveal how much fuel it's buying or the price it's paying. Biodiesel typically costs more than regular diesel.

The price increased last year as some farmers switched from growing soybeans to growing corn, hoping to tap into the growing market for another alternative fuel - corn-based ethanol. Safeway estimates that using the biodiesel blend will cut the company's carbon dioxide emissions by 75 million pounds each year, the equivalent of taking 7,500 cars off the road.