8 Metrics Your Fleet Should be Tracking
To keep your fleet operation running efficiently, it’s important to pay close attention to certain metrics that can provide key information about the status of your fleet.
To get more insight into your fleet, you can start by tracking these eight metrics.
Preventative Maintenance Schedule
How many of your vehicles are up-to-date on preventative maintenance? How many are overdue? What percentage of work orders are for PM versus repairs? Knowing this information can help you track how efficient your fleet operation is. Ideally, PM services should make up 50 percent of your operation’s work orders. You can track how close you are to this benchmark by pulling metrics regularly on your operation’s PM.
Odometer Readings
Tracking each vehicle’s odometer reading can help fleets monitor the mileage of each vehicle to ensure it’s being scheduled for PM at the right intervals, as well as track the vehicle’s fuel usage and routes. If the odometer reading doesn’t match the routes, then it can signal a problem the fleet manager needs to address with a driver. It can also help the operation determine if the vehicle is due for repairs, or if the maintenance doesn’t match the miles on the vehicle.
Fuel Usage
Fuel is one of an operation’s largest expenses. Because of this, it’s important to track how much fuel your vehicles are using altogether, and which vehicles are using the most fuel. Pulling these metrics regularly can help fleet managers determine if fuel is being misused by drivers or staff members for their personal vehicles, or if vehicles are being use for personal errands. It can also help fleet managers track which types of vehicles use the most fuel to help them determine future vehicle purchases for their fleet.
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
It’s important for fleet operations to gain insight on how much they are spending on each vehicle through TCO. This goes beyond the initial purchase price of the asset. It also includes money spent throughout the lifespan of the vehicle, from operating costs to repairs. Tracking this number can help operations determine when it’s time to replace an asset.
Vehicle Utilization
Monitoring how often vehicles are being used can help you determine if there are assets on your lot that aren’t being used as often as they should be, or if others are being over-used. Tracking this information can help ensure vehicles are being rotated more often and that vehicles are getting the maintenance they need. It also allows operations to determine why certain vehicles aren’t being used as often as others. This can help when deciding which vehicles to purchase in the future.
Parts Inventory
It’s key for fleet operations to know which parts are in-stock and how often parts are being used. This can help operations determine how much of each part to purchase and how many to keep on the shelves. It can also make it clear which parts are not being used and therefore should not be reordered. Tracking this information can help fleet operations stay on budget by not over-ordering parts and can improve the operation’s efficiency by ensuring needed parts are kept in-stock.
Work Order Status
To ensure the fleet operation is being productive, it’s important to track the status of work orders. Fleet managers can check the status of WOs to determine how many are open, closed and in-progress to determine where resources should be allocated and how long vehicles have been in the shop.
Accident and Incident Reports
Safety should be a top concern for fleet operations. Therefore, it’s important to track how many accidents are occurring – both in the shop and on the road – and why. This can help fleet managers flag unsafe behaviors and make changes to policies and procedures to keep all staff members safe.