Maintain Equipment
Take care of your equipment, and it will take care of you. For many businesses, the vehicles that companies rely on each day to move people, materials and equipment to and from work sites form the backbone of their operations. So maintaining the long-term reliability and performance of the company’s feet of equipment is essential in ensuring the businesses efficiency.
This might seem like a no-brainer, but when the going gets tough in the form of unexpected peaks, bad weather, slow economic conditions, one of the things that falls to the wayside first is the maintenance and warranty schedule. Even though smart fleet managers realize this, companies still find themselves sliding down this slippery slope time, and time again. The biggest companies have struggled financially with aging fleets and excessive maintenance costs.
Fleet management is a fast evolving field, a closer look at the issues and challenges fleet managers face when maximizing fleet performance can help devise a cost-effective and flexible strategy to meet the organization’s demands.
Budgets
One of the biggest challenges management often faces with their fleets is securing a budget for proper maintenance and replacement schedules of vehicles, says Trish Butcher, Vice-President of Glen Ridge Fleet, a fleet-management consulting firm in North America. Glen Ridge Fleet offers consulting and fleet management services for small to medium sized public and private sector fleets, helping them improve their fleet management and operating practices.
“Because in a lot of organizations, fleets are part of a necessary evil that support other company departments, and therefore the importance of their role in the day-to-day operations to support the organization are often misunderstood. During financial downturns, financial managers, they think that cutting fleet budgets is an easy way to reduce expenses,” Dennis McCraw, President of Glen Ridge Fleet says. He adds that right sizing fleets during slow economic times is understandable, but extending fleet replacement schedules and cutting preventive maintenance will always come back to haunt you. Companies might save money in the short term, but these actions always result in higher costs down the road.
“When business owners ask for advice on how they can lower their fleet costs, I always tell them to use the K.I.S. (Keep It Simple) fleet management method and know their fleet replacement cycle. Unless you have absolute control and insight into your vehicle maintenance program, vehicles should be replaced when the annual operating costs start to become more than the annual capital cost. I always make sure to point out, that includes your fuel costs,” he says. By keeping it simple, managers can keep operating budgets in line and reduce the chances of being crushed by an unmanageable fleet replacement situation. Companies that put off vehicle replacements too long, run the real risk of their budgets being crushed by increased maintenance costs.
“Financial Managers need to look at all options when it comes to financing fleets,” Dennis says. Leasing, financing and cash purchases all have their advantages and disadvantages. It’s up to financial managers to determine the right fit for their particular company.”
Can You Keep Up?
“The industry is in a rapid phase of ever-changing technology and products,” says Dennis, 30 year veteran of the fleet industry “I used to attend as many service and maintenance seminars as I could to stay on top of the latest trends.” Dennis recommends purchasing similar vehicles, when possible to limit variations, in technology, service procedures and parts.
“Finding properly trained and experienced equipment mechanics always remains a challenge,” says Dennis. Glen Ridge Fleet handles most repairs through a handful of trusted vendors, “If I’m not confident they can handle the problem, it goes back to the dealer for repair. That doesn’t mean, every tech at the dealer is at the same level, they’ll have varying expertise, so you want to make sure you have a strong relationship with your local dealer to understand their limitations.
“There’s several off-the-shelf fleet management software packages that can collect priceless data and flag repairs that might be covered under an existing warranty. Both of which are key ways for managers to recover and cut maintenance expenses, says Dennis.
You Say Tomato, I Say Technology
Advancements in technology related to fleet management are also occurring on shop floors and in managers’ offices. Dennis says after market diagnostic software to check the operating systems of computerized cars and trucks have come a long way. One such company leading the way disrupting the industry is Diesel Laptops, offering not only software that will read all DTCs and faults from all standard vehicle modules including body controller, engine controller, transmission controller, and more. But also the technical support team of both IT professionals and diesel diagnostic experts to back it up, and technician training as well. Later this month, Diesel Laptops will be releasing a new consolidated heavy truck parts platform, called Diesel Parts. You’ll be able to look up parts by exploded views, by measurements, by application, by cross reference and so much more.
With today’s fleet technology, you’re able to view live data, trip information, OBD readiness information and built-in HTML reporting so you’re able to do a quick check on the vehicle’s health.
With access to all this technology and data, Managers are able to spend less time recording and organizing data, and more time producing and analyzing performance reports. “Financial managers are numbers guys, they want to see the fleet management activities in hard numbers,” Dennis says.
“You can easily keep track vehicle information, warranty periods, license plate sticker renewals, insurance reports and fuel audits,” Dennis says. “Most Fleet management software incorporates GPS, which helps managers track the usage time and location of vehicles. Systems can help managers schedule more efficient routes, coordinate repairs, monitor fuel and parts usage and enable detailed analysis of productivity. Pulling live data and mileages from the vehicles ECM makes it easy for the shop manager to know when each vehicle needs service, or when to route a vehicle into a service center for repairs, before a potential breakdown.”
With the amount of information available on the Internet, it is easy to efficiently research, compare vehicle features, fuel consumption, pricing, parts availability and delivery schedules. All of this information can lead to increased efficiency and cost-effective purchasing. Today it’s possible to buy and sell vehicles nationwide without even leaving your office.
The right vehicle for the job
“Our main criteria for fleets is dependability, fuel mileage, availability of repair and maintenance parts, and driver comfort,” says Dennis. “Drivers are a hot commodity, having equipment that makes their work safer and more comfortable goes a long way in retaining drivers.”
For Glen Ridge Fleet, the purchasing begins with staff input and site audits. With that information in hand, we can go to dealers and get advice on vehicles to purchase. We also watch what other companies are using and ask what’s working for them.
“For fleets, we always recommend that managers try to stick to one manufacturer for each type of vehicle,” Dennis says. “It helps being an expert in one field, and not trying to keep up on multiple makes and models. Parts inventories and oil viscosity requirements differ from OEM to OEM and techs become more familiar with service procedures.
Outsourcing Options
Finally, organizations sometimes consider outsourcing their fleet management services as a way to combat rising costs, labor shortfalls and technological sophistication of vehicle management.
If your company requires fleet management services, contact Glen Ridge Fleet today. We offer a Total Fleet Management Program to help you and your company with the ongoing management and optimization of your fleet. Contact us for more information on how your company can benefit from outsourcing your fleet management needs.