Utilise Maintenance Management to raise service delivery standards
The management of vehicle maintenance in public sector fleets ranks amongst the highest obstruction to service delivery. Vehicle out of service due to; lack of budget for major mechanical repairs, lengthy administrative processes for routine work, lack of replacement planning, etc. This list of reasons is long and all contribute to very poor vehicle availability and excessive and unnecessary costs.
Without saying that the whole fleet needs to be replaced let’s look at the 2 things that can be done in the short term to improve vehicle uptime. Apply a maintenance management process and evaluate the viability of your internal workshops.
A maintenance management process (MM), often involving a specialist supplier, manages the scope and cost of maintenance of old and new vehicles. It interacts with suppliers, challenging the diagnosis and costs. Authorisations (purchase orders) are given which strictly define the agreed scope and cost of work, invoice validations and payments to suppliers are prompt. The MM process is not restricted to manufacturer’s approved dealers.
Your MM supplier is required to work within your approval levels but routine work is swiftly approved and administration delays are minimal. You will be involved in the authorisation process of major mechanical repairs. The MM suppliers create detailed maintenance history databases of your fleet which facilitates the authorisation process. Importantly the MM supplier will use their expertise to reduce costs and achieve quick turnaround times.
Your commercial agreement with the MM supplier will enable them to authorise and pay on your behalf, subject to limits, but the administration will be very efficient.
Workshop viability is a major concern. Old and new vehicles are not a good mix in a municipal workshop. New vehicles have high technology requiring expensive tools, electronic equipment and highly trained staff. Further they have to go to approved dealers to validate warranties, often for 3 years. Collectively this reduces the efficiency of your internal workshop. The older vehicle often require major mechanical repair, which is also outsourced, and rely on higher volumes of parts storage. Your workshops are becoming less efficient on a monthly basis.
The future viability of municipal workshops is in question because of technology and lack of volume. Transferring service and repair to suppliers within your municipality will eliminate the high capital investment in new tools, equipment and staff training but should be subject to specific defined criteria, including the application of a maintenance management process.
There is the belief that internal resources are the cheapest but the reducing efficiency levels of internal workshops and lack of complete internal job costing does not support this view. The MM process has a cost and quality focus which is achieved by applying job cost standards, technical skill of correct diagnosis and maximisation of dealer guarantees.
The MM process generates detailed maintenance history information reports that facilitate the repair / replace decision, better budgeting and replacement planning. No doubt the planned replacement of your fleet with modern vehicles, that are also fuel efficient, will raise service standards and reduce costs but CAPEX budgets prevent this. Analysis of detailed maintenance history reporting will assist in targeting the real problem vehicles and planning future replacements.
Improving the efficiency of municipal fleets should be considered a priority to raise service levels, and the expected efficiency and cost management gains will prove to be of great benefit.