Controlling Temperatures In Facilities, Warehouses, and Manufacturing Centers

By Mark D’Agostino, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Hunter Industrial

Controlling your facility or warehouse’s temperature can be challenging, especially if you have high ceilings, several windows, a large workforce or just a big space. Despite these factors, OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) requires the minimum temperature for indoor workplaces to be 68 degrees Fahrenheit and the maximum be 76 degrees Fahrenheit. Additionally, OSHA’s approved range for indoor humidity is between 20 and 60 percent to reduce mold growth and assist with the overall temperature control.

Importance of Air Quality

Beyond ensuring you are meeting OSHA standards, good air quality and temperature control can enhance workplace productivity. A recent Harvard Business Review survey reported that the number one workplace wellness perk that employees most desired was air quality. Air quality received 58 percent of the survey vote, with the option for an on-site gym receiving only 16 percent of the vote. 

Air quality is crucial to maintaining your workforce. By improving temperature control in buildings, you're creating a more comfortable, healthier work environment. We have seen companies experience reduced absenteeism and employee complaints, coupled with boosts in overall productivity.

One manufacturing and logistics company echoed this sentiment after installing seven 24-foot industrial HVLS (high volume, low speed) ceiling fans in their 300,000-square foot warehouse. Keeping their HVLS fans running 24/7, the company's Vice President of Supply Chain noted, "[HVLS] fans provide uniform comfort year-round for our nearly 230 employees, which has increased worker productivity. … The fans are essential in creating an optimal, healthy environment in our facility from ceiling to floor."

Improving Cost and Energy Savings

Turning off your building HVAC system when no one is in the building increases the demand on the HVAC system when it’s turned back on. That’s because the equipment has to work harder to reach the desired indoor temperature when it’s switched on. Using an HVAC system coupled with an industrial ceiling fan can help save energy while preventing your HVAC system from working too hard.

Designed with longer blade lengths than conventional fans, industrial ceiling fans have diameters that can range from 7 to 24 feet and move large volumes of air with minimized energy consumption per square foot. One HVLS fan can mobilize as much air as 10 to 20-floor fans or twelve 48-inch barrel fans—translating into reduced operating costs of about $1 per day. Also, this efficiency is most prevalent in colder months.

HVLS fans also help with thermal destratification to save on heating costs

In the winter—buildings with high ceilings often experience significant heat stratification where warmer air rises to the ceiling while cooler air remains at floor level. This phenomenon forces a facility’s heaters to work two to three times harder to keep employees and building occupants adequately warm while most of the heat continues to be trapped above their heads.

HVLS Fans

These points are just a few examples of how HVLS fans can be comprehensive solutions to improve workforce comfort, circulate air and heat more efficiently and reduce overall energy costs. The importance of a facility's air circulation and air management can't be underestimated, and investments in the right HVLS solution for your facility can make radical transformations in a company's wellness standards while boosting its bottom line.

 

5 Trends for Forward-Thinking Fleet Management

As technology forces us to be more flexible and forward-thinking in order to stand out from the competition, the roles of fleet managers and fleet management companies are changing.

Below are five trends that forward-thinking fleet managers are embracing and implementing.

1. Electric Vehicles

Is an all-electric fleet the future? At the most recent Work Truck Show, electrification was a key topic due to the fact that electric vehicle registrations more than doubled in 2018, reaching a record high of 208,000 registrations. While consumers in some areas of the country are readily adopting this technology, fleets are just beginning to make the change.

Gasoline and diesel fuel prices have become the number one contributing factor to the high cost of fleet operations, which means electric vehicles and their fuel efficiency capabilities may rise in popularity for some fleets. While a fully electric fleet may be a stretch in some industries, for others it may become a reality in as little as the next five years. 

2. Leveraging Telematics

Fleets have many sources of data, but converting that information into an effective solution to drive business forward and lower costs can be a challenge. 

Measurable success opportunities are achievable with every trip when fleets utilize a telematics solution. Sensors, GPS devices, and engine diagnostics are installed in individual vehicles, and information is then transferred to a central location where it can be analyzed by fleet managers. This technology helps all types of fleets understand things like vehicle utilization and driver trends in order to improve safety, reduce fuel costs, and enforce better maintenance practices.

