Category: Maintenance Management

It’s well known across the fleet management industry that preventative maintenance (PM) will reduce downtime and save you money, yet so many companies still fail to have one in place. Here’s a quick introduction to setting up a top-notch PM program for your fleet.

What’s Preventative Maintenance and Why’s It Important?

Preventative maintenance is regularly scheduled maintenance on a vehicle to reduce breakdowns. PM is done while the vehicle is still in working condition, in order to keep it running at optimal performance levels and greatly reduce downtime.

PM is important because it minimizes downtime and maximizes revenue.

If you don’t have a preventative maintenance program in place, you are putting your vehicles and drivers at a much higher risk of breakdowns and costly downtime. Preventative maintenance also helps keep your vehicles running in top shape, which can directly have an effect on the efficiency and fuel economy of your vehicles.

Why Do So Many People Fail to Perform Preventative Maintenance?

While preventative maintenance saves time and money in the long run, fleet managers and business owners often only look at the initial costs and time investment necessary — and do not look at the entire big picture. Implementing a preventative maintenance program may take some initial costs and dedicated time from your team up front, but the pay off in the long run is well worth it.

Preventative Maintenance Made Easier With Telematics

There are multiple maintenance management software systems out there on the market, but many are missing one critical aspect, which is the ability to actually communicate with the vehicles. When a maintenance management system can communicate with your vehicles, the entire process can almost be automatic, with very little room for human error.

That’s where telematics comes into play. By combining maintenance management software with vehicle engine data, such as odometer and engine faults, preventative maintenance can be triggered to schedule within the software automatically.

How to Set Up a Preventative Maintenance Plan Successfully

1. Perform an inventory of all fleet vehicles. Review the maintenance records for each vehicle to determine regularly required maintenance activities and parts. Establish a list of priority vehicles.
2. Set an annual budget for maintenance.
3. Implement a maintenance management system to automate and streamline work orders, PM scheduling, inventory and parts management, purchasing, and reporting. By using an online maintenance assistant for reporting, you can measure and analyze key program metrics such as: closed work orders with all costs; work orders suggested vs. completion date; low stock report; and maintenance by type.
4. Create a PM checklist & schedule. Be sure to consult the manufacturer’s recommended maintenance schedules for each vehicle to help establish appropriate frequencies. Implement a system for sending alerts when maintenance is due.
5. Determine the best method for communicating maintenance plans and receiving reports and feedback, e.g. informal (emails, calls, weekly updates) or formal (monthly meetings with a structured agenda).
6. Establish the method of record-keeping on ongoing maintenance activities. How will the information be reported and where will it be stored?
7. Review and analyze the PM program regularly to ensure that it is meeting your budget and expectations. Look for areas of improvement where possible.

Software Advice recently published a report addressing the main concerns companies have when looking to purchase and implement a new CMMS system. Our integration partner Maintenance Assistant CMMS (MA CMMS) has also written blogs and an eBook about this topic, but let’s look at some of Software Advice’s findings as well.

“When a company decides to implement new software, there are a bevy of aspects to consider, even before choosing a system—and rushing the process can lead to bad results and a wasted investment. Typically, maintenance managers must first prove the value of a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) to executives and get the greenlight to purchase one. Then the company decides what assets to enter, which employees to assign as users, how to migrate maintenance data from previous storage methods and how to train users on the software.”

– Software Advice

Our friends over at MA CMMS have put together a brief summary of their key findings, but we recommend you also take a look at the full case study for more detailed information.

Justifying CMMS Value

There’s a lot of information you need to determine before beginning your CMMS search. Your company should find out what types of functionality it requires the most, determine the budget and what you can expect in terms of your return on investment. These are just a few of many criteria that should be considered before you set out to find the CMMS that’s the best fit for your company.

Clean Data is Critical

As we all know, when it comes to entering data, ‘garbage in, means garbage out’. When you’re setting up your CMMS it’s critical that the information you’re inputting is organized and clean otherwise you’ll never be able to use your CMMS to it’s full potential. Whether you’re migrating data from an old CMMS system or inputting data right from scratch, it’s important to take your time on this step of your CMMS implementation. Having a dedicated person or team responsible for learning the CMMS system, setting up the correct process and for inputting data is one of the best ways to make sure that your CMMS is set up for success.

