Maximizing ROI with Eptura
$10M inventory optimized: ACE Recycling & Disposal boosts accuracy 50%
ACE Recycling & Disposal has supercharged its operations through their strategic partnership with Eptura, boosting inventory accuracy from 45% to 95% and finding savings of more than $200,000. With centralized data, they now manage a $10 million asset portfolio and process over 5,000 work orders, 1,800 invoices, and 2,000 preventive maintenance tasks each month with enhanced efficiency and a wholistic approach.
Customer profile
ACE Recycling & Disposal: The largest independent waste hauler in the western U.S.
Industry
Recycling & waste management
Customers serviced weekly1M+
LocationHeadquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah with 18 locations across the western United States
ACE Recycling & Disposal, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, is the largest independent recycling and disposal company in the western United States, with 18 facilities, including 10 transfer stations and three transfer stations for waste sorting prior to disposal, across multiple states. Founded in 1980 with a single garbage truck and pen-and-paper documentation, ACE now hauls over 2,300 tons of waste and recyclable materials a day and serves more than 1 million residential, commercial, and industrial clients weekly.
ACE manages 550 assets and counting, from geothermal-powered facilities housing natural gas compressors, 10,000-gallon diesel fuel tanks, and specialized equipment – like commercial trash compactors and sorters that separate thousands of tons of recyclables and organic matter – to highly specialized vehicles. ACE’s waste trucks have up to nine individual computers to monitor factors like vibration and water intrusion. Their operations include over 5,000 tires on the ground daily and over $10 million in inventory.
ACE conducts the majority of maintenance using in-house teams, including full truck repair and refurbishment such as electrical, fabrication, special engine and transmission projects. ACE’s fleet comprises advanced diesel, CNG, and electric trucks, and their technicians have become specialists in each vehicle type, often resolving unique failure points before the original equipment manufacturer has even identified them.
The challenge
Overcoming manual processes and impossible data tracking
1
Manual processes
Paper-based processes and manual tracking of inventory, work orders, PMs, and invoices
2
Inventory accuracy
Struggled maintaining accurate inventory data, with accuracy averaging only 30-45%
3
Data accessibility
Impossible to track information or pull reports need for data-driven decisions.
ACE Recycling & Disposal faced challenges with manual, paper-based systems, leading to discrepancies and errors in tracking inventory, work orders, and PMs. Inventory accuracy fluctuated between 30% and 45%, making future-planning and maintaining their 550 assets difficult.
Generating comprehensive and timely reports was another major issue. Compiling accurate reports could take months, if they were even possible, resulting in critical decisions being based on outdated or incomplete data. This diverted valuable resources away from core activities.
The company’s $10 million inventory and constant flow of materials, including 5,000 tires on the ground daily, added to the complexity. Without a centralized digital system, tracking high-value assets like trucks was tedious and error-prone. Decisions to refurbish or replace these assets, which cost up to $500,000, were often based on guesswork, inflating operational costs and financial risks.
Faced with these challenges, ACE Recycling & Disposal made the decision to partner with Eptura to streamline their operations and enable data-driven decision-making.
The way Eptura has made us more efficient is that we no longer have to chase down information. It’s all in one spot. We can ask it for something very specific and pull that information out within minutes. In the manual days, that wasn’t possible.
"The solution
Tackling data management challenges and operational inefficiencies
ACE’s alliance with Eptura marked a significant turning point, transforming their manual, paper-based processes into a streamlined, digital operation, and equipping the team with powerful tools like the BI report. Here are some key benefits:
- Centralized inventory management: Eptura’s platform enables real-time tracking of inventory and work orders, reducing discrepancies and errors and simplifying tracking and planning for their $10M in inventory assets.
- Efficient data access and reporting: Comprehensive reports are now generated quickly, providing historical data for infomred, data-driven decisions and freeing up time and resources.
- Asset tracking and cost analysis: Eptura’s asset management features have revolutionized how ACE tracks the cost and condition of high-value assets. Maintenance & Facilities Manager Ashley Rios explains, “We rely on Eptura heavily for information on asset costs, age, and whether to refurbish or replace. With assets costing up to half a million dollars, Eptura helps us track and make these decisions efficiently.”
- Time and resource savings: The efficiency gains from using Eptura’s platform are substantial. Rios highlights one example, “We were able to take our historical data from Eptura and run theoretical savings. Over a three-year period, it’s going to save roughly $206,000. On paper, that would take three weeks to a month. With Eptura, it took three hours.”
Eptura solution
Eptura Asset
BI reports
Asset profiles
Fleet maintenance
One of the problems we’ve been able to ease with Eptura is the way we track and manage inventories. It has allowed us to keep our inventories on a lower end, and it helps immensely with cost savings; we don’t have too much, and we don’t run out.
"The Results
Achieving operational efficiency and driving ROI with Eptura
Financial and operational wins
- 50% increase in accuracy on $10M in inventory, from 45-95%
- 80% cost reduction by refurbishing and extending the life of assets by 3-5 years.
- Secured $2M in grant funding by pulling nearly 8,000 pages of vehicle data from Eptura
- $206K+ in savings identified over 3 years by switching transmission fluid and filters alone
- Reduced asset downtime, which can cost business $5,000+ an hour
- 5,000 work orders and 1,800+ invoices processed monthly, and vendor costs are optimized
Enhanced maintenance and reporting
- 550 assets tracked, and counting
- 5 hours daily work eliminated for service writer team with operator companion vehicle condition reports
- 2,000 PMs managed monthly
- 40+ KPIs tracked and real-time data captured for data-driven decisions
- Warranty payouts from OEMs received by using Eptura to identify new points of equipment failure
Since partnering with Eptura, ACE has revolutionized its operations, adopting a strategic, data-driven, wholistic approach. Eptura’s insights have uncovered significant potential cost savings, including $206,000 in just one instance, and inventory accuracy has improved from 30-45% to 95% through barcoded inventory, bin locations, and cycle counts, enhancing efficiency across 18 locations. ACE now processes and closes over 5,000 work orders, manages 1,800 invoices and 2,000 PMs monthly, and optimizes vendor costs, reducing administrative overhead and enhancing financial health.
ACE also leveraged Eptura to secure a grant by pulling nearly 8,000 pages of data, which was crucial in securing over $2 million in grant money- a task that would have been nearly impossible to accomplish manually. Jason Clegg, Fleet Trainer & Special Projects manager at ACE, emphasizes, “Eptura made this possible, literally putting $2 million in our bank account from the data extrapolation.”
ACE monitors over 40 KPIs each month, including vendor costs, inventory levels, and tire costs, allowing for proactive cost management and operational optimization. DVIR inspections are now automated, and maintenance workers use mobile devices to track and update work orders in real-time. With over 2,000 service schedules managed, ACE has standardized and optimized its maintenance processes, leading to increased uptime and reduced downtime.
The partnership with Eptura has transformed ACE’s operational landscape, setting a new benchmark for efficiency and reliability in the waste disposal industry and solidifying their position as a leader in sustainable and innovative practices.
With Eptura, it’s standardized across the board. It’s uniform. And that makes us the most efficient ever…we were 45% accurate with inventory before, but with our latest cycle counts, we’re hitting up to 95% accuracy.
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