In recent surveys, over 400 fleet members of the American Trucking Association's Technology & Maintenance Council provided insight into their top maintenance challenges. More than 80 choices were available, and they consistently chose technician shortages and staffing, as well as emissions and aftertreatment systems issues, as their top concerns. Other notable entries included cost containment, breakdowns, parts shortages, and new equipment availability.
Using our company’s Service Relationship Management (SRM) platform, we can dig into why these topics have presented challenges for fleets. Each quarter, Decisiv collects and analyzes data on more than 97% of total parts and labor costs for more than 7 million assets and over 300,000 monthly maintenance and repair events. Based on our analysis of 25 VMRS System Codes, we’ve found the following regarding members’ top concerns.
Technician shortages and staffing
While labor costs fell 0.2% in the most recent quarterly reports, the decline was at a slower rate; in an annual comparison, they rose 4.0%. Labor costs are also consistently higher relative to parts pricing.
That industry-wide challenge for fleets and service providers is expected to continue as baby boomers age and fewer workers enter vocational education programs. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that employment of diesel service technicians is projected to grow 4% from 2021 to 2031, creating about 28,500 openings for diesel service technicians each year, on average, over the decade. Those metrics point to an ongoing need to spend more to attract technicians.
Aftertreatment and emissions
Between the past two quarters combined, parts and labor costs for powertrain service decreased 3.4%, reversing increases of 1.4% and 2.0% in the two prior periods. The bulk of the decrease came from a 4.3% drop in parts costs. On a year-over-year (YoY) basis, combined costs were down 0.6%, with 1.8% lower parts costs and 1.7% higher labor expenses. Following a 0.5% increase in the previous quarter, combined parts and labor costs for exhaust system service rose 2.1%, with labor accounting for most of the higher expenses. YoY exhaust costs went up 6.2%, with an 11.6% rise in labor expenses and a smaller increase of 3.3% in parts costs.
Cost containment
Decisiv reports that combined parts and labor costs were down 1.4% in 2023 Q4, reversing the upward trend seen in 2023 Q3 when the costs increased by 2.1%. The decrease was driven largely by parts expenses, which dropped 2.2% in 2023 Q4. On a YoY basis, combined parts and labor costs in 2023 Q4 were 0.2% higher than the same quarter in 2022.
Read more: How to improve technician-related KPIs
Parts shortages
Lower parts costs may reflect a decline in freight tonnage, which has led to a decrease in mileage for trucking companies. Overall, quarter-over-quarter and YoY parts cost decreases are good news for fleets and service providers. This could indicate that inflationary pressures on parts pricing are easing as supply chains return to normal levels, and more new trucks are placed in service.
Service management technology reliability
Other concerns indicated by TMC members included the reliability of outsourcing and service management technologies. More than 74,000 fleets and over 5,000 service locations across North America enter an average of 4 million commercial vehicle service and repair events annually in Decisiv’s platform. We found that SRM platforms offer many benefits:
- They serve as a hub for connected vehicle, service event, history, and other actionable, in-context information. Data at the point of service also reduces triage and diagnostic time, speeding repairs. The result has been an overall reduction of 33% in downtime with the Decisiv platform.
- The system enables predictive maintenance with fault and meter data and notifications to schedule repairs. Costly breakdowns can be avoided when inspection and diagnostic information is used to schedule service.
- They provide more effective communication between fleets and service providers for greater visibility during service events. The higher level of connectivity leads to lower costs and a measurable reduction in downtime.
- SRM platforms facilitate direct engagement with manufacturers and technology providers through a range of integrated solutions, which enables better insights into asset performance and management practices.
- These solutions identify potential bottlenecks and inefficiencies in the service process, making them key to finding opportunities to implement best practices. For example, the Decisiv SRM Discovery Status Tracker provides a view into time intervals spent on check-in, estimate creation, waiting on parts, and more across service operations, between departments, locations, and timeframes, as well as within a single status event.
With programs and practices, fleet managers and service providers are working tirelessly to meet their challenges. By taking advantage of industry-wide service event data to gain insight into their operations and analyze costs, they can also proactively implement practices that help them drive efficiency and profitability.
Dick Hyatt is the president and CEO of Decisiv Inc., provider of the largest asset service management ecosystem for the commercial vehicle industry in North America. He has spent over 20 years at Decisiv, focusing on building a world-class team of industry and technology experts and delivering high-quality, profit-improving products and services. For more information, visit www.decisiv.com.
