Almost 15 cents per mile — that’s what maintenance and repair directly cost fleets on average, according to the American Transportation Research Institute’s latest Analysis of the Operational Cost of Trucking.
That means it’s the third-costliest vehicle-related expense behind fuel cost and the capital cost of the equipment.
Here are the top four fleet maintenance shortcomings keeping your total cost of maintenance higher than it needs to be:
- Inconsistent Pre- and Post-trip Inspections: If you still use paper forms in your pre- and post-trip inspections, you’re missing out on vital information about the condition of your assets. Trying to decipher drivers’ handwriting is a challenge and often results in errors. Pre- and post-trip inspections are the first line of defense in preventing on-road breakdowns. If you don’t have consistent and complete and electronic inspection data, you’ll be in the dark about the true health of your assets. Properly completed, electronic DVIRs that are part of a closed-loop service management process give you actionable intelligence to help prevent on-road breakdowns.
- Poor Quality Data: Failing to capture quality, real-time VMRS-coded data about an asset and its service event history and having all that information in one place can lead to an incomplete picture of the asset’s history. If you haven’t automated the capture of this data in your preventive maintenance and repair process, you’re wasting time entering it after the fact or tracking it down (if you can find it all). Without recent service history you may miss out on available warranties from a comeback or costly chronic repairs.
- Failure To Track Key Metrics: Collecting the right, quality data is only the beginning. You also must define metrics to ensure the success of your maintenance efforts. Metrics like PM currency and breakdowns between PMs are good indicators of how well your maintenance program is working. Tracking PM currency lets you know with certainty that assets — no matter where they’re located — are up-to-date with their scheduled preventive maintenance inspections. Knowing how often and what’s causing breakdowns between PMs allows you to see which drivers and technicians may need tutorials on proper inspection procedures. Having VMRS-coded expenses and reasons for repair gives you the information to make timely decisions on which assets to retire, create service campaigns and identify other high-risk areas.
- Poor Communication: Ongoing communication throughout the maintenance process is critical, especially if an outside service provider handles your maintenance. Knowing in real-time the status of an asset that’s in for service helps reduce days out of service because you’ll know exactly when the work will be complete. That means assets won’t end up sitting on the service provider’s lot. Your dispatch and logistics team will also be more confident about scheduling the asset back into service. Also, having good documentation and approval processes will eliminate overpayments, estimate-invoice mismatches, and other productivity and resource impacts of manual processes.
Take the Next Step
Review your maintenance procedures to see if you’ve fallen victim to any of these profitability killers. We know you work hard to run an efficient and effective maintenance program, but hidden factors could be undermining your fleet’s profitability. Tell us what your biggest fleet service and repair management challenges and priorities are for 2015 and we will send you a findings report with actionable insights. Take the survey now.
Michael Riemer is the Vice President of Products and Channel Marketing for Decisiv and a recognized commercial fleet industry thought leader. Michael has authored dozens of articles covering fleet maintenance, regulatory compliance, utilization and availability. He’s also a frequently requested speaker and commentator in online and print interviews.
