Fleet managers in any cooperation, be it big or small are always on their toes, pruning through pressure to get the fleet vehicles running smoothly.
However, among all the pivotal responsibilities that a fleet manager dons, tracking fleet metrics is most important given its impact on the
bottom line of fleet business management.
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Metrics that the fleet manager should abide by:
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1. Distance Travelled
A preventive vehicle health maintenance plan that can help track the
fleet health to keep all vehicles running optimally which in turn decrease fuel consumption and keeps the vehicle maintenance costs to a bare minimum. This, in turn, results in lesser vehicle break downs. Utilising a fleet management software can help with automating trip data to set up custom alerts and notifications so that the fleet can have their maintenance checks on time.
2. Vehicle Inspection Data
If the fleet manager has a keen eye for identifying patterns that impact the everyday performance of a running fleet, early tweaks or changes can be made to deliver greater efficiency across the fleet on a regular basis.
“Analysing vehicle inspection data keeps your fleet vehicles compliance-ready all round the year. The vehicle data generated helps in strategizing solutions that help in optimising a fleet business better. .”
3. Fuel Usage & Costing
Based on findings from independent bodies across the globe, it has been observed that the fuel prices have surged monumentally in the last 10 years, recording the sharpest spike in the energy sector. Tracking fuel consumption and monitoring cost per mile expenses gives fleet managers valuable insights on how efficiently a fleet is running. The data generated across vehicles can be subject to interpretation to understand vehicle performance, driver behaviour and
route optimisation to lower fuel usage and corresponding costs.
4. Vehicle Repair Times
The cost of keeping a vehicle idle due to downtime tends to eat into the revenue stream of a fleet business. By identifying factors like how long the vehicle is housed at the workshop, the duration of the repair times and how the repairs are being carried out – whether in-house or through a third-party arrangement can help fleet managers make better decisions. A
fleet management software can help set custom alerts and notifications or even act as a digitised logbook to keep track of vehicles on the field, under repair, including the ones due for periodic maintenance.
5. On-Board Vehicle Readings
The on-board meters on any fleet vehicle contain loads of data to play around with. Most of these readings can be deduced to discover mileage per hour, driving behaviour and routes chosen while at
field service and total distance travelled on a given day. Using a
fleet management system, a fleet administrator can better understand the data collated from on-board vehicle readings to optimise and run fleet vehicles better.
6. Inventory Management
Maintaining and tracking inventory can help in avoiding a shortage of assets to eliminate or reduce downtime. For instance, if a vehicle doesn’t require any repairs, it can be allowed to carry out field services. A fleet manager can keep the inventory of vehicles up-to-date using fleet management software. By employing such a solution, it is possible to run fleets efficiently and automate the delivery and dispatch effortlessly.
7. Fleet Vehicle Turnover
A fleet manager understands the importance of running a fleet efficiently. However, even though it is expensive procuring new vehicles for any fleet-based business, the operational costs of keeping an old fleet running is far more expensive. It is proven that not only do older vehicles require more frequent maintenance compared to new ones, but they also tend to operate at lower levels compared to newer vehicles on the field. Using fleet management software, a fleet manager can easily decide the exact time to release older vehicles and replace them with newer variants to boost the productivity of a fleet business.
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A fleet business should always implore the possibilities of investing in newer solutions, expand reach beyond the generic norms, explore opportunities beyond the current portfolio and always be versatile to revamp. adapt and reinvent itself based on the current market and technological trends.
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With Linxio, maintaining your fleet vehicles is easier through our future-ready telematics solutions that offer real-time vehicle GPS tracking, geofencing alerts and notifications, digitised logbooks and better driver communication.
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To learn more, give us a call or get a 30 day free trial on all our fleet solutions.
