In general terms, fleet management is
the process of maximizing the return on investment companies make in their
equipment. In practical terms, this means getting as much production as
possible from the equipment, at the lowest per hour cost, over the longest
period of time, while obtaining the highest sales value at end of life. In
order to do this, an owner has to monitor and manage the company assets through
modern business techniques and technology.
The first step in proper fleet
management is to obtain the vehicles in the most cost conscious way. Contract
hire is one way to make vehicle acquisitions.
Contract hire
is a type of vehicle lease.
This type of lease allows you to hire a vehicle on a long-term basis with
payments made for every month of use. The amounts that you are charged will be
based on the amount of driving you do using the vehicle, which is measured
using the mileage and value of the vehicle. In addition to mileage and the van's
value, other factors that will influence your rental fee include the length of
the rental period and the resultant depreciation at the end of use. Contract
hire is one of the most popular ways business pays for its equipment.
Vehicle
tracking:
Just as it sounds, vehicle tracking is the process of knowing where a piece of
equipment is at a specific time and date, or where it has been over a period of
time. Functionally this means answering questions as diverse as “are they where
they can be the most productive?” and “where did they go today?”
Theft
mitigation:
Closely related to traditional vehicle tracking, theft mitigation allows a
construction company to know if a piece of equipment is being stolen. Data
gathered for theft mitigation includes when a piece of equipment is started
outside of normal working hours, when a piece of equipment is moved (with or
without engine start), when the equipment is being transported and where the
equipment is at any time.
Productivity: Managing productivity
means being able to understand when and how much a piece of equipment is
running, idling, working, moving, etc. This information should be specific to
the tasks the piece of equipment is performing as well the project on which it
is working. For example, a backhoe might be working but not moving about the
job. The system needs to account for this.
Maintenance: Knowing how much a piece
of equipment has been running, idling and working allows a construction company
to know an equipment’s hour meter reading very accurately and in real-time. In
addition, sensors on the equipment can identify when and measure how long or
how far a piece of equipment is being run in reverse, how many lifts or dumps
have been made and a host of other activities. This knowledge makes it possible
to accurately employ a very effective preventive maintenance program.
Operator behavior: While you can’t directly measure operator
behavior, you can infer it from other data collected while the operator is
using a monitored piece of equipment. Knowing when a piece of equipment is
started in the morning, how much time the equipment runs during the day how
much time the equipment idles during the day, how much time the equipment moves
during the day and how much it worked can be interpreted to get a reasonable
view as to operator behavior. This is particularly powerful when management has
the ability to look back over months of data and identify trends.
Increased efficiencies and increased profits are
the main goals of modern fleet
management. The majority of these increases can be obtained
through the implementation of new fleet management methods or the enhancement
of existing fleet management processes.
