 Timely Maintenance A Key To Improving Auto Fleet Experience By Geoff Persten |
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In real estate, the key is location, location, location. In fleet management, it’s maintenance, maintenance, maintenance. Your existing motor carrier program will benefit from a properly conceived and implemented maintenance plan. Immediate benefits may include accident reduction, cost savings, and improved public opinion. The proper maintenance of your fleet is also a reflection of your firm’s philosophy and attitude. When a firm performs its own maintenance, adequate facilities and equipment must be provided as well as the training and retraining of mechanics to keep them abreast of changes in equipment and repair procedures. Vehicle Specifications - A fleet maintenance program begins with the ordering of vehicles. It is essential that a fleet purchase or lease vehicles designed for the specific tasks that they are going to be used for. Management must analyze its transportation needs to determine what is expected of individual fleet vehicles. Properly "spec’d" vehicles will reduce both initial costs as well as longer term costs associated with the maintenance of improperly utilized vehicles. Preventive Maintenance - In order for vehicles to give the best service possible, it is important that a realistic preventive maintenance (PM) program is in place. At a minimum, a PM program is designed to ensure that all vehicles are inspected, maintained, and repaired on a regular basis, beginning with the manufacturer’s suggested maintenance schedule. Preventive maintenance provides routine scheduling of tasks so that a uniform work flow can be achieved. This will result in a stabilization of the required maintenance labor pool and a subsequent reduction in overall operating costs. Preventive maintenance differs from demand and crisis maintenance in that it attempts to anticipate problems and plan for their correction before they occur, or become serious. Preventive maintenance is normally provided on a mileage or time basis and typically involves: oil and filter changes; lubrication; tightening of components; tune-ups; brake jobs; tire rotation; hose and belt replacement; and radiator maintenance. A well defined, consistently applied program will result in the lowest total maintenance cost possible. Demand Maintenance - When maintenance is performed only when the need arises, it is often referred to as demand maintenance. Some vehicle parts are replaced on a “when-failed” basis (e.g., bulbs, springs, wiper blades, gauges, seats, etc.). Other parts will be repaired or replaced when they are worn as detected by periodic inspections (e.g., tires, engines, transmissions and rear-end rebuilds, universal joints, bushings, batteries, weakened or corroded structural members, etc.) Crisis Maintenance - If preventive maintenance and demand maintenance are not standard operating procedures, the inevitable result will be crisis maintenance. Mechanics will have to be dispatched off-site, leading to additional labor costs and a disruption of scheduled work. In many instances, the failure of an item which should have been detected and replaced will result in damaging other component parts. Crisis maintenance is much costlier than preventive or demand maintenance due to the cost of the driver’s downtime, phone calls, supervisory time required to organize the necessary repair procedures (or replacement vehicle procedures), mechanic’s time traveling to and from the breakdown (or the cost of hiring an outside mechanic), etc. In addition, a firm’s reputation can be damaged because of customer dissatisfaction if delivery schedules are missed. Maintenance Records - Every good maintenance program is supported by a thorough, up-to-date recordkeeping program. Vehicle maintenance reports can be completed on a daily or opportunistic basis (i.e., filled out and turned in only when a deficiency is noted). By keeping a current copy of the report on the vehicle, the driver, mechanic, or any other interested party can ascertain all known mechanical problems at a glance. Oral reports are not recommended.
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Use the Web - This article highlights the basics of fleet maintenance issues. The World Wide Web, however, can assist you in finding manufacturer’s specifications, fleet maintenance software, and a host of useful information on this topic.
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