Uganda National Roads Authority Visits Griffith Elder

In June 2011, a delegation from the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) visited the UK for a tour of the Griffith Elder operations. The visiting members of UNRA were: Mr Ibrahim Kasiita, Mr Seninde Stephen and Mr Kizito S Henry. They were joined by Ms Peace Agnes of Armpass Technical Services Ltd, the Griffith Elder representative in Uganda. This visit was a chance for the Ugandan delegates to observe and understand the weighbridges which are currently being used on Ugandan roads, with a view to increasing the number of roadside weighing stations in Uganda.

After a welcome reception and dinner hosted by Mrs Younghee Elder, GE Company Secretary and wife of Managing Director, David Elder, the delegates were taken on a tour of the GE facility in Bury St Edmunds. Closed room training sessions were held in the GE offices, where the delegates were instructed in weighbridge installation, calibration and maintenance of the weighbridge systems. In addition, specialist detailed information and practical demonstrations of the software and database structure were given by the GE software design team. This training session gave the UNRA delegates the chance to ask questions and understand the benefits of the GE weighbridge system. They were able to appreciate the high speed of the operation, the security of the data, and the possibility for interlinking information between different weighing stations. With the technical information under their belt, the visitors were given the chance to see some weighbridges in action. Two visits were arranged.

The first was to an operational commercial unit in Kent, where they were able to see the actual operation of the system. Here they could talk to personnel on site about how the system operates and how it is useful to their business.

The second visit was to a highway weigh station where a Single Axle weighbridge is used for truck overload detection. The level concrete at each side of the weighbridge, which forms the roadway on and off the platform, was noted as key to the accuracy of the system.

As a result of these meetings, GE gained valuable customer feedback in the development of their products. In particular, it was agreed that future developments of the GE Ton-Tel™ software for overload detection would include images and logos on the ticket templates and also different currency options. In addition, it would allow the provision of readable access to the database tables, and for the database to be installed on a separate machine at the individual weighbridge stations.

These new features will be available on the next issue of the Ton-Tel™ Vehicle Overload Software, due to be released in early 2013. On the 4th July 2011 the delegates departed for London.