Fleet Maintenance Management
Fresh Freight
It's our mission to help your business succeed. We deliver your food products when you need them - fresh and on time.
Managing the variables of fleet maintenance is a hefty endeavor. Warranties, repairs, inspections, cost control, dormancy, downtime vs. uptime, equipment turnover, and much more add to the complexity of fleet maintenance management. The aim of this short read is to offer a handful of helpful tools to make maintenance management more fluid.
1.)?????????????????Know Your Fleet
It is critical to understand your fleets equipment statuses. Having a thorough understanding of critical information will help build a strong foundation for thorough maintenance management. Important information to be cognizant of includes:
??Manufacturer maintenance intervals
o??There is generally an abundance of manufacturer information available to assist with navigating proper maintenance on equipment. Items such as the oil change service interval, differential fluid replacement, guidance on replacing filter(s), the proper setting(s) for optimal performance [think tire pressure or engine speed]. Having an understanding and archive of this information will help your team develop strong maintenance programs.
??Manufacturer and extended warranty continuity requirements
o??Warranty on new equipment (often in excess of $160,000 per unit for a new sleeper-cab tractor) is a factor to take very seriously. Ensuring that a warranty is not voided can save a fleet team thousands of dollars in headaches. For example, if a unit is not serviced within the interval specified or driver abuse is detected – the manufacturer can void warranty and refuse to repair often extremely costly equipment issues. Trust that when a manufacturer is challenged with a warrantied engine overhaul ($20,000 – $40,000) they will investigate your maintenance records thoroughly. That is one check you do not want to have to cut.
??Trust but verify
o??Self-checking of equipment is often much simpler when fleets are smaller. Equipment checks are relatively easy, but at scale your fleet team needs to be able to ensure standards of services are being met by your vendors. Find a pathway to at a minimum spot check services provided by different vendors. From tires to dealer services – do not become overconfident (or negligent in monitoring) in your providers. This may lead to frequent unnecessary up-sells and less than ideal work quality if not actively managed.
?
2.)?????????????????Monitor & Track Your Fleet
Having solid processes in place to monitor and track fleet maintenance needs will help increase the predictability of upcoming needs. While not all events can be foreseen – a stable flow of equipment data will help increase foresight.
??Event logging
o??Have a process in place to monitor maintenance and equipment damage events. At a basic level this will allow your team to find patterns for equipment with reoccurring maintenance issues. With this knowledge you will more easily be able to decide when your equipment upkeep cost outweighs service benefits, and it may be time to upgrade. Tracking driver events will allow your fleet driver managers to identify drivers with patterns of potential abuse with the aim to coach colleagues and reduce such patterns.
??Software alerts & data tracking
o??Modern software is vital to reaching the next level of fleet maintenance. Many modern trucks can be easily linked with software that tracks data points through the truck’s engine control module. ELD software, such as Fresh Freight’s service provider Samsara, will even provide significant insight into the truck’s performance. Information such as tracking service intervals down to the presence mile on the odometer, engine speed, battery voltage, DEF soot load, oil pressure, and more. With modern technology you are able to always keep a finger on the pulse of your equipment.
??KPI development and improvement
o??By utilizing the data flow above your fleet team can develop, monitor, and improve metrics that impact your operations bottom line. Here are some critical maintenance related metrics to consider:
??????????????
§?Fuel and DEF [Diesel exhaust fluid] costs
§?Equipment downtime
§?Unscheduled downtime
§?Average time between unscheduled downtime
§?Fuel mileage efficiency
§?Idling efficiency
§?Over-accelerations and hard braking
§?Preventative maintenance performed on-time
§?Vendor service and cost comparison
?
3.) Document, Document, Document
?
Falling back to our previous mentions of the importance of understanding warranty requirements and having reliable data collection methods – having a solid process to record, organize, and store such data is valuable for regular fleet reviews.
??Servicing documentation
o??Having easy streamlined access to equipment files will make asset management exponentially more efficient. (Think: attaching a file from an intranet drive document folder straight to an e-mail versus finding a paper document to scan for forwarding) This information will inevitably be requested or be necessary for a fleet review at some point in time. Invest a short amount of time upfront to create solid information storage processes rather than burn significantly more down the road tracking un-organized files.
??Actual warranty tracking
o??Keep records of all warranties and extended warranty periods. Make it a practice to have an inspection or service completed prior to the warranty period passing. It may surprise how many of these ‘warranty inspections’ lead to money saved on needed repairs.
?
??Eliminate the gaps
o??Use the information! The data gathered will help your fleet team identify areas for improvement. Some items that information gathered has helped our fleet identify over time include:
?
§?High tire turnover due to poorly aligned equipment
§??Customers with high chance of losing a mudflap [perhaps driver must back onto an elevated curb]
§?Drivers with habits that lead to poor fuel efficiency
·???????Bonus: Helping reduce environmental impact by reducing idling time
§?Cost control by managing required maintenance intervals and scheduling them at preferred vendors.
·???????Fresh Freight also utilizes in house a mobile-maintenance unit to further control maintenance costs.
§?Identifying optimal equipment turnover periods
§?Anything your analytic mind can apply the data to!
?
In conclusion,
1.)???It is necessary for fleet success to understand the make-up of the fleet equipment and the requirements for proper maintenance.
2.)???Monitoring and tracking fleet performance to pinpoint efficiency improvements, cost reduction opportunity, and maintenance continuity will pay back the time investment tenfold.
3.)???Documenting maintenance records, maintenance related costs, and ensuring warranty continuity will impact the bottom line positively – if the data is refined and applied.