Tag Archive for: diesel

5 tips for fleet equipment maintenance management

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Fleet maintenance is the process of keeping your vehicles operating in a good enough condition so that they are safe, reliable, and can stay on the road longer. Developing a preventative maintenance program is an important part of managing a fleet and helps businesses reduce operating costs and improve vehicle inspection outcomes, among other benefits.

Without a proactive approach to fleet maintenance, you risk compromising your employees’ safety and paying for costly emergency repairs and unplanned downtime. That’s why the health of your vehicles is a good overall indicator of the health of your business.

1 – Preventive maintenance

There are three types of fleet maintenance:

Corrective maintenance: Made when the defect has worsened and needs repairs, and aims to restore the vehicle’s normal use condition;

Predictive maintenance: The purpose of predictive maintenance, as the name suggests, is to predict when a failure may occur, based on wear, vibration, noise, heating, or other indicators, depending on the type of equipment, machine or vehicle in question, this avoids unnecessary downtime and breaks that would harm productivity;

Preventive maintenance: This type of maintenance aims to reduce excessive expenses with the fleet, as it is based on scheduling stops in advance for adjustments, lubrication, and replacement of components. Its cost is usually between 30% to 40% lower than the other modalities, in addition to increasing the time between maintenance, increasing safety, and reducing the probability of problems on the road.

To use these benefits, it is necessary to draw up a maintenance plan: in an agenda, or a fleet management software, point out which vehicles and components will be overhauled and the respective dates. Do it in a way that meets the need for maintenance of each type of vehicle, in addition to not leaving the fleet without enough units to operate and meet the demand of the company and its customers.

2 – Know the vehicles of your fleet

Know all the specifications of each vehicle in the fleet, this will help to structure the fleet maintenance plan mentioned above, as you will know the ideal parts, the exact moment, and how to maintain each one. Some of the most important information about each vehicle is:

  • maintenance recommended by the manufacturer;
  • frequency of filter and lubricant changes;
  • performance characteristics and load capacity;
  • wear ratio per load weight;
  • characteristics of your travel routes, such as roads in poor condition.
3 – Get qualified labor for fleet maintenance

As important for companies as investing in good quality vehicles, tires, parts, and components, the investment made must be preserved through the use of qualified labor for its driving and maintenance. 

The more specialized and competent the mechanic, the higher the quality of the maintenance provided, which will result in savings in maintenance, longer life of the truck, fewer stops due to breakages, and consequently, profitability on the fleet will be higher.

Besides, hire conscientious and responsible professionals who know how to take proper care when driving the vehicle, this helps to reduce wear and prevent possible accidents.

4 – Invest in fleet management and maintenance software

The use of fleet control spreadsheets, parts stock control spreadsheets, and maintenance control spreadsheets, in general, is often quite complicated and unreliable, in addition to the fact that preparing and feeding these documents is time-consuming for employees. Also, an ineffective control causes unnecessary parts to be purchased, maintenance periods go out of control, mathematical failures occur, data may be lost, among other problems.

These complications can be overcome with the simple implementation of fleet management and maintenance software, the program automates the entire bureaucratic process, issues maintenance alerts according to the launched fleet maintenance plans, issues more detailed and comprehensive reports, help to eliminate human error, reduces the need for typing and rework and allows employees to spend more time on their core activities.

With Link2Pump you can take control over everything related to fueling, improving delivery planning and fuel distribution, and also with a lifetime warranty. We offer a hassle-free parts replacement policy, where servicing is simple and easy and can be done quickly by the customer, reducing downtime to a minimum. 

5 – Track equipment maintenance expenses

A good fleet manager knows how to work together with the financial sector and the company management to create a budget plan that will allow you to define the limits of each type of spending on your fleet, so that on a day-to-day basis you can identify possible deviations and excesses, and work to heal them, preventing them from compromising the company’s profitability.

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What skills will a future fleet manager need?

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Fleet management is a very important part of modern business. Companies in many industries rely on fleet vehicles to deliver products and services to customers, and those fleets must be properly and efficiently managed.

Fleet managers are responsible for selecting and maintaining vehicles to keep deliveries and distributions on schedule and within established budgets. To succeed, fleet managers need significant experience and skills in operations, logistics, and software programs to monitor both fleets and drivers.

With such a rapid transformation in business, it is easy to think that whoever is in the market today does not need to do anything to prepare for the future. But that is not true. Fleet managers can start preparing now for the future that is increasingly present!

So, here are five skills fleet managers can start building today, to prepare themselves for tomorrow. 

1 – Data-driven 

Most managers are already aware of this need and deal with it daily. They know they need to make choices and decisions based on statistics about vehicle usage, route efficiency, fuel economy, and so on. But it is necessary to go further. You also need to understand how the general data is offered and find out how to make your fleet even smarter.

2 – Software integration 

You don’t need to know everything about programming, but you do need to know what to ask for your IT and development team. You have to understand what these people do and what they can deliver to make your work more efficient. Integrated software and systems provide a very accurate summary of everything you need to know. Much better than joining the parts manually.

3 – Adaptability

If there is a sector in which things go very fast, it is ours! We have changes in technology and even legislation very often, so it is necessary to adopt flexible working methodologies. You need to be aware of the changes, understand how they will affect your fleet, and find the best ways to deal with them.

4 – Performance optimization

Markets that have already gone through the digitization process are already used to using tests and development methods to find possibilities for optimization, which can then be implemented in the entire business.

