Tech-Optimized Enterprise Fleet Management Cuts Downtime
Equipping your fleet with the right devices and integrated telematics solutions can streamline management and maximize uptime.
Imagine knowing the real-time location, fuel-consumption rates, and maintenance needs of every vehicle in your fleet, so you can make more informed decisions about routing efficiency, vehicle utilization, and operational costs.
Gone are the days of waiting for a vehicle to break down before repairing or replacing it are long gone. Smart companies are using more proactive maintenance approaches that include monitoring equipment health, digitizing vehicle records, and solving issues before they boil over into real problems.
Fleet downtime is costly, with losses averaging $448 to $760 a day per vehicle, or $79.33 per hour due to vehicle downtime. Indirectly, fleet asset downtime can result in driver frustration, workflow stoppages, and unhappy customers. Preventative fleet maintenance is essential for maintaining operations and ensuring customer satisfaction, helping to prevent breakdowns, reduce downtime, and mitigate risks associated with negligence-related accidents.
“From delivery trucks to company cars, a well-maintained fleet is essential for maintaining operations and ensuring customer satisfaction,” writes safety and compliance expert Gege Chicaiza in an article on LinkedIn. “Preventative fleet maintenance is the cornerstone of fleet management, helping to prevent breakdowns, reduce downtime, and mitigate the risks associated with negligence-related accidents.”
Keep the Wheels Turning With Enterprise Fleet Management
Lowering fuel costs, tracking driver behavior, and leveraging fleet data are some of the modern fleet managers’ top priorities. These professionals also must tackle daily issues as they emerge, all intending to keep asset wheels turning. Some of the problems fleet managers face in this realm include:
- Disruptions due to equipment downtime. An unexpected breakdown can bring an entire operation to a halt as technicians scramble to fix the problem and/or replace the asset.
- Hiring and retaining labor. The persistent labor shortage has left many organizations shorthanded, with manual-intensive jobs feeling the biggest impacts of this ongoing dearth of skilled workers.
- Rising equipment costs. Maintaining operational efficiency and keeping vehicles online gets harder and more expensive as vehicles and other assets age.
- Elevated insurance costs. Because insurance costs are tied to a fleet’s safety history, minimizing incidents will help keep those costs down.
- Difficulty predicting fuel prices. The price of fuel fluctuates and can add significant costs to the movement of goods. By keeping close tabs on every vehicle’s fuel consumption and driver habits (e.g., minimizing speeding), and by investing in more fuel-efficient options like electric vehicles, organizations can gain better control over this variable cost.
- Sustainability is a core focus for businesses and customers. New emissions standards, safety protocols, and other ESG-related requirements are being introduced every day. They are forcing fleet owners to constantly rethink traditional repair and replacement strategies.
To address these and other challenges, companies are increasingly adopting advanced technologies that help them anticipate potential failures and address issues before they become major problems. They’re also using data to predict and fix potential wear-and-tear issues in advance, effectively reducing costly, unplanned downtime.
To mitigate the direct and indirect impacts of fleet downtime, fleet managers need a system that can collect and analyze data from operation and maintenance. Using this data to inform planning and maintenance activities can ensure optimal use and longevity for fleet assets.
Fleet Telematics Maximize Performance
When the right devices and integrated applications are put in place, companies can successfully monitor fleet health and use those applications to make more proactive decisions. This, in turn, helps keep vehicles and equipment running smoothly and efficiently.
Fleet telematics use telecommunications like GPS and onboard diagnostics to gather, transmit, and analyze data from multiple vehicles. The data is then sent to the cloud for further analysis and processing. Telematics takes the guesswork out of fleet optimization, helps ensure safer, more productive vehicle operations, and provides real-time alerts when issues arise, or maintenance is due.
The technology also helps managers track fleet activity, maintenance, and repairs over time. Rather than storing all this data in a spreadsheet or on paper, companies can track their fleet service events and analyze the information to determine the health of individual assets. This leads to more proactive repairs, minimizes downtime, and reduces costs associated with emergency situations and breakdowns. It also helps reduce maintenance costs and ensures higher levels of vehicle uptime.
There are other benefits of incorporating fleet telematics and predictive maintenance into a broader enterprise fleet management program. When fleet managers can assess data across vehicles and equipment, they can identify and proactively address any wear and tear, repairs or failure trends long before they happen.
If a fleet of 10 lift trucks made by a specific manufacturer is wearing through its tires faster than expected, for instance, companies can readily track the problem and present data to the manufacturer with the goal of determining an underlying cause and fixing it. Similarly, if only two of those lift trucks experience increased wear, a fleet manager can check usage details for the full fleet and balance the usage of assets more evenly.
Finding the Right Enterprise Fleet Management Solution
Mobile fleet management software helps companies track vehicle location, driver behavior, fuel consumption, maintenance schedules, and other crucial information. With these data points at their fingertips, fleet managers can better allocate resources, schedule deliveries, and keep their end customers happy.
Panasonic Connect’s Fleet Management Mobile Solutions allow companies to customize the right fleet management solution for their operations. Pairing industry-leading fleet management applications with rugged mobile devices, value-added professional services, and exceptional, ongoing support can help to ensure fleets operate as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible.
When selecting fleet management solutions, start by determining where you are now and what you need to improve your current enterprise fleet management approach. Ask yourself questions like:
- What insights and information will help us better manage our fleet?
- How intuitive are the user interface and features?
- How easily can we access and view the information we want?
- What kind of reports are available, and are they customizable?
- Does the software allow us to set up alerts and alarms?
- Does the solution integrate with our existing systems?
When it comes to hardware, you’ll want devices that are simple to use, carry, and maintain. They should also work reliably in the environments that field technicians typically experience (e.g., extreme weather and temperatures, dust and dirt). The devices must be able to stand up to these conditions. Panasonic TOUGHBOOK® devices include laptops, 2-in-1 devices, and tablets that provide rugged durability, high reliability, and ease of use.
Finally, be sure to factor in the additional support you’ll need, including professional IT services to ensure successful deployment; assistance in planning, testing, and preparing for the solution; and your long-term maintenance and management plan. Added IT support may be especially important if your company’s IT department is small or shared across many different business areas.
Cut the Cost of Downtime and Boost Fleet Performance
Vehicle downtime strains a company’s resources and operations leading to productivity losses, higher costs, unhappy customers, and frustrated employees. Technology that reduces fleet downtime can help avoid these issues. Implementing a strategic, tech-enabled approach to your enterprise fleet management, not only reduces downtime but also enhances productivity and customer satisfaction. Discover how Panasonic Connect’s solutions can transform your fleet management today.