Category: Maintenance Management

Fleet Maintenance Can Extend the Life of Your Vehicles

Fleet Maintenance Can Extend the Life of Your Vehicles

Posted on | by Alexis | Leave a Comment on Fleet Maintenance Can Extend the Life of Your Vehicles

Fleet vehicles are critical assets and represent a massive investment to your organization. For these reasons, it’s essential to make sure they’re taken care of in the short and long-term with proper fleet maintenance to keep operations running smoothly. 

In this article, we’ll discuss some easy tips to stay on top of fleet maintenance and keep your vehicles on the road where they belong.

Prioritize Preventative Fleet Maintenance

Preventative fleet maintenance is key to the proper care of any vehicle. By staying on top of it, you can ensure that your fleet always has regular support and avoids future problems. 

The easiest way to ensure preventative maintenance is to create a set schedule that is respected by your entire fleet maintenance team. 

By keeping all of your vehicles’ maintenance timelines on record, it becomes much easier to oversee and gauge operational needs, repair costs and vehicle health over the long term.

One of the most common approaches is digitizing maintenance reports through fleet management software, such as ZenduMaintenance. 

This digital solution allows you to run your entire fleet maintenance operation more effectively and efficiently, with tools such as:

  • Work order management
  • Preventative maintenance scheduling
  • Inventory and parts management
  • Purchasing
  • Custom reporting
  • Maintenance cost accounting

These tools make it possible to document and monitor preventative maintenance in a centralized calendar, making the process of ensuring vehicle health easier and more accessible.  

Know Your Fleet

Understanding the vehicles you manage can offer major insight into their specific needs, making the process of fleet maintenance much easier. 

One of the easiest ways to access these insights is to take the time to go through your owner’s manuals. While they may seem tedious, they’re the key to fully understanding and properly caring for every make, model and machine you operate. 

Owner’s manuals contain lots of valuable information you can incorporate into your fleet maintenance strategy, including the recommended fluids, parts and schedules for each system you operate.

A combination of fleet management software and managed services can provide a complete 360-degree view of your fleet, including vehicle health. Managed services connect you with industry-leading consultants to help you analyze your fleet’s performance and help you optimize operations. 

With the right platform in place, you can access vehicle data, manuals and more in one convenient place, making it simpler than ever to get the information you need without having to hunt it down. Such intuitive guidance and support makes getting to know your fleet a breeze. 

Operate Your Fleet Responsibly

The way vehicles are driven and handled on a regular basis plays a large role in how long they ultimately last on the road. 

From giving engines enough time to warm up before a trip to handling starts and stops smoothly, there are a number of ways drivers can help extend the life of your vehicles.

Teaching these best practices to your team and monitoring their implementation should be a key area of focus – not only will it help you keep an eye on how vehicles are being driven, but it can also be a valuable coaching opportunity for your staff. 

Operational effectiveness and efficiency should always go hand-in-hand, and by placing an emphasis on both, you can help your team members understand how their behaviour impacts the health of your fleet.

Proper fleet maintenance includes checking tires regularly.

Check Your Tires

Tires are not only responsible for keeping things moving, they’re also the first  line of defence against the impact of potholes, curbs and other obstacles. Left unchecked, problematic tires can contribute to a number of problems such as alignment issues and decreased fuel economy.

For these reasons, it’s crucial to check them regularly for wear, damage and proper inflation – not only for their own longevity but for the lifespan of your vehicles.

Regular tire maintenance can help prevent and mitigate many of the issues that can arise from neglect and keep your vehicles on the road longer.

Keep Things Clean

Dirt, grime and buildup on vehicles isn’t just unsightly – it can also contribute to their overall decline. 

When operators fail to keep their trucks clean on a consistent basis, they open the door for long-term wear and tear. This is especially true when it comes to the undercarriage, where grime can quickly lead to corrosion if left unchecked.

Washing vehicles should be considered part of your regular fleet maintenance. When done correctly and on schedule, it can actually save you money by preventing bigger issues from arising down the road. 

Regardless of your business’ size, the health of your fleet should always be top priority. By taking the time to implement these basic tips, you can help keep your vehicles on the road and operating at full capacity for a long time.

 

 

fleet maintenance, gofleet, zenduma, maintenance, predictive, repair

How CMMS Software Can Ensure Proper Fleet Maintenance

Posted on | by Burhanuddin | Leave a Comment on How CMMS Software Can Ensure Proper Fleet Maintenance

How CMMS Software Can Ensure Proper Fleet Maintenance

Fleet managers often overlook maintenance procedures as well as maintenance solutions because of the challenges that come with introducing a new software solution to the fleet. Managers need to research vendors, go through sales processes, justify the cost and then train their team. What fleet managers don’t realize is the potential of Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) solutions and how they can prevent issues that would otherwise create great challenges for fleets to deal with.  

 

Mistakes That Can Be Avoided by Leveraging Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) Solutions

Automation

Remaining on top of fleet maintenance tasks is challenging, independent of the number of mobile assets. Fleet managers using outdated processes to manage vehicle maintenance spend a long amount of time manually entering data and trying to get in touch with mechanics.

Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) software automates fleet maintenance tasks to maximize efficiency. Fleet managers can put together maintenance workflows to eliminate manual data entry, improve communication, reduce downtime and control expenses. 

Automating fleet maintenance saves countless hours by streamlining maintenance tasks. Whether a fleet manages their fleet maintenance in house or outsources it to a third party, CMMS allows you to automate tasks to improve fleet uptime. 

