When discussing the high costs of fleet management, our customers often tell us fuel consumption is on par with expenses related to labor. In fact, they tend to complement each other in transparent and trackable ways. The most obvious is when your fleet increases in size, so do labor and fuel expenses. However, the relational increase isn’t always a one-to-one ratio. The question is why it sometimes seems to increase exponentially.
Fleet managers work as resource managers across several industries, including mining, construction, public works, public transit, transportation, and more. Whether they direct fleets of a few vehicles or massive ones with thousands of pieces of equipment, the two constants are their assets: vehicles and people. Their main challenge remains accountability for where and how operational expense data is collected. For most of them, a fully automated and integrated fuel/fleet management system, or FMS, shows the detailed breakdown of where the money is going and leads to the implementation of solutions for turning loss into profit.
By being connected to the vehicle’s on-board computer, an automated FMS can record and report:
1 - Fluid consumption: fuel, oil, brake & windshield fluids, etc.
2 - Mileage and geolocation
3 - Idle vs driving time.
4 - Driver behavior
5 - Security & maintenance data (meter values, recalls, inspections, etc.)
Keeping track of fuel/fluid consumption is one thing, but knowing how they are being used is more valuable. An FMS with ‘secure user’ & ‘vehicle identification’ functions gives you driver behaviors: routes & destinations, how fast they go, and how long they leave the car idling when stopped. With this data, we can determine irregularities such as fuel leaks, route deviations, and misuse of vehicles (fraud/theft), and eliminate human error from manual data entry. The fleet manager can now address the human resource component of his expense equation. The automated FMS also automatically captures vehicle engine data and dashboard warnings necessary for preventive maintenance plans. Getting a better view of driver behavior permits the opportunity for better training, control, and direction.
As you can see, an FMS's benefit goes beyond reducing operational costs; it is the key to improving your profit margins. If you would like to learn more about the benefits of an FMS or where our clients have used the SM2 fleet management platform, please feel free to contact us. We are always eager to hear from you and help you with your unique needs. Or start a conversation and ask your questions here on our blog. The Coencorp team is always excited to answer your questions.