Q: How can fleet managers better justify staffing needs to leadership or finance teams?
Tony: One of the biggest mistakes I see is relying solely on headcount. Just because you have seven technicians on paper doesn’t mean you have seven techs turning wrenches full-time. Break down their actual labor distribution. If techs are helping at the parts counter, managing sublets, or answering customer questions, those are hours pulled away from core maintenance. When you show that you only have 5.8 FTEs doing direct maintenance, it’s a compelling case for additional resources.
Q: What happens when fleets don’t have enough parts personnel?
Tony: It becomes a cascading productivity issue. If your parts clerk is out or handling something else, technicians start filling in. That pulls them out of the bay, disrupts work orders, and reduces recorded inventory usage. Worse, you get undocumented parts walking out of the room, which throws off your inventory accuracy. A proper fleet maintenance system can automate tracking, but you still need the staffing structure to support it.
Q: Can outsourcing maintenance solve workforce or facility issues?
Tony: Not necessarily. Outsourcing might reduce your need for shop space, but it introduces a new set of risks: longer turnaround times, lack of visibility, and inconsistent quality. Government fleet management software like RTA Fleet360 helps monitor vendor performance, but you still need to ensure those vendors have the skills, capacity, and transparency you’d expect internally. And in some regions—like remote or island communities—outsourcing isn’t even an option.
Q: How do AEUs support long-term planning and budgeting?
Tony: AEUs give you a quantifiable, repeatable way to project maintenance needs as your fleet evolves. When you know a certain vehicle class has a 6.5 AEUs and requires 60 labor hours a year, you can model how changes to your asset mix will impact your shop. This supports budget requests, staffing projections, and even shop layout planning. It's especially powerful when integrated into a fleet maintenance management system that tracks work order histories and performance trends.
Q: Why should facilities planning be a top priority?
Tony: Because the shop layout is the physical infrastructure of your operation. Poor adjacencies—like placing the parts room 300 feet from the bay—literally force techs to walk away from productivity. Every extra step adds time, distractions, and risk. Even something as simple as signage (“wayfinding”) for deadlines and ready lines can eliminate confusion and speed up workflows. And with EVs, you’ve got new challenges like buffer zones and fire risk spacing that must be considered.
Q: What do you mean by “right-sizing processes”?
Tony: Most people think of right-sizing in terms of vehicles or staffing, but processes are just as important. We’ve done time-and-motion studies that show how inefficient process steps cause wasted labor and frustration. Something like reorganizing tool placement or optimizing PM checklists can shave minutes off each task—multiplied across thousands of repairs annually, that’s a huge ROI. That’s where workflow automation and digital inspections in RTA Fleet360 really come into play.
Q: What role does culture play in the workplace pillar?
Tony: A huge one. Your physical space tells your team how much you value them. If it’s dirty, cramped, and unsafe, then morale plummets. But if it’s clean, organized, and well-lit, you create pride in the workspace. That impacts productivity, retention, and even recruitment. It’s part of cultivating a high-performance culture—something most people underestimate when they think about fleet optimization.
Check out the full episode here: