Chris Aiello Time to balance out your dealer operations to lessen employee fatigue and low morale
I recently attended the MHEDA’s Annual Convention and Exhibitor Showcase and as always, came home with some great takeaways and new industry connections. The theme of this year’s convention was ‘The Human Factor’, which is the topic at the heart of every organization. One topic specifically addressed employee burnout. As one of the 2023 MHEDA material handling business trends states: ‘Some employees are experiencing worker fatigue and low morale due to current pressures in and out of the workplace. Leaders must be cognizant of this and provide support when and where needed.’
That statement surely resonates, as I find that in many operational instances, positions like Operations Managers or Service Managers at your dealership are asked to wear many ‘hats’. One of these many ‘hats’ sometimes includes the management of their fleet of service vehicles. This could be a daunting responsibility and can take their focus away from your dealership’s core business: selling parts and services along with providing new, used, rental equipment to your customers and prospective customers.
It can be a complex and time-consuming process to research and purchase the right fleet vehicle to meet your dealership’s needs, especially since the performance of your service vehicle fleet can be directly related to your service technician’s productivity and profitability. Think about some of the pain points that come along with managing a fleet of service vehicles:
- Purchase Cycle Management: Sourcing and procuring the vehicles in the fleet and dealing with tax, titling, registration, and certifications.
- Upfitting: Ensuring the vehicle is equipped with proper storage and tools.
- Branding: Having the vehicle wrapped or painted with the company logo and design.
- Maintenance and Repairs: Ensuring regular maintenance and timely repairs of the service vehicles can be a significant challenge. Coordinating service schedules, handling unexpected breakdowns, and minimizing downtime of the vehicle and non-billable time of your service technician.
- Fleet Tracking and Visibility: Maintaining visibility and tracking the location, utilization, and performance of each service vehicle in the fleet can be complex. Identifying inefficiencies, optimizing routes, and monitoring fuel consumption.
- Compliance and Safety: Ensuring compliance with regulations and safety standards.
- Cost Control and Budgeting: Managing costs and optimizing the budget for the fleet can be a challenge. Controlling fuel expenses, minimizing overtime, and identifying cost-saving opportunities while maintaining service quality can pose difficulties. How efficient and profitable are your service routes?
Fleet Management/Cost of Ownership
Think about the same ‘cost of ownership’ value-added sale you make to your customer for a new lift truck with scheduled maintenance for parts and service that your dealership offers. These same principles hold true to your service vehicle fleet. If your Operation or Service Managers are tasked with the fleet management of your service vehicles, you are asking them to take on a lot of these tasks, you are asking them to do the following:
- Vehicle Selection: Considering factors such as payload capacity, fuel efficiency, maintenance costs, and reliability of the vehicles.
- Regular Maintenance: Keeping the service vehicles in optimal condition by having regular inspections, oil changes, tire rotations, and other recommended maintenance tasks.
- Fuel Management and Fleet Tracking: Monitor and manage service vehicle fuel consumption. Manage fuel cards or telematics systems (if chosen) to track vehicle fuel usage and identify any discrepancies or excessive consumption. Manage fuel-saving activities such as avoiding idling, reducing speeding, and planning efficient routes.
- Vehicle and Driver Records: Keep detailed logs of which technicians are handling which vehicles, the condition of the vehicle, mileage before and after shifts, tire conditions, fuel costs, maintenance history for each vehicle, etc. Constantly analyze this data and make decisions accordingly. For example, is one vehicle’s fuel costs higher than the rest?
- Lifecycle Planning: Manage aging fleets and avoid higher maintenance costs. Having to decide the optimal time for vehicle replacements or upgrades while analyzing factors such as maintenance costs and depreciation.
This is a lot to ask of your Operation or Service Manager to manage. Think of how much time they will have to devote to this that takes them away from focusing on and managing your core business. Let us explore some other key components of effective service vehicle fleet management.
Customer Experience
Service vehicles with your company logo act as moving billboards, increasing brand visibility and awareness. As they travel to different locations, they attract attention and help build brand recognition among potential customers. Clean and uniform service vehicles convey a sense of professionalism and credibility. When customers see well-maintained vehicles with a consistent brand image, it enhances their perception of your company’s reliability and quality of service.