 

Expenses and Reporting

Computerized maintenance management software is most important for its ability to aggregate all fleet data and provide hard numbers for analysis and improvement. Measuring the success of your fleet maintenance program is imperative, as vehicle maintenance is the largest ongoing cost for fleets. 

This type of software provides valuable insight into the maintenance program by providing a service history from repairs completed to detailed cost reporting. Fleet managers can create and share reports regarding key data that includes: 

  • Service line items and cost summaries
  • Lifetime service costs by asset
  • Downtime Reporting
  • Scheduled vs unscheduled maintenance
  • Most common service activities across a fleet
  • Vehicle operation costs
  • Total fleet operating cost by month

Software solutions like this provides a deep look at a fleet’s performance and automatically calculate a fleet’s true total cost of ownership (TCO). By automating fleet maintenance processes, fleet managers have the time to analyze the reports and determine the best strategies to improve operations.  

 

Integrations

Fleets utilize a GPS and telematics system to track vehicle location or use fuel cards for ease of use and fuel perks. Pairing these tools with CMMS software, like ZenduMaintenance, or otherwise known as ZenduMA, can boost fleet maintenance procedures. It will allow fleets to capture all fleet data in one place and get a complete view of a fleet’s overall health. 

Using computerized maintenance management system software will allow the capturing of odometer readings, making it easier to keep up with maintenance tasks. The telematics tools being used can also send diagnostic trouble codes and engineer fault alerts to the CMMS software, so the fleet will be alerted immediately. 

 

Mobility

The problems with fleet maintenance on paper and spreadsheets is the lack of visibility and communication across a fleet. Whereas, using a mobile app will help managers track and manage their fleet independent of the location. It allows operators to conduct mobile inspections in the field to instantly notify fleet managers of any issues. Using a CMMS software with a mobile app, users can view and access real time maintenance data including:

  • Vehicle specs
  • Service and renewal reminders
  • Inspection results (DVIR)
  • Work orders
  • Service history
  • Engine fault alerts
  • Parts and inventory levels
  • Repair requests
  • Vehicle recall notices
  • Maintenance costs

 

Ease of Use

CMMS software like ZenduMA is one that is intuitive and simple to use. ZenduMaintenance uses a dashboard for users to view all fleet maintenance data at a glance, as well as easy to use features like streamline work order creation and performing vehicle inspections through clicks and swipes. 

To begin using a computerized maintenance management system, fleets should first bulk upload the Vehicle Identification Numbers (VIN) into a VIN decoder. Almost immediately, over 90 vehicle specifications are instantly populated into CMMS for creating service schedules based on Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) recommendations. 

 

How ZenduMaintenance Is A Great CMMS Option To Be Considered

The biggest challenge with proper maintenance to take place is the extensive amount of work required by the fleets, which is why ZenduMaintenance is a great option to be considered. It provides fleets with work order management, preventive maintenance scheduling, inventory, and parts management, purchasing, custom reporting and maintenance cost accounting tools. 

ZenduMA is great when it comes to preventing downtime, faster repairs, increasing fleet visibility, and providing real time vehicle diagnostics. When discussing the diagnostics provided, it automatically captures odometer readings, engine hours, voltage, temperature, fuel consumption, power takeoff (PTO) and tire pressure, directly from the vehicle engine control unit (ECM).

It specializes in creating custom list views and reports with the advanced filtering system to improve your equipment reliability, streamline processes and reduce costs. Good maintenance means good business, and ZenduMA will ensure your fleet follows proper maintenance procedures and improve performance while saving on costs by solving problems before they worsen. 

Implementing proper maintenance procedures is hard because maintenance procedures often tend to get overlooked, but the story is different with CMMS software. Implementing a strong maintenance management program is quite the challenge – especially given how complex the logistics industry has become, but the ROI is worth it. To learn more, GoFleet is readily available to help you deal with your pain points. Contact us today.

maintenance tracking, cmms, Computer Maintenance Management Systems, fleet

How CMMS Stands Up Against Old Fashion Maintenance Tracking Methods

Posted on | by Victoria Gole | Leave a Comment on How CMMS Stands Up Against Old Fashion Maintenance Tracking Methods

How CMMS Stands Up Against Old Fashion Maintenance Tracking Methods

Fleets are trying to gain more profits and they try to do so by all means, especially when it comes to increasing efficiency. But efficiency is also impacted by the level of proper maintenance taking place. If improper maintenance takes place, efficiency is reduced and costs increase.

Even though improper maintenance only has negative impacts, why do fleets not ensure proper maintenance takes place? It is because having a proper maintenance procedure requires a great amount of effort and with human errors happening, several mistakes occur making it impractical. 

However, with technology evolving, there are software and solutions that are able to automate this whole process, so fleets can easily keep up with the work while being assured that there are no mistakes. 


Pen and Paper vs Computer Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) – The Showdown

Proper maintenance leads to less downtime, resulting in lower costs, better labour efficiency, reduced backlog and greater asset reliability. Switching from pen and paper to maintenance software is one way to achieve these benefits. But taking a deep dive into comparing both methods will give fleets a better look at what steps they should take moving forward.

 

1. Filling Work Orders 

With pen and paper, a technician, operator or manager fills out a paperwork order form by hand, whether it’s for preventive maintenance or an unplanned breakdown. The work order is then delivered to the technician in an emergency. If a work order comes from outside the maintenance team, they use the software’s work request portal to submit a request and it then gets forwarded to the maintenance team via the CMMS. 

