Fleet solutions like management software and optimization platforms are powerful tools for tracking and monitoring your assets — from vehicles and heavy equipment down to hand tools and parts inventory. Fleet solutions provide detailed reporting on key metrics, so you can track your fleet’s performance and make adjustments for improvement where necessary.
Benefits of Fleet Solutions
Managing construction and heavy fleet assets is a time-consuming job. While many fleets are still tracking data with pen and paper or on spreadsheets, more and more are turning to digital solutions to help control costs and improve operational efficiencies.
Fleet solutions help ease the fleet manager’s burden through workflow automation, real-time issue alerts, streamlined communication and filterable reports.
More robust solutions, like a fleet optimization platform, offer the added benefit of integrating with other technologies, such as telematics, fuel cards and business solutions, to provide data consolidation across your entire operation.
It also aggregates collected data into easy-to-read reports you can send to stakeholders so everyone can quickly see the metrics they need to influence decisions.
Fleet managers have turned to fleet solutions to surface such key fleet metrics as vehicle and equipment downtime, return on investment (ROI), fleet utilization and total fleet cost.
Remote Equipment Management
Asset management is a significant component of fleet management. Fleet solutions allow users to remotely track and monitor vehicles, equipment and tools in real-time — whether they’re on the road, at the jobsite or sitting in the yard — so managers can quickly take action on issues as they arise. Monitor asset assignments for increased accountability, and easily access asset statuses to determine what’s active, what’s in the shop and what’s waiting on service.
Fleet solutions with mobile capabilities provide employees with an efficient way to communicate asset-related issues to management anytime, anywhere. Additionally, drivers, operators and field teams can use the mobile app to complete and submit asset inspections. Inspections are customizable, and parameters can be set for requiring photos or comments on specific items, or when an item fails. Failed inspection items automatically alert managers in real time so the service workflow can begin quickly, ultimately leading to reduced downtime and risks on the jobsite. In a recent survey, 77% of fleets reported their solution helped them resolve asset issues faster, with 62% reporting less unplanned downtime.
Fleet solutions also allow fleets to track asset usage data remotely. Having current and historical asset usage data provides fleets insights that can strengthen preventive maintenance (PM), help with billing and scheduling for specific job types and improve overall fleet utilization. When integrated with telematics, fleet solutions also offer real-time diagnostic trouble code (DTC) fault alerts, allowing you to quickly tackle issues.
Maintenance, Safety & Compliance
Procuring vehicles and heavy equipment is an expensive endeavor. Taking a proactive stance on maintenance can extend asset life cycles and ensure fleets get the maximum ROI for assets. Properly filled-out inspections and real-time communication ease a lot of the maintenance burdens around scheduling service, procuring parts and planning for downtime. Fleet solutions provide an efficient way for fleets to create comprehensive PM schedules based on original equipment manufacturer specifications and usage intervals, or they can be tailored to specific equipment based on insights uncovered through service histories. Fleet solutions also automate the service workflow to ensure maintenance compliance. Managers can set service reminders to alert technicians and asset operators of service so nothing gets missed.
Digital work orders expedite service for fleets with in-house shops. Managers and technicians — depending on user permissions — can create detailed work orders documenting labor and parts cost, as well as estimated versus actual service duration. Technicians can clock on and off a job right in the work order on the mobile app and communicate within the work order to ensure all issues are tackled. In-house inventory counts are automatically updated whenever a part is added to a work order, and users can set low-stock thresholds to initiate reorder reminders. For fleets that outsource maintenance and repairs, some fleet solutions provide a third-party shop automation feature that automatically collects service data and improves the approval process.
Proper vehicle and equipment maintenance doesn’t just improve ROI, it improves asset safety on the road and in the field. Poorly maintained assets can lead to extended downtime and costly workplace injuries. Managing maintenance with a fleet solution allows fleets to correct small issues before they become big problems. In the event of a vehicle or equipment accident, fleets can pull all service-related data and inspections for the asset involved to prove maintenance compliance and that the accident wasn’t caused by a preventable mechanical failure.
Additionally, fleets can use a fleet solution’s mobile app to instantly access any needed asset documentation, including registration and insurance.
When integrated with telematics or a driver management system, fleet solutions provide actionable data around driver behavior. Track and monitor such problematic behaviors as speeding and distracted driving, as well as harsh braking, acceleration and turning. This data can be used to source recurring mechanical issues due to driver behavior and highlight which drivers may need to be coached or trained to reduce certain behaviors.
Value Add for Fleets
Most fleets are familiar with the necessity of tracking fleet-related data as it pertains to regulatory compliance, but data tracking offers benefits beyond that. The more data fleets gather, the more insights they can gain into expense per asset, high-maintenance items, asset use and location, and more. Fleets can use this data to see how much each asset is costing them and determine optimal replacement cycles. Additionally, they can use historical data to determine which fleet operating costs are inflated and where actual versus budgeted dollars are being spent.
To get the best understanding of your fleet operation, it’s important to determine total cost of ownership (TCO) for assets. Because heavy equipment is remarkably expensive, it’s vital to manage costs, risks and depreciation to maximize asset lifespan and overall profitability. Fleet solutions automatically calculate fleet assets’ TCO, eliminating potential errors and reducing time and frustration associated with manual calculation.
From achieving better on-time maintenance compliance and increasing ROI through utilization data to reducing costs, fleets using digital solutions are seeing value in the technology.