When selecting organizational and management tools for your fleet, the uncertainty of many external factors is a pain point for most managers. Fleet managers of trucks, transportation, car rentals and taxi companies are always pivoting and problem solving on the spot.
Whether it’s about safety, regulations, a pandemic or even seasonal weather, the need for a good and well oiled fleet inspection system becomes immediately clear. In a field that can often become volatile and dangerous, whatever can be controlled should be controlled well, and with the best tools at your disposal.
A fleet managers job most often revolves around six tasks:
- Driver safety
- Driver/ staff retention
- Fleet tracking
- Electronic Logging Device compliance
- Total cost reduction
- Vehicle Acquisitions
A well designed software service will be easily equipped to handle all these tasks, and help prevent and foresee any needs that may come up in the future.
Preventative Maintenance is Key
As with most good practices, prevention is better. It is less time consuming and financially efficient vs. damage control. An inspection checklist that’s connected and easily shareable alone can maximize the availability of vehicles and save thousands of staff inspection hours, safety protocol issues and maintenance upkeep fees.
With Field Eagle, controlling the life cycle of your fleet is made paperless, secure, private and efficient as you select from a range of options specifically created to catch safety regulation issues and defects. Your team of technicians, safety officers, and staff will have access to alert of any issues, point out defects and potential problems, and will have access to reports, updated information, visuals and more at the click of a button on any tablet available.
Scheduled maintenance, repairs and inspections are simpler to control, plan and schedule, shaving the cost and time necessary to complete a job, especially when working with a sizeable fleet of automotives.
Keep Track of your Maintenance Checklists
There are two fleet maintenance methods: preventative and reactive. We’ve discussed the reasons why companies should ensure prevention, but the reality is, reactive services and maintenance is going to be just as likely in a field that faces many unknowns and unexpected roadblocks. No one can prepare for it all, but it is possible that a reactive plan be ready in place so you can deal with problems faster and more effectively.
An effective PM program should include a task list of safety items and preventative maintenance. The Field Eagle software is designed with inspections and planning in mind. Keeping track of inspections so they can be accessed quickly from any location is incredibly valuable for time sensitive issues. Quick, secure access and accuracy are key in tracking maintenance checklists.
Because maintenance and repair costs are considered a variable operating expense, fleet managers will be expected to track parts, labor, vendors, fuel supplies, and even collisions. These costs need to be monitored and analyzed routinely to determine which vehicles cost the most, require repairs, or even which vehicles are better suited to which tasks. Such information aides in future spending, budgeting and cost cutting plans.
Maintenance checklists allow a business to deal reactively, proactively and to see patterns and issues before they arise, allowing for better preparation, document sharing between inspectors and up to date paperwork that doesn’t risk additional government fines.
Predict Future Failures
Getting real-time visibility into the working, efficiency and safety of a fleet is important for any fleet manager. As with any well documented accrued data, patterns of issues, successes and needs will start to emerge. These are invaluable in helping maintenance and managers foresee any problems the fleet may have, or has had, and will be utilized in order to plan trails, organize fleets, and repair and purchase additional vehicles and hardware. Most notably, manual systems are slow, hard to conglomerate and share across departments and with inspectors, and take up more manpower and employee hours than necessary.
Analyzing the results of inspections that are easily uploaded and kept in a system designed to make inspections and reporting easy is a safety net. For an industry in which vehicles often fail to pass inspections, or have unplanned issues arise, any information that can be taken and applied to future troubleshooting is valuable. It is easier to predict which vehicles will need maintenance more often, which locations are more damaging, or face tougher weather, which geolocations may be more prone to vehicle damage or even what product can result in requiring a post-delivery vehicle checkup.
Field Eagle helps your Fleet keep Rolling
Field Eagle technology allows for many of these small problems to remain just that, small checks in a constantly evolving and shifting ecosystem. The software can help with checking that maintenance has been completed and connect the information drivers are sharing in real-time. The software can be used to update any changing laws or regulations, and help inspectors predict problems before they happen.
Reporting and data are made easy with Field Eagle, and information stored can become not just a smart move financially, but a wealth of information and support for your fleet, creating a safer working environment. Efficiency is money, and the Field Eagle system is geared single mindedly towards first and foremost, maximizing the efficiency and organization of your fleet.
If you want to see how Field Eagle can keep your fleet rolling, fill out the form below or click here or register for our 15-Day Free Trial.
