Snowplowing Costs

To the editor of the Sudbury Star

I have read several articles now on the recent costs of snowplowing. The question isn't just how much service is being provided but also how cost effectively it is being done.

I am a firm believer in Statistical Process Control. The premise is that, if you want to improve a process, first you have to understand it. To understand it, you have to measure it. Gathering key data is critical.

If staff has been doing this, they should be able to provide data correlations to Council like charts of daily snowfalls compared to daily variable costs and maintenance costs compared to hours of equipment utilization. This would serve as a framework for explaining both what has happened and how they are working to make it better. Quoting total costs without this kind of information doesn't provide any insight into the underlying factors, and makes it difficult to assess how things are really going.

SPC has been used in business for quite some time. If staff are using it, the data should be readily available. If they aren't, then I have to wonder why not?