Developing a great fleet management strategy is complicated. That is why asking the right questions will ensure that your plan is solid and ready to serve your business goals. As fleet managers, it’s virtual to analyze the different parts of our business, including everything from cost efficiency to driver behavior. The more comprehensive the analysis, the better chance that your fleet management plan will bring the results you want to see.
Asking yourself these 6 questions is a great way to start a deeper fleet management analysis:
Let’s take a look at each one in detail…
As managers, it’s important to identify what kind of goals to pursue within your fleet management strategy. Profit will always be high on the list, as making money is the ultimate goal of any business. However, other aspects may increase or decrease in importance based on your current situation.
Targeting longer vehicle lifetimes or lower servicing costs by following preventative maintenance may be important in times of budget tightening. If profit is abundant, buying X amount of new vehicles or employing some additional drivers may be among your plans.
Most importantly, all of your fleet management strategy goals should be clearly defined and communicated to your team.
Regardless of how great the fleet is, inefficient cost control will never bring you the results you want to see. Fleet managers have to stay on track with spending, and outline clear points on exactly how they plan to do that.
Consider tracking fuel consumption and the driving habits of your team. It’s always worth analyzing your business, everything from delivery routes to driver efficiency, and pinpointing areas of loss. If you’d like to take the next step in optimizing your fleet’s efficiency, reach out to us for professional help.
While your vehicles are integral to your fleet management strategy, drivers are equally important when it comes to vehicle preservation, fuel consumption, and cost-efficiency. Drivers that often use bad driving practices like regular harsh accelerations and braking, will lead to your overall output being less than optimum. Spending lots of time idling or taking unnecessary routes are also bad driving behaviors to look out for. We have also seen employees that don’t have great habits about caring for the company assets, leading to significantly increased maintenance costs.
Assessments of individual drivers are important to successful fleet management. It’s best to do them frequently. Using software might be beneficial for this kind of analysis. After the analysis is complete, managers should communicate the results with their drivers. Turning to corrective measures for each of the issues identified will help your business move forward.
Key performance indicators (or KPIs) are benchmarks to compare your current fleet performance with. Optimally, performance should come as close to these targets as possible. But it’s normal to have discrepancies between the two. In these cases, simply address the lacking areas with appropriate fleet management measures. Once you reach a goal, you can adjust the target to aim even higher.
Deciding on KPIs takes work because targets must be investigated being set in stone. The KPIs you choose depends on your fleet management strategy goals, but there are a few important ones that you should probably consider integrating.
The safety of your drivers is always vital, as is the safety of everyone else on the road. Regardless of the size of your fleet, accidents should be minimized as much as possible. Safe driving habits come with numerous (often unexpected) benefits including:
Ways to ensure driver safety with fleet management include tracking individual driver behavior through software. It also means providing comprehensive training to new employees, and re-educating older ones if have poor driving habits. All in all, safety is the top interest of every single member of your business. Therefore it’s vital that your fleet management strategy includes adequate safety measures.
When it comes to the maintenance of your vehicles, following a preventative approach with fleet management is always a good idea. Snagging problems at their root will not only ensure the proper condition of vehicles. It will also save servicing costs down the line, and eliminate the need for vehicle downtime.
Preventative maintenance in fleet management looks like scheduling regular check-ups for all your vehicles, adhering to servicing schedules, and contacting a mechanic as soon as a problem is detected. It also means giving drivers the authority to call for roadside assistance if needed.
Mobile repair services may also be beneficial if a driver encounters a problem while on the road. Professional servicing is often the fastest way to solve a sudden roadside issue. As a result, the minor issues don’t compound into larger ones requiring downtime and high service fees.
Developing a fleet management strategy has many steps, but the first should always be asking the right questions. As fleet managers, it’s important to consider our business plan for different aspects and create a comprehensive business approach through smaller targets. Ask yourself these questions to make sure you’re well prepared for future decisions and strategic planning.
If you require heavy equipment, truck, or forklift assistance in the South Puget sound or Tacoma area. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us at Equipment Experts, Inc. We are an independently owned, family-operated repair and maintenance facility for forklifts, diesel trucks, and heavy equipment. By offering additional convenient resources, we are able to better satisfy our customers by saving them time, and money and making their lives easier.
