Intelligent Spreading can preserve salt supplies
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A GPS SALT spreading system, which uses 30% less salt when treating icy roads, has been launched by ECON, the Ripon, North Yorkshire-based griller bodybuilder and supplier.
The Intelligent Spreading System uses GPS to plot a route and adjust salt distribution and spreading patterns in accordance with the width, angle, and type of road. The method, tested over the past two years with Wiltshire County Council. has now been rolled out to various local authorities across the country.
Andrew Lupton, director of ECON, explains: -Monitoring drivers, and the contractor, so that the work is being (properly) done is really where the benefits of Intelligent Spreading come in.
They say the mile closest to the depot is the best gritted, because the driver doesn't want to take off the load. We can track the discharge rate. so councils would know if the driver is opening the discharge gate [when returning to the depot]." he says.
So far, ECON has fitted 63 vehicles with the system.