Coencorp Blog

Ambulance Chasers with a Conscience

Did you know that Texas and California lead the USA in the number of fatal truck accidents yearly? Unsurprisingly, they also have the most significant rural areas, and all their statistics indicate that is where most accidents occur. In Texas alone, more than 400 people are killed and 8,000 injured annually in trucking-related accidents. Law firms dominate the top SEO rankings with their statistics and advice for cutting back on the billions in losses incurred during injury lawsuits. And while some tug at the emotional or fear strings more than others, they are increasingly combining forces with vehicle manufacturers and fleet management leaders to offer preventive practices that keep their clients moving and growing. Almost unilaterally, you will see a similar statement following their terrifying statistics: “What makes these numbers tragic is that the majority of these accidents were avoidable.”

Asset tracking problems = lost revenue

As fleet operators, companies acquire various mobile assets for various reasons. For all the benefits those assets bring, their increased quantity means that fleet managers are also increasing the risk of loss through operator theft and/or misuse. According to automotivefleet.com, there’s an average of 2,248 vehicles stolen each day in the United States alone, and these numbers increase on holiday when the majority of vehicles are supposed to be out of service due to holidaying drivers. Fleets contend with many related asset-tracking problems regularly, which ends up all but stalling productivity.

According to some recent fleet maintenance statistics on AutomotiveFleet.com, the repair cost (labor and parts) of running your ageing fleet increases annually by 5% to 7%, but when you look closer at the segment breakdowns, the numbers are much more dramatic. Looking at “Repair Spend by Odometer”, we see the cost rise almost 10 times once the vehicle hits over 90,000 km and “Repair Spend by Months in Service” shows a jump of nearly 8 times once we get past the 37-month mark. Furthermore, these statistics exclude regular tire and oil changes, rental of replacement equipment and emergency overtime costs, or accident expenses.  If these jumps seem extreme to you, it’s because they are, but they are a manageable part of the cost of maintaining a fleet. Keeping your fleet assets (vehicles and other mobile-fueled equipment) and drivers safe, productive, and mobile is pivotal to reaching your organization’s sales and service goals. A great Fleet Management software will help you keep an educated eye on your maintenance costs, indicate when they begin to rise, and how to plan for the optimization of the fleet. So, what can you do to keep your fleet in optimal shape?

Are you still using manual entry and relying on paper agendas to remind you of important fleet management details, like Preventive Maintenance check-ups? Or are you having to look for information in so many different places you aren’t sure how they connect? Have you lost a few along the way? In today’s business settings, everyone has many more tasks to attend to, and some things will slip through the cracks when we don’t use some simple tools to help us along. For instance, advanced fleet maintenance software (e.g. SM2- Maintain) and GPS tracking data have replaced the manual and time-consuming processes traditionally associated with managing your fleet maintenance. Since most of the other areas of fleet management are automated under your Fleet Management System software (FMS), automation should also be part of your maintenance management program.

The business world was rocked when Stephen R. Covey, the author of the best-selling book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change,” said, “Ineffective people live day after day with unused potential.” Industry leaders, managers, and entrepreneurs everywhere quickly realized he wasn’t only talking about people but also describing the primary factors limiting a company’s growth.

Being a fleet manager has its unique challenges.

Mining + Fleet Management Systems = Success

Mining is a global industry, and all over the world, mines experience the same challenges and use the same tools to run profitable operations. Almost all mining operations run 24/7 and 365 days a year. When equipment must constantly be running, failures, fuel management errors, and operator misbehavior can quickly add up to millions in losses. Because most of the operation depends on generators, fuel becomes a very expensive and crucial part of the operating equation. This is where a solid mining fleet management system can provide significant benefits.  In addition to the vehicles, everything from the property lighting to the cafeteria and kitchen equipment, personnel housing and amenities, maintenance facilities, and most of the machinery operating outside and inside the plants depend on a continuously available fuel supply. Managing this supply accurately is where the big savings occur.

The Bad News

Buses running out of fuel on the road occur far more often than most people would believe and are seldom addressed (if at all) by the average fleet management system. It is a major, costly problem in terms of both money and citizen goodwill. The problem is much more complex than it seems and much simpler to solve than many within the industry believe. 

Today we give special recognition to the fleet managers and some critical partners who contribute to our success. Thanks to these hard-working and strategically essential employees from all our industries, Coencorp has been growing for three decades, building the most comprehensive, fully integrated, customizable, and user-friendly fleet management system available, SM2. To better understand what makes these partners so vital to us, we must look at all they do daily and how their business needs become our primary functions.

The global construction industry accounts for between 25-40% of the world's carbon emissions from all its gas-guzzling assets. It’s no surprise construction companies are under intense scrutiny over fuel consumption. Increasingly rigid government regulations demand accountability for every drop of fuel that goes into an asset’s tank and how every one of those drops is being spent. Public opinion now plays an equally strong value in sales, and gas-dependent companies need to get green to keep and gain more clients, especially regarding lucrative government contracts. Construction fleet managers are needing to report on behaviors they once took for granted and provide detailed data beyond the amount of fuel purchased. They must know where, how, and why it’s being spent. Traditional manual data collection methods are no longer adequate, and new industry leaders must implement more efficient solutions. The need for accurate reporting tools has become clear, and gas giants like BP are painting perspectives for their customers on the imperative benefits of having automated & integrated fuel management systems like SM2. At Coencorp, we always start with the individual’s unique needs, so let’s start there to illustrate what BP is telling all fuel-consuming industries.