With a maintenance software in place, work orders for unplanned repairs are done remotely through mobile CMMS software. In cases of preventive maintenance, work orders are triggered automatically through maintenance software. Using CMMS, the time taken to create work orders and submitting them is reduced and it helps to set mandatory fields on work request forms to prevent any back and forth in clarifying the request. By reducing the process by 5-10 minutes for each work order, the fleet can gain hundreds of hours of extra production every year. 

 

2. Assigning Work Orders

With outdated tracking methods, either the technician needs to be found if the work order is an emergency or the technician regularly checks the office, sorts through work orders and figures out which ones to prioritize.

With maintenance software, technicians are assigned work orders and alerted to their duties through their mobile devices. Technicians can see which work orders are outstanding, their priority levels and their status. Clearly with a digital platform, there is less time between work orders being submitted and a technician being alerted. Being able to see the status of a work order also allows technicians to check or repair assets that are most important to production. 

 

3. Finding Data For The Work Order

With non-digital reporting, technicians make several visits to the asset, stock room, office and colleagues to assess the task, check the availability of parts, access manuals and discuss the asset’s repair history. They can then lay out a strategy for working on the asset. 

With maintenance software, the technician can review the work order, work history, root cause analysis and standard failure codes of the asset through the mobile interface. Using the available data, the technician then lays out a strategy for working on the asset. Multiple trips around the facility, missing parts and lengthy searches for information could add up to hours of extra downtime, if not days, without using maintenance software. Such a solution groups all asset information in one, remote accessible place. 

 

4. Working On The Work Order

With pen and paper, the technician troubleshoots the problem using information from manuals, standard operating procedure (SOPs), conversations with colleagues and/or memory. The technician can complete PMs from memory or from a written checklist. They then visit the office again to sign off on the work order. 

With maintenance software, the technician repairs the problem using root cause analysis, standard failure codes and/or corresponding checklists and manuals, all accessible through the digital platform. Predictive maintenance is completed using predetermined checklists. The work order is then signed and closed in the software and the users are notified. CMMS clearly wins when it comes to addressing unplanned downtime. It gives technicians a much clearer path to a solution than pen and paper troubleshooting and results in less downtime.

 

5. Work Order Aftermath

When CMMS is overlooking for maintenance tracking, predictive maintenance tasks are put into a paper calendar based on a review of SOPs, production schedules and going through past schedules and asset history to determine how often equipment should be maintained. 

With maintenance software, reports are created based on asset history and SOPs. This data is then used to determine preventive maintenance triggers, which are then added to the software’s calendar. Production schedules are also added to the calendar, and this gives maintenance software a clear advantage over pen and paper methods. 


CMMS Software – Why ZenduMaintenance Should Be Considered

With all the benefits that come with a CMMS solution, fleets who haven’t already implemented a solution to address maintenance procedures should start looking into. A CMMS solution to start looking at is ZenduMaintenance or otherwise referred to as ZenduMA. ZenduMA makes maintenance management easy and lowers repair costs. 

Using ZenduMA helps reduce equipment failure by reducing downtime and increasing equipment availability to boost production, quality, safety and cost efficiency. It also boosts productivity by managing all the workers more effectively and helps fleets in rapidly finding parts, tools and information they need to save time and get the job done right the first time. 

This CMMS solution provides technicians with detailed work instructions created from standard job lists. It manages suppliers and requests quotes quickly and easily. It also manages all the MRO inventory with the ability to quickly add missing technical data, pricing and supplier information to assets and supplies records. 

ZenduMaintenance will help fleets follow the best practices in maintenance, improve performance in organizations and save money by solving problems before they get worse. With tools to help recognize failure codes and track part and vehicle inventory, ZenduMA will streamline a fleet’s entire maintenance process. 

Pen and paper methods have become an old school method and there are several better alternatives to it that raise standards in efficiency and productivity such as CMMS software. Fleets need to start moving forward with the changes in technology as it will help them in the long run and keep them competitive. To learn more about how your fleet can start making use of ZenduMA, contact us now.

preventative maintenance, repair, vehicle, upkeep, gofleet

Addressing Vehicle Lifespan: A Preventive Maintenance Guide For Fleets

Posted on | by Victoria Gole | Leave a Comment on Addressing Vehicle Lifespan: A Preventive Maintenance Guide For Fleets

Addressing Vehicle Lifespan – A Preventive Maintenance Guide

With rising populations, technologies and more, fleets are taking their game to the next level to meet never-ending demands. Fleets are taking this opportunity and starting to look at improving their fleet in every way that will result in short term or instant benefits. However, this rush of improving businesses makes it easy to look over the solutions and practices that help fleets in the long run, specifically preventive maintenance.

Missing out on preventive maintenance will result in major problems in the long run. All the small checks and fixes that take place in a preventive maintenance check keep the vehicle in tip top condition and actually improves the overall lifespan of the vehicle. Avoiding preventive maintenance will negatively affect the vehicle’s lifespan, and here are some of the common maintenance practices that would cause issues if neglected.

    • Neglecting Regular Cleaning

One would think that a car’s appearance does not affect its operation and life. Dirt, dust and grime can bring about wear and tear on your vehicle fast. Keeping your vehicles clean allows you to make the right assessment on the condition of your vehicle. This way, you can quickly spot damages to the interior or exterior of the vehicle and repair them promptly.

Prolonged intervals of cleaning can harden dirt and require more abrasive cleaning, which can damage the paint. In many cases, it can even cause rust formation.

    • Avoiding Inspection

Just like humans routinely visit the doctor to remain healthy, vehicles also need to be inspected regularly. At least once in 4 to 6 months, a qualified car mechanic should thoroughly inspect the vehicle. The inspection covers various aspects, including the condition of the car parts and is typically done at a service center. Furthermore, the vehicle’s oil, fluid levels and tire pressure should be personally checked by the fleet every few weeks. 

