Part 3 : “Re-Imagining
the Box” as the Central Idiom to a Re-Configurational and
Cross-Configurational Highly Adaptive Emergency Services System.
Starting with True
Strategic Thinking -
Just as the armed
forces undertake Strategic Planning exercises to ascertain the inputs
and likely outcomes within 'theatres' of combat, and so the specific
types of equipment and vehicles required, so the leaders and
tacticians of the UK's core Emergency Services should theoretically
be positioned to understand - with perhaps even greater clarity –
their own operational remits and operational contexts.
[NB The Economist
magazine/newspaper recently published an article in which it
illustrated how some American and European Emergency Services had
used what was in essence 'parallel learning' from the Armed Forces
when dealing with Terrorist related casualty incidents].
This said, it must also
be recognised that the armed forces typically have innately
simplistic hi-level goals and hi-level methods for achieving them,
whether defence, attack, peace-keeping or humanitarian.
In comparison the
Emergency Services face a broader set of 'on call' challenges for
those on the ground, so although needing to deal with a far narrower
'operational theatre' have many more 'call variables' when actually
in the field, even with standard procedures in place.
Thus perhaps even more
so given the nation's immense reliance upon the three services, the
nation would gain from the Police, Ambulance and Fire-Rescue services
undertaking similar 'deep-level' thinking.
Wherein all facets of
vehicle use and solutions provision would be extensively
re-considered, with the guiding principles of efficiency and
effectiveness promoting fresh thinking for exploratory alternatives.
The prime alternative
being the major task a complete re-design of the UK's inter-connected
ES system upon a highly rationalised, modular-tech based,
logistics-hub basis.
Ordinarily it is
perceived that higher effectiveness can only be obtained through
higher public spending, but the challenge of improved effectiveness
can be matched by the spur of fresh thinking and solutions
innovation.
Seen time and again in
UK industry when facing severe problems, it was new and original
thinking about the problem faced, and the solutions sought that
altered the trend-path of history. One of the greatest being the
original 1959 Austin Mini, designed 'from scratch' with Issigonis's
innate modular thinking, from technological, user and production
standpoints.
Hence the car was
effectively designed as a 'traction head' (transverse mounted engine,
gearbox and half-shafts to wheels on subframe, itself attached to
various 'back-end' body types). But moreover it had unrivalled
internal space for driver and passengers for its size, because of
innovative engine and suspension/wheel packaging, and critically was
engineered to meet the requirement for speedy body welding and paint;
hence the external seams for easy access by welders and a central
dash binnacle through which the vehicle body 'paint-line skewer'
passed.
As Issigonis proved
with aplomb, it often lateral thinking – not simply a 'good money
after bad' – will very likely generate new cost-savings and
productivity improvements.
[NB As part of the
Western World's necessary eco-based structural re-invention, fresh
thinking is needed more than ever, and the edicts of Edward de Bono
ripe for reconsideration].
Given the typically
expensive leasing, and through-life running costs of Emergency
Service vehicle fleets, a major re-think about vehicle types and
indeed the whole system (from both geographic or service category
perspectives) is needed.
[NB to this end the
recently rebuffed integration of London's City Police into the
Metropolitan Police should be reconsidered, since much could no doubt
be learned by both Forces, the City service assisting the Met with
anti-attack and the Met assisting the City with more proficient cost
amortisation. With the City Police's iconic red vehicles now serving
most obviously, but descretely, as diplomatic protection, much of the former 'Red Dragon' identity
of has diminished].
The Task Vehicle
Paradox -
To state the obvious,
different vehicle types undertake variously different roles, each
typically chosen and adapted to either balance the cost v performance
equation, or bias to one side of that equation, depending upon budget
and context.
Hence Beat
Officers in one region may have to try and bundle a suspect into the back of a small cheaply leased Hyundai hatchback,
hand-cuffed to a 'make-do' hand-strap in the roof, with no
decent restraint or separation; whilst a Traffic Officer in the same constabulary may have had
the comparative 'tool efficiency' of a high-powered Volvo T5 estate
of yesteryear, or today a similar Sport or M series BMW or Audi RS.
Thus we see that whilst
some dedicated or highly adapted vehicles enable police personnel in
their roles, others effectively impede. Inevitably not all vehicle
solutions are perfect, but it appears that (as with road-side
cameras) since the 1990s there has been budget provision for those
vehicles which could be termed 'money earners' through driving fines,
whilst budget constraints have been obvious in the everyday
traditional urban policing roles.
It should therefore be
remembered that “the better the tool, the better the job” for all
concerned.
Vehicle Types -
Land-based vehicles
have evolved in relation to general automotive engineering – as
will be simply discussed hereafter, with specific reference to the
opportunity for vans.
Perhaps most prolific
has been the use of aircraft by the Police and Ambulance services.
Helicopters notably able to cover large distances quickly, and
respectively able to provide eye-in-the-sky surveillance (general or
call) and to speedily reach and recover injured persons from
otherwise problematic off-road and remote locations.
At the more
conventional ground level, the last decade has seen the introduction
of more localised quick response vehicles, notably so on two wheels
given their urban speed advantage with both motorcycles and bicycles.
Two wheels long been deployed by the police, though in and out of
favour at different times; for both intentionally slow pedal-based
high visibility, friendly “Dixon of Dock Green” type 'community
policing', with an increased use of powerful motorcycles to meet
quick response situations and high-speed on-highway pursuits.
Similarly, yet more so,
the use of specific car types has evolved to meet various role
requirements. From the standard 'Patrol (or UK 'Panda') car used for
the everyday, to the high-speed, increased equipment needs of traffic
units, the quick-response needs of armed 'weapons-deployment 'units,
through to the needs of 'search and sniff' dog units typically for
drugs and other contraband.
