While determining how to make a shop more efficient can be a daunting task, creating a roadmap can aid in setting clear goals throughout the process.
When it comes to addressing operations in your shop for improved efficiency, there is a simple checklist to consider:
- Complete an analysis
- Review the data
- Create a plan
- Implement the plan
Beginning this process requires dedicated staff and, typically, an outside service provider to aid in providing evaluation, feedback and suggested changes.
There may be some obvious inefficiencies of the business, while others may be revealed only after a more thorough analysis.
Analyzing current operations
The first step to improving shop processes and procedures begins with a thorough evaluation of current operations, says Taki Darakos, Vice President of Maintenance, Transervice.
Transervice (transervice.com) offers full-service leasing, contract maintenance, driver and logistics support, warranty recovery and material handling maintenance.
Oftentimes, fleets may opt to hire a consulting company, like Transervice for example, to provide an outside perspective to evaluate existing shop layout and processes.
“Having an outside set of eyes look and offer some suggestions can help,” Darakos says. “We typically do this as part of our initial sales consultation, but also have metrics that we measure on an ongoing basis.”
Some questions to consider during an evaluation include:
- What does the fleet look like? (Types of vehicles serviced, size of fleet ,etc)
- What kind of downtime are shops experiencing?
- What kind of staffing is in place?
- Can improvements on shop layout or the cost of parts they buy or carry be made?
- Are there opportunities to make customer routing more efficient?
- Are they having a hard time finding or retaining drivers?
The comparative analysis can be particularly helpful for smaller fleets. One such example looks at the decision to partner with a national parts program or tire program when it comes to parts usage.
“Many times smaller fleets do not have this level of data or the relationships [to easily obtain this data],” Darakos explains. “We have found many that still use paper and spreadsheets to track maintenance expenses. We can give them visibility. We can also do comparisons to see how their current cost per mile compares to enterprise-wide data. Is it higher or lower? Where are the differences?”
While an initial analysis is a first step, it’s important to continue analyzing operations going forward to help improve the operator, technician and overall operating costs, Darakos says.
One example includes equipment spec’ing, since a fleet’s asset portfolio is ever-evolving. Darakos suggests reviewing operations on an annual basis to confirm if changes in tools and equipment, staff training or shop layout need to be addressed. Shop layout in particular can have a critical impact on efficiency.
“We have had existing shops that had been in place for years,” Darakos says. “By moving around the parts area, shop computers, toolbox storage, etc. we are able to become more efficient. No one really thought of this because it had always been that way.”
Review the data
Evaluating an operation’s efficiency starts by figuring out which questions to ask. The next step is to figure out how to answer those questions. To do this, reviewing data offers an overview of current and prospective processes.
Fleets can work with a contracted service provider, or use a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) to access and review this data. A CMMS can provide both real-time information as well as repair and service history for both the individual vehicle and trends for the entire fleet.
Overall, the most common CMMS features utilized by fleets are:
- Preventative maintenance (PM) management. Optimizing maintenance schedules.
- Inventory tracking. Better management of inventory can improve the buying process.
- Labor tracking. Figure out standard labor times, and how long, on average, it takes to complete specific tasks.
- Financial system integration. Further improvements on purchasing data.
From a vehicle perspective, a CMMS provides an overview of what has already been repaired or serviced on the vehicle previously, including which parts were replaced, the technician responsible for the last repair and how long it was in the shop.
As information is accrued for each vehicle, a collective set of data offers the ability to review operations across the fleet. In particular, exception reporting – or reports that highlight irregular conditions or discrepancies outside of the typical operation parameters set by a fleet – can provide measurable performance. For instance, Renaldo Adler explains, data history could determine a brake system problem with a specific type of truck, or it can highlight reoccurring repairs. Adler is the Principal of Asset Maintenance for TMW Systems, a developer of management software including logistics, freight and maintenance and repair (tmwsystems.com).
By having record of the service history of the fleet vehicles, a CMMS also allows fleets to more optimally maintain CSA compliance, Adler adds.
This large amount of data can be seamlessly analyzed by a CMMS to provide a quantitative measurement of different processes, allowing a fleet to set benchmarks and measure success. These data sets are known as key performance indicators, or KPIs.
Some common KPIs used by fleets, according to Transervice’s Darakos, include: Cost Per Mile, On Time Service, PM Currency, Equipment Uptime, Utilization, Inventory Turnover, Parts Pricing, Equipment Acquisition Costs and Safety (DART Rate, Accident Rate), to name a few.
Reviewing incremental changes can help fleets adjust different aspects of their operation, such as improved scheduling or more efficient maintenance cycles.
“Along with scheduling, you know you can plan for when this truck needs to come in, to forecast and manage your shop better – whether it’s the people, the parts or the equipment coming in,” Adler says.
Having data to back up the proposed plan can reaffirm the decision to make a change.
Be predictive to be proactive
Implementing a maintenance management system allows fleets to take the data obtained through daily operations, along with collective shared data amassed from the software provider, to make more informed decisions on optimizing vehicle service and general operations.
“If you don’t have a maintenance system, you’re probably doing a lot of reactive maintenance,” TMW’s Adler says.
Previously, only larger fleet operations had access to extensive data in order to complete predictive analysis. With the advent of cloud services – where information is housed and accessible over the Internet, versus a local computer - many smaller fleets can now benefit from analyzing data to make incremental changes to their operations as well.
“With the new evolution of the cloud and everybody putting data out there, you can start getting that data and more people can have access to it,” Adler says.
The cloud allows for a collection of data from fleets, the software companies and public data – such as weather and geographic location conditions – which software companies then input into their proprietary algorithms to provide usable information to make sound business decisions.
“Better information reduces downtime,” Adler says. “If I can get that truck back on the road quicker, I save money.”
Get everyone on board
Optimizing schedules doesn’t just mean with vehicle maintenance; it can refer to staff schedules as well. Knowing what to expect – to a certain extent – also allows fleets to assign tasks to technicians or employees based on skillset, according to TMW’s Adler.
Adler also advises the CMMS be available not only for management, but technicians and employees working in the shop.
“We actually have kiosks where the technician is working from, and he gets messages – ‘here’s what you need to do,’ ‘here’s what we did the last time we worked on this’ or ‘this part is under warranty,’” Adler says. “The technician is getting real-time information and he’s able to do his job better. If you can push it down to the shop floor, you can pick up a lot of efficiencies.”
Adler says some management may argue they do not want technicians working on computers, instead spending time servicing vehicles. But, he counters, the computer and software can make the technician more efficient by serving as a resource to record issues and/or service on the vehicle immediately, as well as provide the means to look up the vehicle’s history, look up and order parts, etc.
It’s important to note that any implemented changes may affect the entire organization. Employees handling more routine day-to-day operations, like technicians, and those who manage larger projects and long-term company outlook, like management, need to be in sync.
Before making decisions be clear with all departments and staff – including technicians, managers and corporate – that a process or procedure change is happening.
It’s important to fully communicate and engage with staff and management alike to ensure everyone understands the end goals and why changes are being made.
Conclusion
Change will not occur overnight, and the full process must be followed through in order to see results.
Continually review processes, making changes when necessary, to remain efficient.
“You have to consistently be re-evaluating what you are doing and how,” Transervice’s Darakos says. “Without this your costs gradually increase and you lose your competitive edge in the marketplace.”