    • Ignoring Symptoms

It is not usual to hear rattles or squeaks when driving. Although they may sound like minor issues, they could also indicate something serious, and it would be best to get it checked out at an auto repair shop. The earlier a problem is detected, the easier and cheaper is its solution. Ignoring warning lights on the vehicle’s dashboard or the engine lights can prove to be lethal. Car maintenance involves many steps and light indicators will help to point problems out.  

    • Neglecting Wear And Tear

Automakers build cars to last many years. Time and normal usage, however, will take their toll on a vehicle. A worn part can affect several other components, so a fleet has to be keen on which parts need immediate attention. For instance, worn-out threads on your tires can strain the suspension system of your vehicle and other elements involved in braking. Promptly addressing this issue can prevent major problems from occurring. 

Common preventive maintenance tasks for trucks and fleets must be customized to fit the individual vehicle and its usage pattern. Preventative maintenance checklists allow fleet managers to schedule maintenance tasks in advance. Strong preventative maintenance programs ensure teams complete work orders without spending extra time, labor and money.

Preventative maintenance is essential for any fleet company to succeed. 

 

Example Story

It’s 9:45 am on Wednesday and one of the drivers calls saying his vehicle has been making a loud, squealing noise recently and now he’s on the side of the road waiting for a tow truck. He calls again 90 minutes later with news that the technician at the go-to maintenance shop is fully booked but will try to squeeze his vehicle in, but as time passes, it’s not looked at until 3 pm.

By 4 pm, the problems found include a damaged alternator because of a busted driver belt. The costs totaled $700 for the tow truck and repair, along with an entire day of deliveries postponed while the driver sat at the shop. 

In this scenario, many parts of this situation could have been avoided. To begin with, the driver could have alerted the fleet about the squealing noise. As a result, the damaged drive belt could have been fixed for $75 when the oil was changed with other scheduled preventive maintenance and the alternator would not have needed to be replaced.

 

The Average Vehicle Lifespan

Back in the day, the average age for class 4-8 vehicles was 12.5 years in 2007 and now it stands near 14.7 years. The subset of class 6 vehicles is averaging 20.9 years, which takes the highest position amongst vehicles. Whereas the average class 5 is just 11.9 years, which takes the youngest position amongst vehicles. This information is important to keep in mind for fleets who have several vehicles because they need to be ready to expect when a vehicle will break down. However, it would be much easier for a fleet to continue their operations if they have a maintenance system to rely on. 

 

ZenduMA – Keeping Preventive Maintenance In Check

Diagnostics and maintenance management has the power to make and break jobs because fleet managers are measured on their fleet’s productivity. Downtime increases business costs and if left unchecked, can cost a fleet manager their job. This is why solutions like ZenduMA can be beneficial for fleet management. It generates work orders automatically when a vehicle fault or regularly scheduled maintenance is detected. This saves money and reduces downtime. 

With day-to-day data entry to long term trend analysis, ZenduMA delivers powerful functionality without compromising on a simple UI. Companies around the globe use ZenduMA to control maintenance costs, proactively avoid vehicle breakdowns, vastly extend asset life span, increase vehicles availability and most importantly improve the safety of their fleets.

Preventive truck maintenance can be the difference between replacing a $10 part in your shop and paying hundreds more to tow a broken-down tractor to another shop to pay someone else to replace the same part. Preventive maintenance can save fleets money thanks to technology advances that let you know of potential problems before they become costly problems. Capitalizing on volumes of data, predictive maintenance algorithms keep tractors and trailers rolling smoothly between regularly scheduled shop visits and avoid pending part and system failures.

With so much on the line, it’s important for fleets to always keep preventative maintenance top of mind. Choosing to ignore the continuous upkeep of your vehicles could cost you more financially in the long run not only in terms of repairs, but productivity if breakdowns halt work. Contact our team today to learn how you can easily implement a maintenance strategy and why ZenduMaintenance can help.

fleet maintenance, repair, vehicle ,truck, breakdown, cmms

Don’t Let Poor Fleet Maintenance Slow Down Your Businesses

Posted on | by Victoria Gole | Leave a Comment on Don’t Let Poor Fleet Maintenance Slow Down Your Businesses

Keeping your fleet in good shape all-year-round can help you maximize productivity and avoid unexpected vehicle breakdowns or service delays. Meaning vehicle maintenance is an essential branch of fleet management. 

The core idea of a maintenance program is identifying and addressing “small problems” through routine inspections and repairs before they turn into big ones. Preventive maintenance and corrective maintenance are some of the most common maintenance practices adopted by most businesses, but we want to elevate the existing maintenance strategy to a whole new level. Doing this will deliver a superior and streamlined experience to fleet maintenance teams. 

 

Why Do Businesses Need To Step Up On Fleet Maintenance Management?

Failing to run a proper fleet maintenance program could be fatal to vehicle based businesses. Poor maintenance could lead to frequent vehicle breakdowns, safety concerns, service disruptions, and poor customer satisfaction. Unreliable service could discourage your valuable customers and clients from engaging with your business again in the future. 

You don’t want to lose a big deal or valuable partners because of trying to save a little on fleet maintenance. That’s why it’s more important than ever to invest in a reliable and intelligent Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) to protect the corporations’ long-term viability and financial sustainability.