“Analyzing data to find actionable insights will continue to gain importance as fleets become more connected and the amount of data produced continues to grow,” said Tom Coffey, Senior Vice President of Merchants Fleet. “It will remain essential to start with creating a baseline and then manage to the baseline creating alters and thresholds.”

3. Work Culture

Employee satisfaction has a direct influence on the success of every company in every industry. Creating strong employee engagement starts by building an easily understood and supported culture. How can this be achieved? Here are a few ways:

• Define Your Culture: If you do not define your culture, it will be defined for you. If you find that your workplace culture is not deliberate, this is a great opportunity to review and make changes. Think about your company’s core values and the attributes that can be amplified. Then you can work on better articulating these traits to increase employee understanding.
• Hire & Retain Employees Based on Your Culture: If you define your workplace culture to be service-oriented and innovative, make sure the people you are bringing on board to work for you embody these characteristics. On the other hand, companies should recognize when people do not fit the culture. If an employee is struggling, try to help them understand why. This can include taking steps to improve their performance or removing them from their position.
• Make Culture Part of the Management Process: If you define your workplace culture as collaborative but do not mention collaboration during employee performance reviews, you are telling your workforce that it actually is not important to your company.

4. Flexibility

Flexibility has become a competitive differentiator in the world of fleet management. Many top-tier fleet companies have identified market segments where they want to be known as the dominant provider, which can be an efficient way to establish a business proposition.

Here are just a few of the many options for creating a more flexible business model:

• Client Services: Let’s say that a client needs their invoices to look a certain way because the format must match with their internal processes. This is a small ask, but the flexibility a business offers to meet the client’s needs will go a long way.
• Scalability: For fleet management companies, especially, it is important to help clients feel like they fit with a business. Offering flexible leasing terms, operations, and services are a way to show clients that you are willing and able to scale with them.
• Adaptability: What will the future hold for your company and your clients? In fleet management, this could include new modes of transportation or services. Being cognizant of what the future may bring will leave you open and flexible for whatever may come next.

The level of flexibility a company can provide will depend on the types of clients they serve. This could be based on fleet size, fleet type, industry, and other factors.

5. Vehicle Access

Vehicle sharing is alreadycommon in our personal lives, so it makes sense that schools, businesses, and local government offices are exploring the benefits from a business standpoint. For companies in urban areas or businesses with clustered locations, access to a centralized pool of vehicles can provide significant cost savings and a high level of convenience.  

The Boston metro area and its many colleges and universities are an example of a prime location for this type of model. The countless colleges and universities in the city have a variety of departments that require different types of vehicles for different amounts of time. Instead of each campus owning its own fleet, many schools share a single pool of vehicles. Using an easy-to-use online reservation system, a faculty member can quickly book a van to take students to an off-campus event. The benefits for the colleges are two-fold: Vehicles are available on demand and institutions do not need to invest capital into a full-time fleet management program. 

The fleet businesses that will succeed in the future will be the ones that harness data and technology to help their clients increase productivity and efficiency. It is important that fleet managers follow industry trends and utilize tools to propose forward-thinking solutions that will keep their clients laser-focused on the future.  

Author: Adam Secore, Senior Vice President of Operations, Merchants Fleet

Adam serves as Senior Vice President of Operations for Merchants Fleet. He joined the company in 2006. Adam provides vision and senior leadership to the over 200 employees dedicated to providing an exceptional customer experience to the diverse Merchants Fleet client base. He is focused on driving strategic operational scale and delivering best-in-class results in all operating areas. Adam is directly involved in the business architecture of the Merchants Fleet technologyTotalView, which enhances customer results. Prior to serving as the Merchants Fleet operational leader, Adam was an industry-leading General Manager for the Merchants Automotive Group retail division—the award-winning Merchants Auto pre-owned vehicle dealership. Under his leadership, Merchants Auto grew over three-fold, providing consistent, record-breaking results to the Merchants portfolio of businesses. During his tenure, Adam led all aspects of the retail business—from strategy & marketing to sales to operations & finance—and developed many innovative product offerings to Merchants Auto customers, to include Right Direction Financial Services. He has an extensive background inmanagementand the automotive industry.