Ken White, RuggedCycles
Few people would argue industrial bike fleets today are somewhat of a dicey situation. With the amount of time, money and energy spent on keeping bicycles in safe and reliable working order, one would expect a smooth operation, but unfortunately the reality is starkly different. In an attempt to find some answers, we studied this extensively and have concluded there are a number of reasons and realities that have resulted in the modern industrial bike “situation.” Here are a few of the key issues.
First, the bikes that have been used for the past 40 years in the industrial world are not industrial-grade bikes. They are big box, consumer grade toys that were designed to live in a garage. They were never conceived of as legitimate, big boy, industrial-grade tools that were designed to live 24/7 in some of the harshest work environments on the planet. We’ve expected the cheap, throwaway tool to do the “Snap-on®” job.
Second, there is little to zero accountability when it comes to the use of this transportation tool called the bicycle. If something breaks or is intentionally broken, there is no way to hold the user (or abuser) accountable. Very few facilities have a reporting and/or recording process that allows for the flow of this kind of information.
Third, there is no visibility into the working condition of industrial bike fleets. With traditional, consumer-grade designs, there are a multitude of ways a bike can fail: pneumatic tires, cracked frames, rusted chains, baskets breaking off, crank arm and pedal failures. There is absolutely no way of knowing whether a bike in the plant is 50-percent, 100-percent (or 0-percent) safe to ride for any given user on any given day. This leaves companies hoping no one will be injured as a result of a bicycle failure. We all know “hope it doesn’t happen” is probably not the best safety strategy.
Industrial bikes
Finally, it’s a culture thing. We’ve been doing the same thing for so long we’ve just come to accept this is the way it is. Rows of rusty yellow bikes are just a part of the industrial landscape. But then again, what do we expect when we have basically taken the training wheels off the 1950’s newspaper bike and told decades worth of operators, “Here, ride this out to the unit. Good luck. Use the Force.”
Fortunately, modern hardware and software exist to solve this situation. Using the right metallurgy and material, bikes can be designed to be used for five to 10 years with minimal care. Radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology and cloud-based technology allows for real-time user/asset tracking and management. Combine the two and you have a reliable, robust fleet management system that can bring accountability to the user, visibility to the manager and security to assets.
So let’s just say despite the current dicey situation, there is a day coming when operators will mount their trusty bikes and get to and from their jobs safely every time, every day, all the time. With reliability, durability, accountability and visibility all working together, we’ll be able to turn a dicey situation into nostalgic history.
For more information, visit www.ruggedcycles.com or call (979) 822-BIKE [2453].
