GUEST EDITORIAL
Every fleet manager is looking for opportunities
to improve effi ciency and save money. We
consider many “what-if” scenarios looking for
the best return. Should we keep assets longer or
replace with new? Do drivers and technicians
need more training? Should we automate more,
or change maintenance practices?
Th ese, and many other such “what-ifs”
require a sound approach to analyzing the
best plan of action.
For example, if you’re considering replacing
trucks you believe are getting too expensive
to maintain, have you compared their maintenance
costs to new trucks? Newer units may
have higher maintenance costs due to emissions
equipment and other complexities. If
some of the maintenance costs in your existing
fl eet are accident- or abuse-related, newer
units won’t make those costs go away.
Poor or incomplete data
leads to flawed analysis
No one wants to invest time and money in a
strategy and then get a sub-standard, or even
50 Fleet Maintenance | March 2018
negative, return. Th ere’s an old phrase that
goes back to when businesses fi rst started
using computers: “garbage in, garbage out.” In
other words, the quality of reporting that you
get from your system is directly related to the
accuracy of the data that gets entered.
Th e bad data input problem is magnifi ed if
you are using two years of fl eet cost data and
projecting it forward; now the $5,000 of cost
captured in the wrong Vehicle Maintenance
Reporting Standards (VMRS) code becomes
$10,000, and if you have 100 assets in that
category, becomes $1 million. Little mistakes
can compound to create skewed results and
seriously impact conclusions. So how can you
apply best practices for capturing and categorizing
costs on your existing assets, to make
sure that the basis for your analysis is valid, as
well as identifying some oft -forgotten hidden
or soft costs in new scenarios?
If you have a good computerized maintenance
management system (CMMS), you
already have the tool that you need most.
Good systems make the process of complete
data capture part of normal workfl ow. If basic
data capture is easy but being specifi c requires
the technician to take extra time, you can be
sure the extra data will seldom be there. A
good example is if your system supports the
full nine-digit VMRS coding for parts and labor,
make sure that those functions are enabled.
A real-world example
Your company starts servicing a new region
and builds a new shop. Unfortunately,
construction runs long, and startup is rushed.
Scenario A: Since there is very little time
to get the parts room set up, parts are only
coded with the top-level VMRS system code.
In addition, the assistant fl eet manager who
was supposed to set up the Standard Repair
Tasks/Times (SRTs) took another job and SRTs
were never implemented. Th e situation you
have now have is that your system captures
the maintenance cost in terms of parts and
labor, but only at a high level.
Aft er running for a few years, your gut tells
you that your brake repair costs and frequency
seem high based on your experience, and when
you run repair cost reports you see that brakes
are indeed a problem. But now what? Your parts
and labor data only reveals high brake costs.
Th ere are several possibilities:
Driver abuse
Poor quality repairs/PMs, which may be a
technician training issue
Aft ermarket parts quality versus OE parts
Incomplete/poor repair data capture
Unfortunately, trying to identify which of
the above is the real issue will now require a
potentially time-consuming manual review of
driver, repair and parts data.
Scenario B: When you start up your new
shop, you bite the bullet and pay the parts
team to get parts coded to full nine-digit
VRMS (system, assembly, component). Since
you don’t have the manpower to immediately
defi ne your SRTs, you set aside a few hours a
week and knock them out one or two at a time,
beginning with the most common repairs. It
takes a while, but once fi nished, you have a
much better benchmark in terms of repair
labor by task and technician. Now when that
higher-than-expected brake repair cost problem
appears, you have the same possibilities;
but the data you have been capturing allows
you much faster identifi cation and correction.
In the situation above, the issue turns out
to be an otherwise good technician who was
skipping the full caliper inspection as part of
the brake service (and corroded caliper slides
or pins were causing the premature pad wear).
Your SRT reporting would have shown that this
particular tech typically fi nished the job faster
than others, and that would be a red fl ag.
With bad or incomplete data, you may have
incorrectly drawn a connection to a driver or
drivers, and then chased the wrong solution
while the real problem remained.
Upfront investment
delivers returns
Note that having this good data wouldn’t
create any additional data entry work for your
techs, parts room or even clerks because all
of the defi nitions had already been set up;
that’s the key.
Th e above issues could play out in hundreds
of diff erent ways in your fl eet; between your
assets, parts, techs, drivers, climate, etc., there
are a lot of potential causes. Having solid and
complete data allows you to really manage
“what-ifs” with some confi dence.
If you don’t have a CMMS, you need one. If you
do, make sure that you are using it to its fullest.
Use your CMMS
and know your costs
Don’t let “what if?” become “what happened?”
By Bob Hausler
VICE PRESIDENT, MARKETING & TECHNOLOGY,
DOSSIER SYSTEMS
Dossier Systems (dossiersystemsinc.com) is an industry
leading provider of fleet maintenance software and
solutions. Dossier software helps clients to increase efficiency
and profitability, while also ensuring safe operation
and regulatory compliance. Hausler is responsible for
marketing and product development at the company, and
has over 35 years of experience delivering software and
services for fleet and industrial applications.
» Use your CMMS to
identify issues with
procedures or data.
Dossier’s Standard
Repair Times (SRT)
reporting identifies
technician times above/
below SRT. Times well
below SRT may mean
tasks are being skipped.
Image courtesy of Dossier Systems
/dossiersystemsinc.com