Measuring Fleet Productivity & Idle Waste

by Lynn Rios | May 11, 2020 | Fleet Management, ROI

Measuring fleet productivity and controlling idle waste are two easy ways to save money in difficult times.

Contributed by Sherri Mills

In this blog, we discuss two top cost-control strategies using Geotab GO device data to help boost productivity and vehicle uptime. In the business we often refer to this as the “low hanging fruit”.

What is fleet productivity?

Tracking fleet productivity is a top concern for many businesses, especially when labor is one of their most significant costs. Improving productivity will help you provide optimal service to your customers, which is important now more than ever. Telematics technology gives fleet managers accurate and detailed visibility over their vehicles, helping businesses allocate assets where they are needed most.

Maintaining 100% visibility over vehicle utilization and work assignments helps make sure that Hours Paid = Hours Worked as much as possible. Gaining just one hour of driver productivity per day, or even per week, adds up quickly.

Keeping Score

Fleet productivity is the basic measure of employee work output. Creating a productivity score provides a way to objectively measure performance so you can identify successes and pinpoint where improvement is needed.

Keep in mind, it is not ideal to expect 100% productivity, especially when employees lack control over their own output, for example when they are dependent upon customer availability, or when they are impacted by adverse weather and traffic.

Productivity score formula

(Total Hours Worked) / (Shift Hours less Lunch, Breaks or Meetings, Downtime like traffic) = Productivity Score

For example:
(Drive time = 5 hours + Office time = 1 hour) / (8 hour shift – 1 hour lunch and breaks)

(5+1) / (8-1) = 86% Productivity score

You can adjust this formula as needed depending on the structure of your business.

Managing Idling

If you’re looking at ways to improve productivity, idling is another area to look at. While not all idling is avoidable, for example in heavy traffic, there are many instances where it can and should be minimized.

Excessive idling not only wastes fuel, but also time idling vehicles are not making deliveries or driving to their next work location. Idling can also put extra load and engine hours on your fleet, increasing the number of oil changes and other maintenance tasks required.

While the GO device automatically monitors idling within each trip (no setup required), customizable reports and rules make tracking idling easy.

Here are the most effective reports for identifying and curbing idling:

1. Highest Idling Duration

See the percentages of engine time spent idling versus driving, per driver, per day. The results of this report can be used to determine which drivers need further training.

2. Daily Idling Cost Trend

The Daily Idling Cost Trend report provides a rolling, seven-day view of your fleet’s total cost of idling, which can be refreshed daily. You can use this report to spot trends during certain days of the week, which may correlate to specific work assignments or job sites, allowing you to make adjustments for the following week.

3. Last 3 Months Idling Trends Report

This report displays the total fuel spent while idling across the entire fleet. You can use this report to assess whether or not your efforts to reduce idling have been successful. Trend reporting tools can also be used in areas like asset utilization.

You can download the Last 3 Months Idling Trend from the Geotab Marketplace. View report.

4. Idle Cost (previous 30 days)

The Idle Cost report provides a 30-day rolling view of the fleet’s total cost of Idling. While managing productivity is key, seeing the whole cost of idling over 30 days is impactful as well.

Conclusion

Telematics systems can be used to measure and understand the productivity of fleets. With Fleetistics and the Geotab telematics platform, you and your customers are assured exceptional data producing real ROI results.

We look forward to partnering with you and demonstrating real success for your customers’ fleets in 2020. The best is yet to come.

← Previous Next →

Balancing Safety and Service for a Brighter Fleet Outlook

by Lynn Rios | Apr 30, 2020 | Fleet Management

Contributed by Sherri Mills

Safety and Service – Creating a Balanced Approach

With personal safety and the safety of others at the forefront of our minds, safety will remain in focus as we re-start our engines, and re-open our doors. As fleet management resumes a more robust pace in the days ahead, the scope of business reality and total cost of ownership (TCO) for fleets will include a balance of both safety and service.

First, as demand increases and productivity resumes, so does the efficiency required to perform at optimum levels. The essential vehicles of your fleet, and the employees that drive those vehicles, will still be your most valuable assets. Protecting them and ensuring their safety is critical.

Back to Basics

Get back to basics with measuring and monitoring the safety of your fleet. Pay close attention to harsh driving behaviors, seat belt usage, and speeding. Utilizing actionable telematics and accelerometer data, will ensure compliance, accountability. It will help your team to rally to a stronger position of recovery. Setting driver alerts for speeding will recoup lost dollars and provide peace of mind in safe driving measures.

Reducing Fuel Spend

Next, but equally important is Fuel economy. Gas mileage usually decreases rapidly at speeds above 50 mph. For every 5 mph driven, over 50 mph, it is costing roughly an additional $0.18 per mile for gas. With monitoring and coaching, you can easily slow drivers down and capture that savings.

