I’ve met very few fleet managers over the course of my fleet career that felt comfortable with current pre and post trip inspections. Actually, the most common response I get is some sort of a laugh or giggle when asking about pre and post trip inspections…indicating little faith in the current inspection program. That chuckle however, seems to go away when the next question is asked about tires and pre/post trip inspections — “how confident are you that none of the vehicles subject to these inspections left the yard with low tire pressure?”
You may have heard me say this in the past, an early lesson I learned from my fleet mentor was a valuable one, “it’s the basic things, or the lack of knowledge about basic things that seem to get fleet managers in trouble.” For example, in the previous fleet I managed, I knew we had about about 2038 vehicles (depending on vehicles incoming or outgoing), about 320 marked police vehicles, fleet consumed about 1.2 million gallons of unleaded gasoline and 800,000 gallons of diesel fuel, we had 38 technicians with a few vacancies in every shop….many more basic (and more detailed facts) I could regurgitate at anytime to demonstrate I had a good understanding of our operation. Basic questions came up often from upper management, on the spot in meetings, not having answers was simply not acceptable.
The complexity of the fleet management job increases as technology evolves, but the core, albeit now basic, data stays the same. If technology is used to your advantage, access to basic data can be very powerful. Take for example the early days of Telematics, knowledge of idle time made a huge impact, yet that data is basic stuff. What about tire pressure? Yup, basic stuff. But knowing that basic data everyday, in real-time, makes it easier to keep drivers safe, vehicles within compliance, and help avoid expensive roadcalls, tow bills, and reduce disruption to productivity.
Say for example you could receive a daily pre and post trip tire inspection report. You’d have at your fingertips access to compliance related tire issues. Even more interesting, what if you could receive a report everyday to indicate actions that need to be taken on specific tires in your fleet before they go out on the road that day. At the Move America Virtual Conference earlier this month, Jeff Kaelin, Vice President of Avis Budget Group nailed this when he said “even something as simple as tire pressure…it doesn’t grab headlines, but instead of having to check every tire on every vehicle, we have 600,000 vehicles and 2.4 million tires, the ability to know which 2,350 need your attention, is a really impressive change in the way you manage a business.”
Sometimes the biggest positive impacts to your fleet can be delivered by making simple adjustments in response to new data. I agree 100% — data alone isn’t the answer to solving problems or making meaningful adjustments. Data, Analytics, and Action is the recipe for success. A basic requirement of new technology in this data age should be data that is processed for you that proposes next steps with clear actions. This is at the core of Revvo Tire Management Platform, processed data with clear action. Tire problems happen out on the road, not in your shop. Have eyes on your tires in between shop visits. Be Proactive! Check out Revvo’s Tire Management Platform!