However it may be the
case that effectively operating as specific role mobile accommodation
devices - varying in volume and 'fitted-out' for one of a myriad of
tasks - it appears likely that it is the van that offers the
greatest possible progress toward advancing the “CapEx Cost vs
Service Quality” equation.
The Van -
From 'Paddy Wagon' to
C4I Comms Centre -
For decades from the
1920s to the 1970s the standard police van remained virtually
unchanged. The once simple trusty 'black maria' or 'paddy wagon'
itself little more than a side-bench, grille-divided panel van fitted
with by the 1960s a service radio; used for the housing and
transportation of both “cops and robbers” as the situation
required, whether that be crowd enforcement or bank villains.
Yet with the growth and
specialisation of police tasks the once simple van has evolved into a
wide suite of very much task-tailored van types, so requiring a range
of volumetric body-sizes, security devices, and a broad spectrum of
function specific internal fittings.
Today in operation
police vans span everything from needs of old-style 'paddy wagon'
(though updated) through to highly technical “C4I” (Command,
Control, Communication, Computers and Intelligence) centres operating
in-situ.
The following list
provides a general insight into the models used by London's
Metropolitan Police:
(layman's description).
(Standard Body,
Low-Level Adaption - Constabulary Marked)
1. Personnel Van -
standard crew-cab (std
or mid top) – police personnel only
2. Protected Personnel
Van -
mid or hi-top crew cab
– for possibly violent situations.
(mid or high top, given
long hours in van and need to periodically stand)
3. 'Duty Van' –
half-window, std or mid
top - police personnel and arrest suspects (rear section cell)
4. 'Dog Section' Van –
half-window, std or mid
tope – akin to std crew-cab (rear dog kennel)
5. Equipment Van -
standard panel van –
equipment only
6. 'Commercial Unit' -
standard panel van or
half-window – for roadside repair of police vehicles
7. 'Camera Van' -
standard panel or crew
cab – traffic safety use (camera hidden or visible)
(Bespoke Body, High
Adaption – Constabulary Marked
8 Equipment Van (large)
-
'Luton' body, large
volume - for equipment
9. 'Observation Van'
(large) –
'Luton' body, large
volume – for crowd observation
10.'Command Unit' -
'Luton' body (with few
windows) – C4I unit for in-situ reporting
11.'Secure Transport' –
Strong-box 'Luton' body
(with security windows) – high-risk prisoners
This illustrates the
diversity of van types currently in use within the UK
Although effectively
task dedicated, with a requirement to maintain or better
functionality, the crucial point is that to not view these vehicles
as pre-designated complete vehicle types.
In reality, each van
consists of its general systems: body, trim, chassis, powertrain,
electrical, plus its dedicated systems specific fittings.
The body much modified
to suit the desired application; whether that be a standard bodied
van straight off the production line, with requisite low-level
adaption, or a wholly dedicated bespoke body mated to an ex-factory
standard 'chassis-cab' using the consummately professional but also
relatively expensive services of an authorised vehicle conversion
specialist.
[NB as the term
denotes, “chassis cab” being a normal front-end of van or truck,
but with the rearward portion of the chassis left open for fitment of
specific body type: eg large “Luton” box, frame rails with
drop-curtains, cage, 'drop-side' bed, lift-bed etc].
It is here in the
'Modularisation' of the rear body section that fundamental gains
could be achieved.
“Function, Not Form”
-
Of course, the larger
and heavier the vehicle becomes because of the size and weight of
those fittings the greater impact it has upon the performance of a
vehicle, especially important if a quick response unit such as an
ambulance.
[Eg. in the 1980s the
London Ambulance Service actually had Sherpa vans fitted with Rover
V8 engines to address the much increased vehicle mass, so increasing
fuel costs].
Nonetheless, ultimately
in use terms, 'the van' simply consists of the forward located
driving area (the cab), with the major portion of its dimensions
related to the task related functionality – whatever that may be.
Beyond this prime
spacial and task utility, the ideals of product-service quality, good
ergonomics for driver and passengers, and invariably (as exemplified
historically) bias toward either good on-road performance (engine and
chassis) for quick response, or toward markedly improved fuel economy
for general use, so as to obtain this advantage in the reduced
running costs of the fleet.
[NB it must be noted
that this once invariable trade-off between performance and fuel
economy is now being reduced with the use of petrol/diesel electric
hybrid power-trains; an electric motor for fast acceleration,
sustained with internal combustion engine, set out either in 'series'
or 'parallel'].
Thus, in this new-age
of propulsion possibilities, it is high time that Emergency Service
Vans be not viewed from their historical perspective – which itself
stemmed from sadly inevitable ad hoc evolution – but in a new light
recognising the fundamental intersect of chassis/powertrain and body;
and the vital roles each must undertake for both broad society in the
ecological sense and the individual(s) (personnel and public) when
the contextual need arises.
Such a new perspective
would allow for a revolution in new thinking about the very construct
of the 'box-van', its internal and external reconfigurability and
critically the opportunity to achieve better regional and nationwide
cross-fleet inter-operability and so marked efficiencies.
These to be gained from
flexibility improvement of the overall logistics system –
Standardisation as its philosophy and Re-Configurability as its
technical approach.
By viewing best
practice in other operational fields lessons may be learned and
'ideology transfer' prompting an interpreted 'technical transfer' of
those high efficiency solutions.
To Follow -
A few 'best practice'
examples in which such a philosophy and approach has revolutionised
the cost benefit equation.