 

Improve Vehicle Uptime

Downtime can be crippling to businesses, with costs quickly adding up the longer a vehicle is off the road. Even a single vehicle that goes out of service can have an immeasurable impact on the entire fleet operations. Fleet managers have to redistribute tasks and mobilize additional human or asset resources to recover productivity losses. Therefore, it’s necessary to create a comprehensive maintenance plan for the fleet to ensure vehicles remain operational and stay on the road as long as possible. 

An unexpected vehicle breakdown could also delay shipments and services. Customer delivery may be delayed, and important deadlines may be missed. Time-sensitive, temperature-sensitive, and perishable goods are also at higher risk of quality degradation, leading to customers rejecting the load. It will be a major loss for the business, and it will disappoint customers who didn’t get their shipment in time. If this situation happens often, customers might lose trust and confidence in businesses, and they may switch to other service couriers. 

Businesses cannot afford to experience frequent vehicle breakdowns or lengthy vehicle downtime. That’s why businesses need to adopt preventive maintenance strategies to reduce the likelihood of equipment failures. CMMS is a reliable maintenance tool supporting the monitoring and tracking of vehicle health status and reminding technicians to conduct routine part inspections periodically. Only through frequent inspections and proactive monitoring can the technicians identify the faulty units early and address the issues before it happens. 

 

Reduce Operational And Maintenance Costs 

Fleet managers might be hesitant about the initial investment cost of the CMMS. They might be unsure or uncertain whether the investment can be justified. But if you look at the fact that many small problems can quickly grow into more serious and costly maintenance issues if the problem isn’t detected and addressed early, you might want to rethink your decisions. 

Additionally, just consider how much additional money businesses need to pay if a small vehicle malfunction, such as a flat tire, leads to collisions and roadway accidents. It will not only threaten employees’ and drivers’ health and safety but also result in companies paying huge fines, insurance premiums, or legal issues. As the winter season is fast approaching, it is now more important than ever to ensure vehicles are in the best shape all the time to embrace harsh weather conditions. 

Adopting a CMMS can help businesses save money in multiple aspects of the operations, both directly and indirectly. For example, oil changes are among the most important vehicle maintenance routines that every driver or technician must perform. Most vehicles need an oil change every 3,000 to 5,000 miles to keep the engine running efficiently at peak performance and remove particles and sludges accumulated in the filter and tube. However, it will be quite difficult for humans to keep track of the oil change routines and intervals for all the fleet vehicles, especially if the fleet size is relatively large. This is where the CMMS system truly shines as it accurately logs each vehicle’s mileage since the last oil change and reminds maintenance technicians when it’s the time to conduct the oil change. Routine changes and getting the right kinds of oil can improve vehicles’ gas mileage by 1-2%. That doesn’t sound like much of an improvement, but if your businesses own a large fleet, every small saving will accumulate and become quite significant over a long period. 

 

Enhance Drivers’ Safety And Improve Drivers’ And Customers’ Satisfaction

Drivers’ safety is at the centre of everything we do. Vehicle malfunctions such as flat tires and faulty brakes could lead to serious consequences threatening drivers and other road users’ safety. Most businesses are unaware of an accident’s true costs as they only prepare for the direct costs of an accident. Some of the most common hidden costs include loss of labours, downtime of injured workers, maintenance costs for the damaged assets, cost of hiring and training a replacement worker, cost of any fines related to the accidents, and many more. These hidden costs can add up quickly and become a huge financial burden for any business. However, if the business owns a CMMS that can alert fleet managers about the vehicle issues beforehand, all those extra spendings can be avoided. 

Poorly maintained vehicles will also affect drivers’ morale and productivity. Drivers will be offended if the vehicle assigned to them is not properly maintained because it will create hindrances in their work. There is nothing more frustrating than a vehicle unexpectedly breaking down during a route and drivers are forced to wait for roadside assistance. This could result in a significant disruption to the service workflow, as it will delay the onboard shipment, and customers might not receive the deliveries in time.

 

Unique Advantages Of The CMMS

By implementing CMMS, businesses can achieve higher efficiency and control over the assets. The highlight of the CMMS is bringing a high level of automation and digitalization to the entire maintenance process. From wirelessly capturing data from vehicles’ onboard sensors to automatically creating and assigning work orders when issues have been recorded, CMMS is the ultimate tool in designing a well-managed preventive maintenance program. 

An intelligent dashboard helps fleet managers utilize assets more efficiently and easily schedule planned maintenance. It can also streamline the entire vehicle parts and components purchasing procedures, as the system can track parts inventory and help you directly order parts to replace faulty units right within the dashboard. 

The smart calendar feature displays all the maintenance events and progress in a simple and intuitive user interface, so fleet managers can stay on top of all the maintenance events and not miss any critical alerts. The best feature of the CMMS is that the system can generate over 100 types of highly customizable maintenance reports detailing all the fleet and maintenance data. This is especially useful and valuable to the fleet manager as they can gain real-world insights into fleet performance, identify risk factors, and take appropriate actions to mitigate risks. This could also simplify the company’s internal reporting procedures as the management team could also access these maintenance reports and assess the fleet’s overall status. To provide even more flexibility to businesses, the CMMS is compatible with a wide range of third-party Application Programming Interface (API), allowing users to customize the system to fit their needs.

To conclude, dedicated fleet maintenance software is an essential piece of equipment for any businesses that are looking to improve fleet efficiency and make real cost savings over the long run. If your business wants to get on board and is looking for innovative ideas and solutions that can bring your fleet operations to the next level, work with one of our industry-specific specialists to see how we can create a maintenance software system like ZenduMaintenance personalized just for your business. 