In addition, speeding is one of the most prevalent factors contributing to vehicle collisions. It impacts the total cost of risk, predominantly in workers compensation claims. A report by OSHA, NHTSA, and NETS estimated that one work-related accident involving a fatality could cost an employer $500,000. Telematics’ accelerometer data provides the insights for targeted coaching to ensure the safety of your fleet and your drivers by reducing collisions.

Optimize and Right Size

Finally, consider the service component. To maintain balance within your fleet, the other side of the scale is ensuring safety on the road with proper servicing and maintenance. Time is money; not only in recovery mode, but also in building and preserving your fleet going forward. As you rebuild your fleet focus on rebuilding more efficiently than before.

Understanding asset utilization, average miles driven per day, rolling cost per mile by route and improved maintenance can make your fleet leaner and more efficient without a loss of revenue. You can rehire your best field service technicians and implement new standard for training and service. During this slow period you can review all aspects of your business and prepare a new way of doing things when our country gets past the Covid-19 challenge.

Use the Tools to Balance Safety and Service

Telematics data provides the details you need to proactively schedule and plan for routine maintenance. Engine data alerts you to ongoing service issues and reduces down time. Planned maintenance is a standard part of vehicle ownership, but unplanned repairs due to aggressive driving and vehicle misuse are an unnecessary cost. The cost savings resulting from fewer scheduled maintenance appointments is a given. In contrast, a non-scheduled maintenance interruption can result in lost profits of between $400 to $700 per incident for a standard vehicle and thousands for a truckload of frozen seafood.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reports that telematics technology can help a company reduce these scheduled and unscheduled maintenance and repair incidents by as much as 14%. Managing your fleet with specific diagnostics information and daily reporting of service needs will provide better control, overall planning, and build longevity for the next phase of your operations.

Balancing Safety and Service increases Return on Investment

Proactively managing with balanced attention to safety and service gives you a competitive edge. Stay safe on the roads with telematics technology from Fleetistics, and build toward a better, stronger tomorrow.

← Previous Next →

A New Dimension to Safe Travel

by Lynn Rios | Apr 14, 2020 | Fleet Management, Industry Info

Safe travel has taken on a completely new dimension as we learn more about the invisible enemy and change our day to day routines to protect ourselves and each other. Drivers have fared somewhat better than some other professions, but must be mindful of the new risks associated with every trip taken. The end goal is still to arrive home safe after every trip.

The basics are important for everyone to remember. Wash your hands often and don’t touch your face. Wearing a mask and gloves is in your best interest, and if you are driving people, especially so. Certain types of driving present more risk than others, so here are a few safe travel tips based on profession.

Safe Travel Tips for Food Delivery

Avoid handling money. If you must handle money, wear rubber gloves, change them often, and wash your hands between changes. Have as little contact as possible with customers. Step back from the door well before it is answered, or just leave the food and call the client to let them know it is there. A customer told me today that a driver had left their food outside and did not bother to even let them know.

Be mindful of the vehicle surfaces that are often touched and clean and disinfect them often. You are constantly handling things others have handled, so keep your immediate environment wiped down and think about safety prior to each trip.

Safe Travel Tips for Uber, Lyft, & Taxi Drivers

This is a bit riskier than delivering things as you are in contact with many different people throughout the work day. A little more precaution may be in order both for your safety and the safety of your passengers. Keep your distance by only allowing passengers in the back seat. Be prepared to disinfect between passengers, they won’t mind waiting. Consider fashioning a barrier between the front and back seats. Get creative!

Be watchful for signs of illness and take extra care if you see them. A quick study of the guidelines published for Paramedics could be in your best interest. Know what to look for and follow your companies guidelines for when it is best to recommend trained medical transport in lieu of your services.

You may want to require or at least ask passengers to wear masks if they have them. If at all possible have tissues and hand sanitizer available for passengers. Post information in your back seat, a friendly reminder could save a life. The CDC has printable materials available in many languages on their website.

Safe Travel Tips for Truckers

Services that were once available every few miles are not so readily available these days. Be aware before starting a trip where services may and may not be available. Stay plugged into social networks for information. There was a recent article about a high school in Washington that is open for truckers to park, shower, and get fed. Only by networking with others in your profession will you find those gems.

Clean your cab often. Many surfaces in your cab get a lot of hand contact. Gear shifts, steering wheels, tablets, and radios should be regularly cleaned and disinfected. Don’ forget the door handles, inside and out. If you don’t have sanitizer, soap and warm water will do. Here is a link to a list of CDC approved disinfectants. They may not always readily available, so try to have some kind of cleaning solution on hand as well. 1/3 cup bleach to a gallon of water is a pretty safe bet in any case.

This is especially important in shared vehicles. Some great vehicle hygiene are posted on the NRSPP website.

