How are you using your truck? The First Step to Rightsizing

Lots of Questions for Work Truck Fleet Managers and Business Owners

By: Steve Taylor

I have read about lots of work that has been done on greening the fleet and downsizing but I have not read much about studies of work truck fleet utilization by studying daily use of the truck, tools and equipment!  What can be learned by reviewing all tools and equipment usage for fleets?

Business owners and fleet operators should think about this:  What are the trucks used for? Is the full capacity of the truck and its body needed every day? Do the drivers/operators perform the same tasks every day? Is the same equipment and tools needed every single day, every other day, every week, once a month, every 6 months?  To answer these questions might set fleet managers off on a whole new direction in rightsizing and downsizing the fleet.

In other words, are trucks being specified based on worst case scenarios?  

Is the truck outfitted with equipment that has evolved over many years of the same habits? Has there ever been a serious challenge to the way things are done? Are the trucks carrying around "excess baggage", weighing more than it should and burning excess fuel? For example, is there a need to truck around a heavy welding machine every day? Or is it possible to mount it on a trailer and only pull it to sites as needed?

Of course you want the right equipment when you need it most. But is there an opportunity to be flexible and assign crews based on work to be performed, the best use of vehicles and assignment of equipment? Is it time to initiate cross training for the crews?

This may be a perfect time to review processes and to contemplate this:  Which direction is your organization headed? Increasing or shrinking customer or taxpayer base? Increasing profits or losses? Are you increasing your organizations value to the customer by continuing the same processes? Or might there be a better way? 

How competitive is your organization?  What is your competition doing better? What if the competition changes a process that makes them more efficient; more productive, faster performance, reduced lead time, reduced delivery time, etc.? If the competition gets a jump start on new processes, where does that leave you?

Are you sure you have the right trucks and equipment for the job?