Sears, Roebuck and Company
THE PROBLEM:
Large retailers like Sears generate huge volumes of waste and recyclable materials. Typically, these materials are disposed of in compactors, whose containers are picked up by the contracted waste hauler. This process can be a costly one, especially in metropolitan areas.
While it is always a good idea to competitively shop hauler pricing, that alone was not enough to bring down waste removal costs to Sears price goal. It was found that their maintenance personnel were using pressure gauges to try to make educated guesses on when to call the hauler. Wanting to avoid trash overflows, their people were regularly calling the hauler long before they were full. This meant that the company was paying for unnecessary pickups. Seeing this, their hauler provided the solution by recommending Compactor Plus monitors.
COMPACTOR PLUS SOLUTION:
After reviewing other options, Sears decided to test the Compactor Plus on a compactor at a Texas store. The system uses patented technology to watch the compactor level and notify the hauler when the container is full. That first store was soon followed by eleven others, to ensure a real test of what results could be expected. Initial results at the Texas store showed a 50% reduction in required pickups without any overflows or other problems! The biggest issue was making sure that employees let the monitor do its work and didn't manually call in for an early pickup! As more stores were added, cost reductions ranged from 20 to 60%. An unforeseen bonus was that the hauler's service improved, because there were no late or emergency pickup calls.
Based on the results of the first dozen stores, Sears has installed the system at over 400 stores nationwide. On average, this has yielded a 30% reduction in waste hauling costs, well above the initial target of 10%!
CUSTOMER BENEFITS:
- Every store experienced a cost reduction
- The busier the store, the greater the benefit and the shorter the ROI.
- Excellent management reporting with much better hauler accountability
- Stores that had been on a scheduled pickup plan experienced the greatest savings
- Automatically adjusts to seasonal schedules and help to avoid any type of higher cost of rush, weekend or holiday pickups.
ABOUT THE CUSTOMER:
Sears, Roebuck and Co. is a leading broadline retailer providing merchandise and related services through more than 2,400 Sears-branded and affiliated stores in the United States and Canada.