Having clean and branded service vehicles sets your dealership apart from competitors who may have generic or unbranded vehicles. It gives you a competitive edge by showcasing your commitment to professionalism, attention to detail, and overall brand image.
Providing clean and uniform service vehicles with your company logo can also boost employee pride and morale. It gives them a sense of belonging and identification with your company, which can positively impact their performance and customer interactions.
Does your service vehicle fleet showcase your overall brand image? Are your service vehicles clean and uniform? Are your technicians proud to drive and work out of your service vehicle fleet?
Storage
It is important to optimize storage and organization while utilizing bins, drawers, and shelves in your service van to keep parts organized and easily accessible. Additionally, what does your customer see when your service technician opens their van?
Consider the vehicle layout and storage solutions; is the layout and storage standardized across your fleet? If a technician has to move out of an old van into a new van, how long does that take? If the layout is standardized across the fleet, then it should be a simple move of tools and parts inventory. This will also reduce the amount of non-billable labor hours to accommodate the move.
Parts Inventory
Remember to regularly evaluate and adjust your parts stocking strategy based on the specific needs of your material handling and lift truck service business. As former MH Wholesaler aftermarket columnist Dave Baiocchi once said, “Anticipating parts sales opportunities by equipping vans with data-driven inventories vastly improves the customer experience. Learn how to analyze your service database in order to adjust van stock based on “relevancy.” Leverage equipment sales data to make strategic inventory decisions, based on awareness of your inventory’s “sweet spot.” Choose van inventory based on future OPPORTUNITIES, instead of historical TURNS.”
Solutions
Vehicle upfitters that specialize in fleet vehicles and offer various services for customization and modifications can help you with fleet management. Research and compare multiple providers based on your specific requirements and location.
One of the newest MHEDA members that I met at this year’s MHEDA Annual Convention was Olathe Fleet Solutions. They are a fully integrated fleet management company. They offer a unique fleet management solution that is tailored to your business including purchasing of the vehicle, title and registration, upfitting, logistics and ship-thru, support and telematics, and trade cycle. They also provide full visibility of the total cost of ownership, management of maintenance records of individual vehicles. By properly managing a company’s service fleet, they can help reduce costs, minimize downtime, and organize the fleet. According to Mark Ronnebaum, Fleet Manager at Olathe Fleet Solutions, “Our maintenance record database shows, at 120,000 miles, the monthly service spend of service vehicles tends to climb. That’s when you need a solution to get that service vehicle replaced. Non-productive service vehicles equal unbillable hours.”
Another company of note, Knapheide, specializes in the manufacturing and upfitting of work trucks and service bodies. They provide customization options for various industries, including material handling, and offer a range of features and accessories. Knapheide’s vehicle upfitting capabilities handle everything from single-unit to large-volume fleet needs across all vehicle types and sizes.
According to Tyler Coverdell, a sales representative with Knapheide, “Given the current chassis shortage, finding a truck on the ground is difficult. Finding and retaining a qualified tech is even harder. Being proactive and thinking about the intangible cost of spec’ing for creature comforts a tech might want to add helps retain existing employees and can be a bonus when trying to onboard new staff. In today’s climate, nothing is cheaper tomorrow than it was today.”
Certainly, fleet management has a direct impact on your dealership’s bottom line. So, ask yourself, is the management of your service vehicle fleet a task that you want your Operation or Service Manager to continue to take on? Does it make sense to outsource to a third-party fleet management and upfitter company? Effective fleet management can lead to increased driver efficiency, well-maintained vehicles, higher productivity, improved budget planning, and more, which all affect the profitability of your dealership.
About the Author:
Chris Aiello is the Business Development Manager at TVH Parts Co. He has been in the equipment business for 16-plus years as a service manager, quality assurance manager, and business development manager. Chris now manages a national outside sales team selling replacement parts and accessories in various equipment markets such as material handling, equipment rental, and construction/earthmoving dealerships.