With vehicles traveling thousands of kilometers a week, fleet managers need to test different fuels, lubricants, driving techniques, and other variables to continually optimize their fleet.

5 – Goal driven 

Successful people do not give up but keep trying new ways until their goals are met. To be goal-driven and become successful requires at least two components namely preparation and motivation.

In preparation, you should be aware of the tasks ahead to be undertaken, and establish time-saving mechanisms to efficiently utilize your time. Be motivated and keep a track of your progress, it might be necessary to reassign time to tasks so that they do not build upon you.

Again, technology is a very important part of the fleet industry. If you are looking for a fuel management partner that is a complete high-tech solution to control commercial fleets fueling, contact us. 

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How remote work is running for fleet management

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After almost a year in the lives of many people, in some cases unexpectedly, today it seems that most employees are already getting used to the home office. According to a Kaspersky survey, 48% of employees now make their video calls in a slightly more comfortable outfit and 27% prefer to update reports or other bureaucratic tasks while working in the garden or on the porch.

Unlike the first few months of confinement, today people have a home office routine much more adjusted to their lifestyle. Technology, connectivity, and collaborative work are factors that helped a lot for this.

And while the home office lasts for a few more months in several companies, we ask ourselves: how remote work is running for fleet management. 

This virtual world has resulted in fewer miles driven and more time in front of a computer for company drivers. Most companies still have restrictions on guests at their offices (many are 100% virtual), which means having an in-person sales call will require that it be held offsite.

As more jobs involving company drivers become permanently remote, it may result in less travel that will cause a reassessment of optimal fleet size. 

Other changes should also appear with this new model of work. With many employees opting to work from home, corporations may not require as large a building to accommodate a smaller office staff. Another ramification may be an ongoing reduction in the budget for business travel.

It is difficult to say whether these changes will be permanent, but at least for now, it is the reality of many companies. But it is likely to take advantage of the positive points going forward. And the best way to ensure remote work is efficient is to invest in the technology necessary for your fleet to be controlled from the cloud. 

Your fuel supply control can be done quickly, intelligently, and 100% in the cloud with Link2Pump. If you’re looking for a fuel management partner that can help you prepare for the future, contact us. 

Tips to motivate and connect with the remote workforce

You may be wondering why employee engagement is so important. Today’s employees want to know how what they are doing contributes to the overall success of the company. Communication is one of the keys to keeping employees engaged and smart businesses are staying close to their employees on a variety of platforms. 

In addition to regularly communicating with your employees, it is also important to continue to recognize employee achievements. So, it is very important that even though they are away, managers work hard and make the extra effort to make sure employees stay engaged. 

As we establish what the new normal will be for businesses, the sector needs to prepare and make the necessary changes to deal with the current situation. Waiting for things to go back to how they were before can make you lose a lot of money. 

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How data can help to lower your fleet costs?

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Fleet owners and operators face unique financial challenges. Rising fuel costs, compliance violations, and driver turnover can keep your fleet costs rising and profits stagnant. Unfortunately, reducing fleet costs is not an easy task, but some tools and systems can help significantly. 

Data-driven management can help you analyze the daily work routines without manual work because this is always a source of failure that can be avoided by setting up automated solutions. The more data points can be connected, the more insights a report can give. And, above all, it can help you save some money! 

Right now, fleet managers can use integrated data fleet management solutions to improve real-time monitoring, reporting, analysis, and outcomes in areas such as driver safety, operational efficiency, fuel management, maintenance, and vehicle utilization. 

According to analysts at Frost and Sullivan, effective use of data can help fleet managers:

Increase productivity by 10 – 15%

Save 20 – 30 minutes of labor time per driver per day

Reduce overtime by 10 – 15%

Cut fuel expenses by 20 – 25%

Reduce vehicle idle time by 20 – 30% 

Boost vehicle utilization by 15 – 20%

Cut total miles driven by 5 – 10%

The data as a product evolution in fleets will allow for much smarter decision-making based on real-time data, rather than guts, as we mostly see today. Predictive modeling uses the data continuously streamed by telematics to identify everything from maintenance needs, to equipment requirements, and even through to patterns and peaks in future customer demand.    

Fuel is one of the biggest and most unpredictable cost centers for fleets. While you might not be able to affect the price at the pump, you do have the ability to ensure your drivers there are getting the most out of each mile per gallon.

Driver education can help, but how can you be sure they will follow these policies when they’re on the road? The real savings in fuel cost, just like other expense areas, comes from data. Here’s how:

  • Companies that use fuel cards can monitor employee fuel-spending and usage
  • Some systems can integrate with a fuel card. This allows you to manage where and when your drivers are filling up and identify which routes your vehicles are taking, alerting you to out-of-route miles driven. It also gives you the ability to track fuel fill-ups against miles driven to identify any fuel misuse issues.
  • Driver performance programs allow fleet managers to monitor driver behavior, such as speeding and idling. These programs give you the ability to deliver better-tailored coaching that will change behavior and result in decreased fuel consumption.

Advanced tracking systems can also detect when the engines of vehicles in the fleet are about to experience issues that require maintenance or potential repair. Using best practices for maintenance and predictive software that anticipate problems can cut down on the cost of engine repairs and time lost as a vehicle is repaired. This can also help a company determine when it’s no longer cost-efficient to repair a vehicle and instead put money into a new vehicle.

As you can see, technology plays a crucial role in almost every money-saving tactic and strategy discussed above. If you’re looking for a fuel management partner that can help you reduce your fleet’s expenses, contact us.

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