A weighbridge without an operator: when automatic weighing pays off

In automatic weighing, the vehicle drives onto the weighbridge, the system recognises it by its number plate, records the weight and sends it on its way, with nobody sitting at the window. It pays off when there are several dozen weighings a day or more, the traffic is repetitive, the weighbridge sits on the natural route through the site and the weight is not a matter of dispute at every delivery. With only a few weighings a day, with weights settled with the customer every time and with unusual vehicles, it is better to keep an operator.

What a weighbridge needs to weigh without an operator

Unattended weighing needs:

• a number plate recognition camera at the weighbridge, because without identifying the vehicle there is nothing to assign the weight to,
• signals for the driver, meaning a light or a display with messages such as ‘drive on’, ‘reverse’, ‘drive off’; a driver with no feedback will go looking for a person anyway,
• an indicator that passes the weight to the system (how it connects is described on the supported hardware page),
• a procedure for when it fails, meaning manual mode with the operator entering the weight, because one day the weighbridge will stop responding.

When automatic weighing pays off

Automation usually pays for itself when these conditions occur together:

• there are several dozen weighings a day or more,
• the traffic is repetitive: the same carriers, the same types of load,
• the weighbridge is on the natural route through the site and nobody has to make a detour to it,
• the weight is not the basis of a commercial dispute at every delivery.

With a profile like that, the weighbridge operator mostly performs a repetitive task that can be handed over to the system, and their time goes back to the tasks the system cannot do.

When to keep a weighbridge operator

With a few weighings a day the saving is illusory, and the camera and signals have to be bought just the same as with several dozen.

When the weight is the basis for settlement with the customer at every delivery, having a person present at the weighing is sometimes a contractual requirement, or it builds the other side’s trust.

Unusual vehicles stay with the operator too. Combinations that do not fit on the weighbridge in one go, oversized loads and axle weighing call for decisions that automation will not make.

The mixed option: automation for repeat traffic, an operator for the rest

In the mixed option, TraxSystem handles known and booked vehicles by itself and passes unusual cases to the operator. Sites usually arrive at this configuration after the first few months of operation, once it is clear which traffic is repetitive and which has to be left to a person.

What automatic weighing will not do

Automation records whatever the indicator reports and will not judge whether the weight is credible. Nor will it position the vehicle on the weighbridge: a driver who stops with a wheel off the platform gets a message, but has to drive on correctly by themselves.

Automatic weighing does not replace legal verification of the weighbridge, because metrological requirements apply to the instrument. Nor does it work without number plate recognition, so a camera at the weighbridge is a prerequisite.

Questions and answers

See also: Two-stage weighing: net weight without subtracting by hand · Weighbridge tickets: what they must contain · What to do when the weighbridge stops working