Leverage Vendor Training and Support

A CMMS system is only as good as your knowledge of how to use it. Getting set up is only half the battle. The best in class CMMS providers will have a host of training services available to you so that once your CMMS is set up you can make sure your team knows what they’re doing and how to make the most of the new software.

For more information on successful CMMS implementation be sure to check out the full article by Software Advice. Or learn more about the CMMS implementation services offered by our customer support team at GoFleet.

Source:
Original Article by: Meredith Pickering, Marketing Specialist at Maintenance Assistant CMMS
https://www.maintenanceassistant.com/blog/3-steps-smooth-cmms-system-implementation/

With the official first day of summer passing us by this weekend, it’s the time of year engine overheating becomes a much more prominent issue.

Increasing temperatures obviously mean a higher risk of your engine overheating; now is a great time to check out what steps you should take to respond to this should the problem arise.

The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) recommends if your vehicle does overheat, do not drive it more than a quarter mile further. It’s safer to have the vehicle towed to prevent more damage to the engine.

Of course, things do not always go as planned and you may not be able to get a tow truck or find a nearby mechanic. The FDOT suggests following these simple steps:

• Find a safe location, pull over, and turn off the engine.
• Let the vehicle completely cool or the make sure the temperature gauge has moved from hot to cool before opening up the hood.
• Check the coolant, also known as antifreeze, level in the radiator; check the owner’s manual if you are not sure where the coolant reservoir tank is in the vehicle.
• Before opening up the radiator cap, make sure it is cool, then slowly and carefully twist it off with a towel and watch out for hot steam. If needed, fill up the coolant to the top of the radiator and put the cap back on.
• Make sure the upper or lower radiator hose and any of the heater hoses have not been disconnected, blocked or burst.
• Restart the engine.
• Keep an eye on the temperature gauge. If you noticed it crossing the optimal mark, find a safe location, pull over, and turn the engine off.

Getting help from a mechanic is always the best way to go, but sometimes you can’t always access one so it is important to be prepared. To stay safe, store these items in your vehicle: tool kit, coolant, non-perishable foods, water and a flashlight.

Source:
“Fleet Safety Video Tip: Engine Overheating.” Business Fleet. 2015 Business Fleet, 15/06/15. http://www.businessfleet.com/channel/safety-accident-management/news/story/2015/06/fleet-safety-video-tip-vehicle-overheating.aspx

Monitor your devices using the Watchdog Report

Having trouble monitoring the status of all your vehicles in one go? Do you have too many vehicles to check individually? How do you know which ones have communication problems? When customers begin to manage their fleet, they often overlook regularly monitoring the health of their devices as it can become a hassle. Keeping track of all your devices can be challenging if needed to be done every day but, monitoring the health of your devices is important to ensure that all your units are reporting and are healthy. Companies install GPS trackers to maximize cost savings through live tracking and without device communication no data will be recorded immediately to help compliment their savings.

Devices fail to communicate for a variety of reasons and as a fleet operations manager it is important to understand why:

• Devices may be in an area with bad cellular coverage
• Devices may be unplugged while in the shop for maintenance
• Issue with the port – blown fuse

A non-communicating device can sometimes even indicate a larger issue with the vehicle itself, such as a dead battery. This is why it is important to check in with your devices every so often to address potential issues early and ensure that your telematics device will report the data you need. Not to say, that the data will be lost, our devices have the capability of storing data on the device and transferring it into the database once it starts to communicate again.

The watchdog report is an excellent source for monitoring the health of your telematics devices. Located on the dashboard, the report is easily accessible and can be downloaded within seconds containing detailed information of the device status, the time it last communicated and the location it last communicated in.

There are over 30 standard reports to choose from and the ability to create limitless custom reports using Microsoft Excel; interpreting data is your next step to understanding the watchdog report. The default report available on the dashboard is designed around the following parameter (shown below) this report can be further customized to meet your company preference with device status notifications.

OK

Device communicated within the last 2 days.
Action needed: None.

Offline for 2-3 days

Action needed: Verify the last available location of the vehicle was outdoors, clear of obstruction and the device is properly installed in your vehicle.

Offline for 3-21 days

Action needed: Verify the device is undamaged and properly installed in your vehicle. Refer to the installation guide for instructions on how to perform a visual inspection of the device.

Offline for 21+ days

Action needed: Ensure the SIM is active on the cellular network and the device is undamaged and properly installed in your vehicle. If the issue continues, ensure that the vehicle is currently in a known area of cellular coverage (For V4 Devices: Check whether the antenna is loose or damaged).