← Previous Next →

GPS Tracking

Fleet Management

Phone Tracking

Tablets & Data

Understanding the Value of Electric Vehicles

by Lynn Rios | Apr 7, 2020 | Electric Vehicles, Fleet Management

To EV or not to EV?

Electric Vehicles (EVs) have come to stay. There is no doubt that alternative fuel vehicles are steadily on the rise. That also certainly is the case with Electric Vehicles. However, with the decrease in fuel costs in the US as of late, are the benefits worth the cost? Regardless of what vehicle is purchased the total cost of ownership is the major factor. In this blog, Kim Thoman, Fleetistics’ EV Expert, provides a comparison between Gasoline Vehicles (ICE for Internal Combustion Engine) vs Electric Vehicles (EV) and provides information to assist you in making an informed decision on what vehicle is right for your organization.

First, there are many factors involved in cost of ownership. These are the primary considerations.

purchase/lease price of the vehicle
cost to insure
fuel – gas or electricity
maintenance
Battery replacement or disposal

It’s no secret that ICE vehicles are less expensive then EVs off the lot. Furthermore, you must take into consideration the many incentives offered by government agencies on EV vehicle purchases and even utility companies offering rebates on charging stations. The incentives vary by state and the commitment to EV ideology. In contrast, insurance is a factor regardless of the vehicle type. This will have to be a discussion you have with your carrier.

Cost to Power Comparisons – Electric Vehicles vs Internal Combustion Engines

Next to consider is the costs to fuel/power EVs vs. ICE vehicles. Based on a study at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, the average MPG for gasoline per gallon in 2016 was 25.3. The average cost per gallon was $2.35. Using 15,000 miles as the average amount driven annually the cost for fuel for the year equates to be about $1,400.00 annually.

Likewise we look at EVs in respect to annual electricity consumed. The average cost of electricity in the US in 2016 was $0.12 per kWh. Using a baseline of 15,000 miles per year, after normalizing calculations, it costs about $540.00 per year to charge the vehicle. Finally, consider the cost of electricity throughout the US varies significantly more than gasoline. Even so, the cost over time is much more stable. The Department of Energy states charging an electric car costs about half as much as fueling an ICE vehicle. When it comes to the cost to power EV vs. ICE vehicles, EV wins hands down.

Cost to Maintain EV vs ICE

We have covered purchase price and power comparisons so let’s focus on the maintenance side. ICE vehicles require replacing parts that go bad over time. Electric motors only have one moving part while an engine in a traditional vehicle contains dozens. The ongoing maintenance with an ICE vehicle such as oil, fan belts, head gaskets, cylinder heads, spark plugs, etc. are not required to be maintained in an EV.

EVs also use regenerative braking technology that extends the life of brakes on electric cars. Needless to say, there is some necessary upkeep required with an EV such as replacing windshields, wipers, suspensions and tire rotations. Overall the cost to maintain an EV over the lifetime of the vehicle is much lower.

There are additional considerations with an EV such as charging requirements. A home charger that can provide 30 miles of range an hour costs about $600.00 but again there are rebates available. Working together as a whole to reduce transportation costs would allow utilities to allow parked EVs to deliver power to the grid and provide owners with a monetary return. This allows owners to make money from their vehicles and boost the grid’s reliability and resilience.

Another benefit from this is power onto the grid would allow more flexibility during peak demand times for less cost. The bottom line is balancing the supply and demand of electricity with EVs could result in avoiding costly upgrades.

Range Anxiety

Of course, we can’t forget about range anxiety. Range anxiety is the feeling of drivers not wanting to be stranded without access to charging facilities. This is huge in the commercial sector as typically vehicles are driving much more than 15,000 a year and many over long distances. This doesn’t mean that some vehicles can’t be transitioned into EVs or even a Plug-In Hybrid vehicle (PHEV).

Environmental Impact

On the surface, EVs appear to be more carbon-friendly, but are they really? The electricity being generated is typically being created by coal-burning power plants in the US. The raw materials, such as Cobalt, used to make the battery cells are mined from places like the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Many countries do not practice eco-friendly mining and put nature and people at risk. Battery materials are then shipped around the world on diesel-powered ships. After a battery bank is exhausted in a vehicle, it has to be disposed of properly or yet another environmental hazard is created. So when trying to do the right thing, you have to be committed to the reasons for wanting to invest in EVs.

If you want to save money, you will likely do that. If you want to save the environment, that does not seem likely in the current energy environment. By investing in EV, you are generating demand that will ultimately drive down costs in various aspects of the supply chain and may eventually lead to a carbon reduction.

Your Bottom Line

The overall assessment based on rolling cost per mile, taking into account the cost of ownership, EVs are shown to be less expensive than ICE vehicles. However, EVs are not for everyone, both in the private and commercial space. Analysis can be done based on driving behavior, rolling cost per mile, location etc. to determine whether an EV could be a right fit. Contact us today for your personalized EV fleet analysis.

← Previous Next →