The logistics industry supports inbound and outbound logistics literally carries the weight of the world’s economy, withcompanies operating in the transport and logistics industry moving goods from place to place as quickly, efficiently and as cost-effectively as possible without compromising on safety.

That’s where onboard weighing solutions play an enormous role.

Transporting heavy loads

Overloaded vehicles not only cause damage to infrastructure, premature wear and tear on the vehicle and excess fuel consumption; they also pose a significant danger to the safety of other road users. To mitigate these risks, there are many strict laws and regulations in place aimed at ensuring the safe and responsible transport of heavy loads – and breaches can result in serious penalties. Legislation includes Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL), Chain of Responsibility (CoR) laws and SOLAS (Safety of Lives at Sea).

Payload control

Cost management is a key element of the logistics industry. Operators not only want to keep their own costs down, there is also a knock-on effect on the whole transport chain right to the end user if costs aren’t carefully controlled.

Onboard weighing solutions ensure that trucks are within legal limits and they help logistics companies to be legally compliant and as safe and efficient as possible. These heavy duty yet precise instruments are fitted onto the vehicle and employ a range of weight measurement technologies u to provide accurate and reliable information about gross weight and weight distribution and/or alert either alert operators that they are overloaded.

A big advantage of these onboard weighing solutions is that because they’re fitted to the truck, there’s no need for the vehicle to go to an external weighing station, such as a weighbridge- which may slow down the transportation process. Trucks can be loaded to their optimum weight, with instant information at the driver’s fingertips. What’s more, these instruments provide highly accurate information about axle group weights, total combination weights and payload. This enables operators to have confidence that they’re loading their vehicles properly the first time, maximising their payloads, reducing downtime and optimising their productivity.

Technological advances have further extended the capabilities of these instruments. The advent of wireless digital communications has made the weighing, tracking and billing of freight a much faster, more accurate and traceable process. The units can be fully integrated with smart software which can be customised to a customer’s requirements – and this seamless connection and versatile data management functionality saves time, improves productivity and has positive knock-on effects right along the logistics chain.

Onboard truck scales can be fitted to just about any type of truck, and there are several different systems available which have been developed specifically to suit certain types of vehicle including air-suspension vehicles, bulk tippers, air and spring-suspension vehicles, waste collection vehicles, light commercial vehicles and rigid vehicles.

It’s important that the the correct onboard weighing system is selected for a specific application. For xample, if your operation is involved in bulk off-road operations such as quarrying or feed delivery, you would need a system that is specifically engineered for high accuracy in rugged extreme environments.

The logistics, transport and freight industries undoubtedly play a vitalrole in moving a country’s economy forward. However, it is crucial that operators manage their freight safely and effectively, and to do this, they need to measure it and quantify it appropriately. That’s where onboard weighing solutions come in.

If you’d like to learn more about the advantages of onboard weighing, talk to the experts at AccuOnboard, Australia’s most experienced and professional weighing company. They can provide world-class equipment that covers all vehicle weighing needs from end-to-end, including overloading prevention. To get in touch, please call 1300 367 861 to find out which of their eight branches is closest to you or visit www.accuonboard.com.au to see their full range of high quality onboard weighing solutions.