Fleet owners and operators face unique financial challenges. Rising fuel costs, compliance violations, and driver turnover can keep your fleet costs rising and profits stagnant. Unfortunately, reducing fleet costs is not any easy task, but there are tools and systems that can help significantly.
Companies utilizing fleet management technology, such as OneView and its full suite of telematics solutions, are saving anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000 each year. Here’s how they are doing it and how you can save, too:
1. Cutting Fleet Fuel Consumption
Fleet tracking helps reduce fuel consumption in three major ways: First, by utilizing insight into how long your fleet vehicles have been running, and when and where stops are taking place, you can reduce out-of-route miles that are increasing your overall fuel consumption.
Second, you can dispatch the closest workers in response to customer calls, and provide mobile service workers and drivers with the most fuel-efficient route.
Third, with accurate engine runtime and idle-time data, you can address prolonged idling and reduce the amount of fuel wasted on trucks that are left running.
2. Addressing Driver Performance
By utilizing Fleet Management software your company can start improving driver performance immediately, which saves a significant amount of money in the long run. With insight into driver behavior (such as stops, speeds, rapid acceleration, or hard breaking) companies can spot issues and coach driver behavior. Through driver coaching and addressing small problems before they become major, drivers stay compliant and lower the risk of costly fines incurred by violations.
3. Improving Dispatch Processes
Calling each individual driver for location information and job status updates wastes time. And in the end just increases fleet costs. However, a dispatching solution allows you to use real-time location data to determine who is closest to the next job site and make real-time routing changes or update stops instantly. Through safe two-way messaging, you can communicate job updates with remote workers and provide them with the most fuel-efficient route. You can also improve customer satisfaction by giving accurate updates of when workers will arrive at a job site.
4. Scheduling Proper Maintenance
When small maintenance issues go unnoticed, they can quickly become big, expensive problems. With a maintenance solution, engine diagnostic data and insights into machine health are relayed to the home office. After conducting machine assessments, you can schedule maintenance with configured alarms to alert you the next time routine oil changes and tire rotations are needed.
You can also keep track of breakdown trends and machine records to better monitor and predict when maintenance will be needed next. Effectively scheduling and managing vehicle and equipment maintenance will reduce downtime and costly repairs – saving you time and money!
5. Avoiding Compliance Violations
Fleet managers know the headaches that FMCSA violations bring. With the right ELD, you can ensure compliance and avoid hefty fines. It will even alert both drivers and office staff when they are nearing the driving limit, ensuring that drivers have time to pull over and stop. By having a trustworthy, constantly updated ELD partner, your company will avoid costly fines and properly record all hours, ensuring FMCSA compliance is being met at all times.
6. Reducing Paperwork and Reporting Time
Fleet tracking systems eliminate the hassle of manual paperwork, saving time and labor costs. Drivers can complete fuel purchase forms, road-side inspections, IFTA reports, and DVIRs on an in-cab device. With a system like Pedigree Technologies' OneView, state miles are already calculated for automated IFTA reports. This allowed one of our customers, General Equipment, to save $48,000 a year by not having to manually fill out paperwork and calculate miles by state. For other examples, check out our fleet case studies for more.
No matter what size fleet you operate, there are multiple ways your company can cut fuel costs and increase efficiency. Learn more about OneView and set up a free demo today! Want to learn more about maximizing fleet driver efficiency and safety? Check out our 5 Summer Safety Tips for Your Fleet blog post.
Note: This post was originally published September 2013, and has been periodically updated and edited for relevance and accuracy.