says PacLease’s Rhodes.
As it relates specifi cally to each customer,
contract maintenance providers aim to provide
visibility and transparency with the maintenance
process. Th is means communication is critical to
the success of the service.
Ways in which contract maintenance service
providers communicate include data and reporting
on the status and performance of the fl eet,
active alerts to trends within
the fl eet and the status of fi eld
and roadside events.
“Th e beauty of an outsourced
maintenance program is that
we’re collecting all that data
– that cost and maintenance
data – and we’re able to provide
it to the customer in a way that
they can make better decisions
on spec’ing their equipment, or
using their equipment,” says
Gallick.
“We’ve also invested in
fl eet maintenance technology,
and accounting and business
process technology, so we’re
able to provide a customer
with electronic metrics and
scorecards so they can see
real-time performance of their
fl eet and where they’re spending
their money, to make
better decisions on replacing
equipment, the types of equipment
they may want to reinvest
in,” Gallick adds.
Rhodes also confirms
PacLease aids in providing
telematics and vehicle performance
data.
“We will provide our
customers with things like
improved fuel economy
recommendations,” Rhodes
says. “We also look at the trip
logs – we can plug into their
ECM and start pulling information
like hard brakes, if the
driver is overspeeding to see
if they need driver training,
things like that.”
For those operations which
require multiple service locations,
contract service providers
off er effi cient handling
of unplanned over-the-road
events or breakdowns, and of
keeping maintenance services
consistent.
“You may be a truck or
tractor that’s a few states
away and you have a breakdown;
that vehicle can go
into any Penske location for
service,” Mangione explains.
“Or if they’re on the side of
the road with a breakdown,
our roadside assistance team
will handle the call from
the driver and coordinate
with the local Penske location to get that vehicle
repaired, or maybe running back down the
road in one of our rental vehicles.”
Conclusion
Ultimately, considerations for contracting maintenance
come down to the ability to handle the
maintenance and repairs, forfeiting control in
exchange for less risk.
“A lot of customers who have done this, they
are giving up some control – either they’re dealing
with a vendor that their people had a comfort
level with from a communication standpoint, or
if the customer did it in-house – that’s the ultimate
in visibility and control,” Penske’s Mangione
says. “We have all the systems to provide that
visibility.”
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