As we celebrate Election Day in the U.S., it’s a good time to think about what changes you can make at your fleet operation. Whether you’re planning out the next four years or the next 6 to 12 months, consider electing these changes at your operation.
Paper can be costly, and it can create extra work for your fleet staff to keep the paper forms and records organized. Instead, go paperless. Not only do these tools prevent you from having to actually purchase the physical paper forms, they can be easily accessed by your staff through your fleet management software solution. All of the information can be stored in the system to prevent misplaced forms and lost information.
The best way to keep your vehicles on the road and out of the shop is by proactively performing repairs on the assets through an organized preventative maintenance program. A good PM program can allow you to regularly schedule vehicles for routine services like oil changes and other proactive maintenance. During these appointments, technicians can identify other issues and small problems that can be repaired before they become larger issues that can lead to breakdowns.
Save time and make inventory easier by using barcoding tools. These let you reduce the number of staff needed to perform inventory, and they allow you to complete it quicker – and with less frustration. Applying barcoding tags to parts in an organized parts room, and then scanning each code with a barcode scanner, lets your team quickly account for all items and identify any errors in their inventory count. This allows you to perform a quick and accurate inventory.
Are you taking full advantage of the work order features that are offered in your fleet management software solution? While WOs can serve a fundamental purpose in alerting the shop to required repairs and assigning technicians and parts to a job, they can also offer other capabilities for your shop. Check out some of these features the RTA trainers listed as the most underused WO tools.
If your fleet operation is using paper forms to complete vehicle inspections, check out electronic Driver Vehicle Inspection Reports (eDVIRs). These electronic forms save your fleet drivers and shop time when conducting vehicle inspections and making needed repairs. Instead of writing out detailed notes by hand on a paper form, drivers can record notes with their voices and take pictures of defects to submit to the shop with their reports. These electronic forms save the shop time, as they no longer have to try to decipher the driver’s handwriting, and they can get access to the report soon after the driver completes it instead of waiting for the driver to return back to the shop. Electronic DVIRs also let operations quickly access the reports and the vehicle information – without having to perform double data-entry to get the information into the fleet management software.