Part 2: Common Useful Reports – Maintenance & Fuel Reports

Posted on | by Jimmy Song | Leave a Comment on Part 2: Common Useful Reports – Maintenance & Fuel Reports

One of our biggest client requests is creating reports. Reports are a useful fleet management tool because they provide snapshots for decision making. For instance, fleet managers use maintenance & fuel reports to minimize fleet downtime and fleet fuel expenses.

Maintenance & Fuel Reports

Two of the biggest fleet cost drivers are maintenance and fuel. Maintenance cost includes repair and replacement costs, as well as lost productivity. Fuel costs, on the other hand, are predictable operational costs.

Some of the key maintenance & fuel reports include Engine Light Warnings, Fuel Trends, and Idling.

Engine Light Warning

Engine lights are a vehicle’s first indicator for trouble. For instance, engine lights might indicate that a mechanic needs to inspect a vehicle’s engine or air flow. If left unattended, vehicles can encounter major issues and stop working.

However, the issue with many fleets is that some drivers do not report issues. Fleet vehicles ultimately belong to the business and unfortunately, some drivers ignore engine light warnings because it isn’t their personal vehicle.

engine light warning

A useful report in this case is % Days with Engine Light On. This report measures engine light warnings during a given time period. Therefore, even when drivers are not reporting issues, mechanics will still know which vehicles need further checkup.

Fuel Last 3 Months

Another budget controlling initiative outside of controlling maintenance expenses is reducing fuel expense. Fleet managers are responsible for optimizing fuel costs. As a result, many fleet managers plan and implement strategies such as no-idling rules, driver contests, or fuel replacement.

All of those ideas are great. Nonetheless, the key question for many fleet managers and their performance evaluations is, “are my ideas working?”. This is why fleet managers measure and monitor trend reports. These reports are useful because they paint a long term picture of a fleet.

fleet fuel reports

For instance, here is a fuel report for the last 3 months. Overall, the fleet is experiencing lower fuel costs. However, over the past month, there was a slight increase in fuel expense. This is useful information for the fleet manager. Is there an increase because there is more business? Or, should the policies be re-evaluated?

Idling

Speaking of fuel policies, one of the most common and effective ideas is reducing idling. Unfortunately for many fleets, idling is a major concern. For instance, on my way to work, I noticed at least 3 idling vehicles.

In response, a lot of fleet managers create and monitor a zero idling policy. Idling Reports are a great tool for this objective. To illustrate, view the Idling Report above. Fleet managers can use this report to identify idling patterns and follow up with driver coaching.

Enjoyed our blog on maintenance & fuel reports? Check back with us for our next report set – driver safety!

Fleet Maintenance Management: GPS & Engine Diagnostics Data

Posted on | by Jimmy Song

Enterprise fleet maintenance management can either make or break a fleet manager’s career. Why?

Great maintenance makes fleet managers look like superstars because the fleet is productive and runs at a low cost. Bad maintenance, meanwhile, will cause a fleet to miss its productivity targets and ultimately force fleet managers to look for a new job.

Thankfully, fleet managers use a few tools to help them monitor enterprise fleet maintenance. For instance, managers use anything from basic monitoring reports to advanced engine diagnostics.

These reports include:

  • Basic GPS data. A lot of fleet managers collect GPS data such as vehicle location or driving habits to plan maintenance and monitor risk drivers.
  • Engine diagnostics data. Fleet managers also use advanced engine diagnostics to get more data and proactively plan maintenance.

We will discuss how fleet managers use both basic GPS data and engine data to improve enterprise fleet maintenance management.

Basic GPS & Useful Data

Firstly, fleet managers can use basic GPS data for better maintenance. Basic GPS data is simple, yet, effective. Here are some examples.

 

fleet maintenance management

 

Maintenance Reminders

Maintenance reminders are one of the important GPS data because it springs the entire team into action.

For instance, managers might schedule check-ups by either vehicle usage or by period. Fleet managers can then use GPS to keep track of odometer or time data and schedule regular maintenance.

Utilization Reports

Next, fleet managers need to collect data to distribute fleet utilization. For instance, while fleet managers would love to order the newest trucks, they would probably get into trouble if they order new trucks while old trucks are sitting in a yard.

For that reason, utilization reports contain useful GPS data that organizes the fleet’s resources. Fleet managers can see and use under-utilized vehicles rather than buying new trucks or burdening the other fleet trucks.

Driver Reports

Finally, fleet managers use GPS data by taking a look at driver reports. Bad driving increases a vehicle’s wear and tear, and in turn, increases downtime. Some fleet managers use driving event rules to evaluate and train risky drivers.

Engine Diagnostics Data

Secondly, fleet managers use engine diagnostics data to refine their enterprise fleet maintenance management plan. Engine diagnostics dig a bit deeper than basic GPS data. Geotab’s data engineers partnered with OEMs to collect more data and codes from engines. Here are some examples of additional data.

 

fleet maintenance management

 

True Odometer

GPS odometer readings might be different from “True” Odometer readings. That’s because GPS odometers draw their data from location data whereas True Odometers draw their data directly from engine use. Why are True Odometer readings more accurate?

The answer is idling. Idling uses the engine which causes wear and tear. Therefore, fleet managers should absolutely consider idling data when planning regular checkups.

However, they would not get access to this data from GPS odometers because the odometer does not move when vehicles are idling. True Odometers, on the other hand, solves the idling data gap and schedules maintenance based on actual wear and tear.

 

True Idling

Speaking of idling, another important engine data measurment for fleet maintenance management is True Idling. Idling should be classified into two categories – productive idling and unproductive (or “True”) idling. Sometimes, idling might be productive. For example, garbage trucks idle when they use their containers. However, this idling is productive because that’s how garbage trucks collect and dump waste.