Customizing parameters

Receiving accurate data is imperative to making business decisions leading to the need for customized parameters. If companies need to be notified immediately the threshold below will be a good example of a customized parameter.

In this example, only vehicles which have communicated within 2 days are considered “OK” immediately notifying your company to power reset those devices that have stopped communicating.

If you need help with your devices or have any questions, one of our support agents are happy to help. Call 1-888-998-1122 x 2 or submit a support ticket: support.gofleet.com

Damaged Vehicles: Should Fleet Managers Repair Or Replace?

When a fleet vehicle gets in an accident, the fleet manager must decide if the vehicle should be repaired or replaced. Unfortunately, this can often occur several times during the year. Although getting a call from the driver saying he was in an accident is a dreaded call for all fleet managers, they must be ready to get the situation taken care of quickly. If the fleet manager knows the value of the asset and collects the right data, the decision can be simple.

Of course, the first thing the fleet manager needs to do is make sure that nobody has been injured. Next the manager must begin gathering information about the parties involved, physical damage to the vehicle and what has to be done to get their driver back on the road. Once that information is obtained, the fleet manager must make the critical decision of whether the vehicle should be repaired or replaced.

Know The Basics

Fleet managers must know the market value of their mobile assets. Once the vehicle is in an accident, the damage will reduce its market value. If the vehicle is leased by the company, the unamortized principle balance is the remaining company investment in the vehicle. If the vehicle is owned by the company, the balance is the undepreciated value on the balance sheet.

Fleet managers must ask themselves, “If we repair the vehicle, will the investment value be greater, less than or equal to the value of the vehicle if it was not involved in the crash?”

Gather Critical Information

The next step for the fleet manager is to gather all information that is necessary to make the decision including:

– Repair estimates

– Book value

– Salvage value

– Used vehicle value

Calculate Your Options

The basic financial consequences must be determined for both options. Remember, if you choose to repair the vehicle, the investment in the vehicle will be increased by the amount of the repairs. If you replace the vehicle, you company would have to declare a total loss of the damaged vehicle.

It is important to move quickly and make the decision as soon as you have all of the data. Your goal is to keep your fleet moving. The decision should be treated more as an investment decision than a “car decision”.

Fleet Managers Find Many Benefits In Preventative Maintenance Programs

Fleet managers are turning to preventative maintenance programs to help them get a handle on fleet maintenance, reduce breakdowns, and improve vehicle safety. These programs consist of various maintenance activities such as vehicle inspections, servicing, repairs, adjustment, replacement of worn parts, testing, and oil changes.

There are many reasons fleet managers are concerned about keeping up with the preventative maintenance schedule for their fleet. One major reason is that preventative maintenance maximizes the availability of all of the vehicles. If employees do not have access to the company’s vehicles when they need them, productivity is drastically reduced because they are unable to do their job. In addition, if a vehicle does not receive regular preventative servicing, the vehicle’s lifespan can be greatly reduced.

From a safety standpoint, adhering to a preventative maintenance program improves drivers’ safety and helps prevent litigation. If vehicles are unsafe due to repairs not getting done or lack of maintenance, the fleet manager and business can be held liable for negligence entrustment. Vehicular negligence occurs when an employee is provided with a dangerous vehicle while the manager either knowingly or should have reasonably known that using the vehicle could cause harm or unreasonable risk to others.

Preventative maintenance previously had to be manually scheduled, which was a tedious and time consuming task for fleet managers. Their schedules are already hectic with many important issues on their mind like lowering fuel costs, trying to stay in budget and managing drivers while they are on the roads. It is easy to understand how preventative maintenance schedules often got forgotten or pushed to the side. Although many fleet managers had good intentions with strictly sticking to their preventative maintenance schedules, vehicle maintenance was more of a reactive occurrence than a proactive occurrence.

With many advances in technology, especially in the fleet management industry, fleet management software provides an affordable, efficient option for fleets of all sizes. These systems allow fleet managers to set up vehicle maintenance schedules easily based on the maintenance activity, engine hours, miles driven or time frame. Reminders can be sent directly to the user’s computer or email when the vehicle is due for maintenance. Customized reports can be printed out to detail maintenance histories, work orders, fuel usage, and accident claims. Fleet managers are now better able to manage their fleet and maintain fleet vehicles on a more efficient, proactive basis.