100% of Solví Group Company’s Refuse Compactors in Sao Paulo Will Be Equipped with Allison Automatics by End of 2021

The Group aims to have Allison transmissions featured in all of its various refuse vehicles within five years

SAO PAULO, Brazil, November 2021 – Allison Transmission, a leading designer and manufacturer of conventional and electrified vehicle propulsion solutions and the largest global manufacturer of medium- and heavy-duty fully automatic transmissions for commercial and defense vehicles, has partnered with the Solví Essencis Group for more than 25 years. Beginning in 1997 with the acquisition of 50 GMC 16,220 trucks equipped with Caterpillar engines, all featuring Allison fully automatic transmissions. Today, with more than 40 branches and affiliates throughout Brazil and abroad, the Solví Group works in the most diverse environmental services such as landfills, biogas power generation, management of industrial refuse for large companies and plants and reverse logistics of electronics and batteries, among other services.

The Solví Group operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year through its Sustainable Valorization Units (SRUs) in Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia and Peru, by collecting, treating, and correctly disposing of refuse. There are over 120 municipalities with Operational Bases where the company collects household waste from 9.7 million inhabitants and other selective waste from 4.2 million inhabitants. This means more than 3.3 million tons of household refuse is collected annually. The group also serves 2,700 commercial and industrial customers.

To meet this demand, the Solví Group has a fleet of 762 trucks, including compactor models for refuse collection and support vehicles. Of that number, 351 compactors and 42 support trucks feature Allison fully automatic transmissions.

“Since there are models that meet our applications, we will always choose automatic vehicles,” said Luiz Fernando Brandi Lopes, Solví Group Manager of Insourcing, Equipment, and Maintenance. “We intend to have a 100% automatic fleet in the next five years, including support trucks, construction trucks, dry cargo, winch units, multi-load, water trucks, tanks and cranes, among other vehicles used for numerous services.”

One of the examples of the goals that the Solví Group has been pursuing is Environmental Logistics of São Paulo S.A. (Loga), one of the group's major companies. Loga operates in the city of São Paulo, covering 1.3 million homes and establishments, collecting 2.2 million tons of refuse a year, six thousand tons of refuse daily, serving 7 million citizens. By the end of 2021, 100% of Loga's fleet of 172 refuse compactor trucks should have Allison fully automatic transmissions. Loga's operation in São Paulo achieves the highest productivity rates in the world per trip, with an average of 10 to 12 tons per trip and can reach 72 tons per day.

“I remember that as we bought the first 50 trucks, we were surprised by the productivity gains and the availability of the vehicles, even though fuel consumption was a little higher than we were used to with the manual transmission models. However, our biggest problems with manual trucks were the breakage or wear out of clutches, drive shaft, differentials, brakes, etc., resulting from the stop-and-go operations. Therefore, the benefits from the Allison automatic transmissions significantly outweighed the difference in fuel consumption,” said Lopes.

Another important finding for the company is that the productivity of trucks with fully automatic transmissions is about 15% to 20% higher than the manual transmission trucks, even taking into account variables such as traffic, route topography, and the amount of refuse collected. Moreover, the vehicle returns to the company earlier, reducing overtime.

“We are also monitoring the existing developments in the use of Allison transmissions in smaller, 6m3 compactors, construction trucks, water trucks and other types of equipment. We also follow the tests for the use of Allison 3500 series transmissions for 8 x 2 compactors with a capacity of 21m3 and up to 16 tons of legal load per trip,” said Lopes.

Among other advantages of using Allison Automatics, the Solví Group found a significant reduction in the number of accidents, using data resulting from drivers who are more rested, alert, and focused on driving the truck only. Partly, it is a consequence of the convenience of speed controls and other operating systems allowed by the transmission.

“With the introduction of electronic engines, it was possible to reduce the work rotation of compacting refuse to 950 rpm, which makes diesel consumption lower than using a manual transmission. We studied several propeller and transmission ratios combinations to achieve the engine operation in the green speed band, the band with the greatest efficiency, in 100% of the journeys with no productivity loss and greater safety. The noise level also dropped a lot, positively reflecting on the evaluation of customers and the population, with a significant drop in the number of noise complaints especially during night collection times,” said Lopes.

08 Nov, 2021

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Allison Transmission (NYSE: ALSN) is a leading designer and manufacturer of vehicle propulsion solutions for commercial and defense vehicles, the largest global manufacturer of medium- and heavy-duty fully automatic transmissions, and a leader in electrified propulsion systems that Improve the Way the World Works. Allison products are used in a wide variety of applications, including on-highway trucks (distribution, refuse, construction, fire and emergency), buses (school, transit and coach), motorhomes, off-highway vehicles and equipment (energy, mining and construction applications) and defense vehicles (tactical wheeled and tracked). Founded in 1915, the company is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. With a presence in more than 150 countries, Allison has regional headquarters in the Netherlands, China and Brazil, manufacturing facilities in the USA, Hungary and India, as well as global engineering resources, including electrification engineering centers in Indianapolis, Indiana, Auburn Hills, Michigan and London in the United Kingdom. Allison also has approximately 1,600 independent distributor and dealer locations worldwide. For more information, visit allisontransmission.com.

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SOURCE Allison Transmission Holdings Inc.