How can fleet managers separate idling? Geotab devices measure productive idling when the vehicle idles but the PTO, or auxiliary equipment, is on. Everything else is considered unproductive idling, or True Idling.

From there, managers can identify and train True Idlers to protect vehicles from wear and tear.

 

Engine Codes

Last but not least, engine code data are used to manage maintenance. This is perhaps the most powerful data because it allows managers to proactively find and fix issues.

Engine codes include two broad categories:

 

  • First, it covers engine faults. GO Devices read and report engine faults while non-users have to take their vehicles to a shop to read engine codes. As a result, fleet managers can view a log of all issues and decide when to send their vehicle to service.
  • Second, it covers engine readings. Managers can use their technical expertise to turn engine readings into powerful preventative tools. For example, cranking voltage is the amount of voltage needed to start a truck. Managers can create a warning whenever cranking voltage goes below a certain number.

Click here to review ZenduMA, a powerful diagnostics add-in for enterprise fleet maintenance.

 

Links
Geotab: Engine Diagnostics or GPS Only Tracking: Which is Better?

Getting Through Winter 2018 | Part 2: Winter Fleet Operations

Posted on | by Jimmy Song

Fleets are gearing up for winter fleet operations. Recently, weather forecasters predicted that winter 2018 is going to be a big one!

According to their forecasts, this winter will be snowier and colder than normal. In Ontario and Quebec, forecasters are calling for a classic Canadian winter with snowfalls lasting until March. This is because this year’s weather system closely matches some of the strongest winters in recent years.

In our second guide for winter 2018, we will take a look at how to improve winter fleet operations.

Common Winter Fleet Operations Issues

Mother Nature

Issue: Winter weather disrupts business.

Imagine this. A client schedules a job and needs timely service. The truck goes on the road and everything seems to be going smoothly – until we check the forecast. The forecast warns, “Blizzard warning in effect. Traffic will be delayed.” Then, the driver calls and says that they are stranded. Ouch!

Winter can be brutal for fleets. Drivers often struggle with weather delays and have to go through unsafe roads. How can fleets balance customer expectations with weather delays?

Solution: Fleets need to plan ahead and regularly communicate with drivers.

Although delays are unavoidable, a big part of winter fleet operations involves tracking and planning for storms. Fleet tracking programs are able to do both of these things.

For example, the Geotab system has a Road Weather Hazard feature. With this feature, fleets can track bad weather and warn drivers ahead of time. Also, the system takes a look at road closures and delays. Dispatchers and drivers can then use this info to avoid getting stuck on the road.

Defensive Driving

Issue: Winter driving is dangerous and drivers need to be extra careful.

Winter is one of the most dangerous times to drive. In an average year, there are hundreds of thousands of crashes due to weather. As a result, drivers are trained to drive defensively.

Some of the best practices of winter driving include:

  • Making sure all lights, windows and mirrors are visible
  • Driving extra slow and braking early, especially at intersections and ramps
  • Keeping a safe distance from other drivers

The challenge, however, is for fleets to get drivers to follow these best practices.

Solution: Companies can monitor and track defensive driving habits.

Fleets are solidifying their safety policies by measuring defensive driving rules. For example, fleets might encourage slowing down on ramps by setting maximum ramp speeds. In order to monitor if drivers are slowing down, fleets rely on tracking software to look at custom ramp speed rules.

Communication

Problem: Drivers need a reliable way to communicate.

One of the risks of winter driving is getting stranded on the road. Unfortunately, there are many cases of stranded drivers each winter.

As a result, a lot of drivers carry winter survival kits in case they get stranded. These kits include enough food and water for a few days. It also includes a reliable radio or phone. In addition to winter survival kits, what are other ways to provide drivers with peace of mind?

Solution: Fleets are equipping trucks with emergency contact systems.

Some fleets are adding a satellite mandown system to winter survival kits. These systems provide a way for stranded drivers to call for help, no matter where they are. “My drivers have asked for a mandown system for a long time. It lets them call for help when their cellphones don’t work.”, said a fleet manager.

Is your fleet prepared for this year’s classic winter?

Links:
Weather Network: ‘Classic’ Canadian winter making a comeback
Geotab: Protect Your Fleet from Winter Weather Hazards
C.H. Robinson The Road: Winter Weather Impacts Trucking

Getting Through Winter 2018 – Part 1 | Winter Fleet Maintenance

Posted on | by Jimmy Song

Winter fleet maintenance is once again a popular topic now that winter is almost upon us!

Oh yes, (Or oh no, depending on your seasonal preference!) winter weather is indeed here. Earlier in November, a record cold temperature was set in Toronto. In other areas, large amounts of snow are already on the ground.

How has the early blast of winter affected fleets? For fleet managers, they got a fresh reminder on why winter fleet maintenance is important. Due to the snow and the cold, fleet managers have their hands full with anything from fuel usage to breakdowns.

Let’s take a look at a list of winter issues.

Common Winter Fleet Maintenance Issues

Idling and Fuel Usage

Issue: There is a myth that long periods of idling helps warm up your vehicle.

How long should drivers idle to warm up their vehicle? For some drivers, they leave their vehicle on for several minutes. One driver even left their truck running for 2 hours to try to stay warm! Was idling for several minutes, even hours, effective in keeping drivers warm?

Unfortunately for the idling drivers, the answer is no! Researchers found that modern vehicles only take 30 to 60 seconds to get ready. Anything over a minute leads to wasted time and wasted fuel.

Solution: Educating drivers and using a no-idling policy.

