HUMANA optimizes its textile collection with smart containers

Project fiche

Client

Humana

Type

Private

Sector

Textiles and footwear collection

Geography

Andalusia, Spain

Description

Sensorization and monitoring of textile and footwear containers used for the optimization of Humana's collection routes.

The project

CLIENT CHALLENGE

Humana Fundación Pueblo para Pueblo is the pioneer entity in Spain in terms of selective collection and sustainable management of textile waste, with the aim of achieving maximum use to make it a resource with a social purpose.

Currently, Humana has more than 5,000 containers for the collection of textiles, distributed in the autonomous communities of Andalusia, Asturias, Castilla La Mancha, Castilla y León, Catalonia, Valencian Community, Extremadura, Galicia, Madrid, Balearic Islands, Navarra and La Rioja. These containers collect approximately 18,000 tons of used clothing every year. The foundation cooperates with more than 2,000 private entities and municipalities.

As part of the commitment with its collaborators Humana pays special attention to the container collection service, always seeking to improve it in order to avoid overflows, theft and the deterioration of the textile. In this line, Humana was looking for a solution that would allow it to optimize the operation and reduce its costs, while reducing its environmental footprint.

CONTEXT

The collection managers demanded a solution that would provide real-time data to make improvement decisions applicable to the following use cases:

  • Cost optimization of the longest collection routes: some destinations that were in remote municipalities had a high cost in fuel and maintenance of the vehicles that was not compensated with the level of cargo with which they returned.
  • Disparity of the filling patterns: the scheduled routes (one every seven days) were too empty and others too full whose overflow caused discontent among the collaborators.
  • Slow filling containers: the collection frequency of some slower filling containers had to be necessarily spaced to respond to the particularities of a particular location or time (high or low season).

SOLUTION

To respond to these challenges, Humana and Wellness TechGroup launched a container sensing initiative in all delegations in Spain. Specifically in Andalusia, the object of this case, Quamtra devices were arranged so that, through timely installation in certain containers, Humana could extract operating patterns based on both historical data and real data with which to design collection plans and routes more according to the needs of each location and each moment.

This solution not only reduces the costs associated with the collection of textiles and footwear through the design of flexible and combinable routes adjusted to the loading capacity of their trucks and the days of the operators, but also ensures that Humana detects and prevents overflows, thefts and vandalism.

In addition, the solution issues a message perfectly aligned with Humana's environmental care policies by reducing the fuel consumption of its truck fleet.

RESULTS

  • Fulfillment of the commitment with the contributors.
  • Greater satisfaction of collaborators.
  • Extraction of user behavior patterns and container operation.
  • Collection routes optimized and adapted to the needs of the container.
  • Reduction of the costs associated with the recovery of textile waste.
  • Reduction of emissions during the collection activity.
  • Control over the collection and effectiveness of the operators.
  • Detection of overflows, theft, vandalism.