Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/759228
44 commercial carrier journal | december 2016 technology No time to waste Shops use technology to make the most of skilled labor BY AARON HUFF T he software that fleets use to maintain their shop and equipment may not get the same attention as technol- ogy used to manage drivers and operations. But as equipment and maintenance costs rise, some features might deserve a closer look, such as tracking labor utilization. If you are paying technicians for 40 hours per week, how many hours should you expect to be spent on activities that improve equipment utilization and lower your cost per mile? A report that shows hours worked as a percentage of hours paid will show if you are getting your money's worth, says Dave Reed, a fleet consultant with Dossier Systems, a provider of fleet maintenance soware. Dossier and other maintenance soware systems use VMRS codes to track and report repairs. VMRS codes enable fleets to identify labor utilization for each type of repair. Fleets use Dossier to create standard times for each type of repair. e data might show that changing a tire should take a half-hour based on historical repair information. Aer looking at a report of repair times, a manager could drill down to identify mechanics that do repairs in the standard time and those that are under or over time. "If they are under time, that may not be a benefit, as they may not be doing the job completely," Reed says. Crowdsourcing repairs Besides tracking labor utilization, soware providers have other tools to help technicians be more efficient. TMW Systems offers mobile apps and integration for its TMT fleet maintenance system designed to eliminate dupli- cate data entry by drivers and technicians, says Renaldo Adler, TMW Systems' principal of asset maintenance, fleets and service centers. e TMT system's apps are designed for mechanics and parts managers to streamline the repair process. Workers can update the system from anywhere to capture labor activities more ac- curately. TMT also integrates data from electronic driver vehicle inspection reports. As drivers complete inspections, any noted equipment defects automatically enter the soware to create repair orders. Adler says TMW Systems is working with truck OEMs to have data and fault codes from their remote diagnostics services be available to customers that use the TMT system. e data could sent to service providers that use the soware, which would help fleets expand beyond their dealer network and allow them to handle breakdowns and preventive mainte- nance on the road. "We've got to get everyone in the cloud, and then we can do that," Adler says. Fast check-in, estimates Shop efficiency oen begins before the actual repairs take place. Navistar dealerships now use a technology to expedite the check-in process. All of Navistar's North American service departments use the Accelerator Write-Up app. e Android-based app uses a multiple-choice questionnaire to assign corresponding complaint codes. It then links the issues to action plans to help service technicians diagnose and repair specific vehicle issues. e Accelerator Write-Up data is accessible to customers subscribing to OnCommand Connection, Navistar's remote diagnostics system. With this visibility, fleets can view a vehicle's service history and health reports from any online device. Labor estimating soware also can expedite the repair process by eliminating the need for repair shops to conduct time-consuming manual searches or base their estimates on past experience. Mitchell 1's TruckSeries soware includes TruckLabor, a module that offers estimates based on the company's standard- ized labor times. Labor categories include engine, brake, electri- cal, HVAC, steering, suspension, transmission, driveline/axles and accessories. e suite also includes an online diagnostics and repair in- formation resource for shops that repair all makes and models of Class 4-8 trucks to speed up the repair process and increase accuracy, says Kristy LaPage, business manager of Mitchell 1's commercial vehicle group. in focus: MAINTENANCE SOFTWARE Dossier Systems recently integrated its fleet maintenance management software with PeopleNet's fleet mobility platform.