The best solution is education. Some drivers might not know that idling past a minute does not keep them warm. It’s not entirely their fault until told otherwise!

As a result, some fleets implemented a year-round no-idling policy. These fleets tracked idling and identified drivers who need to reduce their idle times. These drivers were then trained on how to reduce idling and on alternatives to staying warm.

Maintenance

Issue: Winter conditions can be punishing for fleet equipment.

Winter is punishing for vehicles. Its extreme conditions damage vehicle components. In fact, out of the year, the winter months are the most likely months for vehicles to break down.

Solution: Fleets should create and use a regular winter fleet maintenance program.

In order to prevent winter breakdowns, regular vehicle checks should be performed. For example, some of the best practices include:

  • Checking lights weekly
  • Checking oil levels, engine coolants, and tire pressures biweekly
  • Checking power steering fluids, windshield fluids, and brake fluids monthly.

Of course, like any regular human, check-ups can be easily forgotten and missed. In order to remind drivers and mechanics, fleets use maintenance programs to create regular tasks.

In addition to sending reminders, fleet maintenance programs actively monitor vehicle health. For example, if the system detects that the vehicle batteries are starting to fail, it will send an alert to the maintenance team. This allows the fleet to take the vehicle off the road and fix it before it breaks down.

Tire Health

Issue: Fleets need to equip appropriate winter tires and maintain their tire pressure.

Besides using winter tires, fleets need to actively monitor tire pressures. Even the best winter tires will underperform if it is not taken care of. How can fleets ensure that winter tires will do its job?

Solution: Drivers need to regularly check tire pressure.

The best practice is to regularly check tires. Experts recommend that tires should be checked multiple times per month. In addition to regular tire checks, a good program to use is a tire pressure monitoring system.

Tire pressure monitoring systems include a dynamic duo of a tire sensor and a tire pressure display. The tire sensor reads tire pressures in real time and sends the information to both in-cab displays and in reports. As a result, drivers and managers can fix under-inflated tires before the vehicle caught in an incident.

Check back in for part 2 of our winter 2018 guide!

Links

CP24: Toronto breaks 79-year-old record as temperature plunges to -10.1 C

CBC: Idling your car in winter not worth your time or gas, driving educator says

RAC: Winter Breakdowns

BusinessFleet: Winter Operation and Maintenance Tips for Fleets

Case Study: Protecting Assets with Fleet Maintenance Management

Posted on | by Jimmy Song

 

 

How important is protecting assets?

 

Assets are the lifeline of a business.

Think about a sports team. For many teams, their star athletes are their most valuable assets. Over the years, many teams have been devastated by athletes who were unable to play due to injuries.

A recent example is Derrick Rose, the former star of the NBA’s Chicago Bulls. In 2012, he suffered a knee injury. He was never the same player. He re-injured himself several times and missed over 40% of their games due to injury. The Bulls, meanwhile, fell out of being championship contenders.

How did this happen to such a promising athlete? This video explains the science, suggesting that Rose’s injuries could have been prevented by adjusting his play style.

Similar to sports teams, fleets invest in vehicles as their star assets. And, yes, these assets are very expensive.

Heavy trucks easily cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Just like athletes, assets deteriorate and break down over time. Many fleets protect these assets by investing in a fleet maintenance management program.

The Case Study

Let’s study a fleet that invested in a fleet maintenance management program.

The Problem

The fleet’s maintenance expense went over budget and the fleet’s productivity was lower than expected. Some symptoms include:

  • Management, drivers and mechanics communicated poorly
  • Vehicles broke down and were repaired on costly emergency jobs
  • Repair parts were missing and were low on stock

The Solution

The fleet overhauled its maintenance program and started by investing in a fleet maintenance management system. The fleet noticed several changes.

Change #1: Mechanics were more successful because they had more information.

Effective fleet maintenance management requires communication. Managers, drivers, and mechanics needed to be on the same page. Before the fleet invested in a maintenance system, jobs were sometimes lost. The new program greatly improved communication.

fleet maintenance management

Drivers and managers were able to schedule jobs into mechanics’ calendars. Within these assignments, photos and notes were shared. This created a record for the asset’s history and gave mechanics the necessary information to complete jobs successfully.

Change #2: Costly breakdowns were prevented.

Another part of effective fleet maintenance management is to prevent emergency breakdowns. With the new maintenance program, the fleet used preventative maintenance to diagnose and fix smaller problems before they turned into bigger problems.

change 2

The program identified problems through live monitoring. Critical data, ranging from fault codes to tire pressure, were pulled from the asset. Drivers also gave early warnings by electronically completing and submitting daily vehicle inspection reports.

From these warnings, work orders were automatically created and scheduled. The mechanics found these smaller jobs to be much less costly and time consuming than emergency jobs.

Change #3: Repair parts were easier to locate and were more available.

Effective fleet maintenance management is related to the quality of the fleet’s repair parts inventory. In the old inventory system, parts were manually recorded or sometimes not recorded at all. These parts were often lost or were out of stock. The new program was an improvement.

Change 3 - inventory

The fleet maintenance program allowed employees to scan repair parts and upload data to the inventory system. The system then displayed the location and quantity of parts. As a result, mechanics were able to easily find the parts, which reduced their job completion time.

Another benefit of the overhauled inventory system was that it replenishes itself. When the quantity of parts was low, the maintenance program automatically contacted listed suppliers to order more parts. This prevented delays from waiting for new repair parts.

The Result

The maintenance program helped improve fleet maintenance management. The fleet reduced costly breakdowns, saved money on repair expenses, and increased asset life.