Fleet Preventative Maintenance

Perhaps you already have a good grip on the little details of successful fleet management, like buying fuel-efficient vehicles, tracking metrics, and making your drivers go through a rigorous training program. But maybe you haven’t given a thought to improving preventive maintenance.

Here’s the kicker: Fleet managers know the importance of preventive maintenance, but they don’t completely understand how it impacts overall costs, hence the reason why they neglect the need to look into improving preventive maintenance.
Overall costs are reduced from an efficient PM system because:

• Vehicle life expectancy increases
• The need for major repairs is reduced
• Fewer breakdowns occur
• Well-maintained vehicles perform good in terms of fuel mileage

Due to these reasons, it can work in your fleet’s favor to make the process more efficient. Here’s how you can work towards improving your preventive maintenance program:

1. Use an SRM platform for improving preventive maintenance

It’s not easy to track PM currency and not all fleet managers know that vehicles are maintained according to the actual schedule. That’s where a SRM (Service Relationship Management) platform comes in handy. It provides notifications about scheduled PMs and if the maintenance is deterred, it will be recorded as a pending operation.

Also, in addition to capturing data from maintenance events, the SRM system will also capture data from repair events. Fleet managers can use all the data, including VMRS-coded events, to see breakdowns between PMs, so that improving preventing maintenance schedules becomes a possibility.

2. Evaluate Performance for Meeting Standards

An effective preventive maintenance program requires you to regularly meet the established standards and procedures. But in many cases, when fleet managers evaluate the performance of their efforts, they find there are gaps that need to be filled. For instance the standard PM list may reveal that you missed out on a task or two.

So when that happens, you need to fine tune your performance and get it back on track. You can skip tasks that show no signs of problems, but continue monitoring the performance regardless. For instance, the group of vehicles that came in last month may include one that didn’t go under the full schedule, so other vehicles can be skipped and only that vehicle can be worked upon.

3. Invest In a Fleet Management Software

A fleet management software with PM-supported features will automate all tasks of maintenance operations, such as noting down data related to equipment history, preventive maintenance records, procurement details, parts expenses, vehicle scheduling and labor costs. You will have better control over vehicle downtime by recording TCO, including usage.

Also, the software will give you greater insight into the status of your vehicle equipment, allowing you to be proactive in scheduling frequent repairs, replacement, or service. In the end, better upkeep is going to last longer, and prolong the lifespan of your vehicles.

By taking these measures, you’d be on your way to improving preventive maintenance of your fleet. Let us know in the comments section if you can think of additional ways by which fleet managers can optimize PM processes.