Fleet (Trucks) Management tips

[wowiesy]

Hi,

We are a manufacturing and distribution company. We have our own fleet (yes, sadly, my father still subscribes to the concept of DO IT ALL for maximizing profitability, instead of outsourcing... ) of trucks that do deliveries and transfers from warehouse to warehouse.

In the past, we installed on our trucks (10W, bigger trucks that do warehouse to warehouse transfersof inventory) GPS/SMS trackers hoping to plug some operational issues... now it turns out that the guy I assigned to monitor everything isn't doing his job well, the GPS units are faulty (and apparently have been faulty for over a year now, without anybody raising even the slightest comment or alarm)... so we have to go back to scratch...

Any of you guys there can share basic fleet management tips? Very much concerned me now sa losses / gastos namin for fuel and repairs and maintenance. Masyadong nasanay sa mga galanteng ahente namin in the old days ang mga drivers namin kaya lahat ng justification inilalabas para lang matuloy ang mga "luho" nila (like extra provisions for their food, lodging, painom, huli huli sa mga checkpoints).. we have secured our fuel tanks in line with the installation of the GPS/SMS trackers.. but I still can't discount the possibility na kaya pa rin nila magpa ihi ng diesel...

Usually ba mga ilan km/liter ang consumption ng mga trucks?

Hope you guys can share some tips on fleet management.

[lowslowbenz]

1. What kind of trucks do you have (make/model)?

2. Are you responsible for the whole fleet management? Or do you have people under you?

3. Fleet management in terms of what? Maintenance scheduling? Parts inventory? Fuel Inventory? etc.

[Ry_Tower]

FC of Isuzu 10W is average of 6kms/ltr. Make sure you keep track of their FC to see if merong nagnanakaw ng fuel. Best to have someone ride shotgun and monitor actual performance. Palagyan mo rin padlock yung mga gas tanks if wala pa. Minsan daptat may mag-check na sumama sa kanila habang nagpapafulltank sila para makita mo kung tama nilalagay ng gas boy. Nangyari na sa amin na may collusion yung gas boy at driver ng truck. Kulang yung diesel fuel na actual na kinarga tapos yung sobra ibebenta ng gas by pa rin tapos hahatian niya driver. Mga 10 liters usually yan para tig-200 sila at least.

Do a table wherein you can post actual dates of Change Oil Interval (COI) per truck but again make sure the odo is working and make a monthly test first. Then you can already predict the 5,000kms or 6 months max COI.

Same goes for the tires useful life. Dapat consistent at kapag mabilis mapudpod, they better have an explanation. Kasi kung misaligned or may problem dapat sinabi agad para naremedyuhan. Better have a policy na kapag hindi katangggap-tanggap explanation, may charge/penalty sila. It's up to you.

Keep a record of all the maintenance done on a per truck basis and the parts bought for the repair for easier consolidation and review later on. Once in a while, talk to you suking auto shop (do you have one wherein you have a line of credit?)about prices. Mahirap na.

[wowiesy]

1. What kind of trucks do you have (make/model)?

2. Are you responsible for the whole fleet management? Or do you have people under you?

3. Fleet management in terms of what? Maintenance scheduling? Parts inventory? Fuel Inventory? etc.

Di ko saulado lahat ng info, but from the top of my head:

1. Trucks - mostly 90s or early 2000s models, heavily modded (yung motorpool namin ay mahilig mag mod ayon sa tingin nila na nararapat)... Mitsu, Isuzu.. 10W wing van, may forward, 8W, Canter... our products are mostly snack foods so mas bulky vs heavy...

2. I am not directly responsible for fleet management... it's just that am part of the family that owns the business.. so eventually, problema ko pa rin hehe... I do have people under me to manage day to day... but the guy I assigned is not equipped... so I am trying to benchmark on practices done outside that we can adapt, para unti unti ma upgrade yung processes namin... di rin ako makahanap ng classroom lecture type seminars on fleet management / logistics kaya hirap din...

3. Fleet Management - all of the above - pwede ba yun? Biggest concerns right now ay maintenance (scheduling, keeping costs down, yes also parts inventory) fuel inventory din... yung mga costs habang nasa byahe (mga huli kuno but ang hirap naman patunayan na huli ba talaga o bulsa na lang ng driver napupunta).. etc...

I would think that a lot of practices done by Taxi Operators may be applicable... tapos customize na lang siguro sa mga applicable sa trucks (instead of sedans) kapag vehicle specific / related issues na...

But right now talagang blangko ako on principles.... malinaw lang sa akin is we need to improve the way we manage our fleet... madali sana kung benta na lang fleet then outsource to 3PL.. but sa negosyo ngayon, hirap din sa cash na pambayad sa separation ng mga maaapektuhan na empleyado... so right now do the best we can na lang...

[wowiesy]

FC of Isuzu 10W is average of 6kms/ltr. Make sure you keep track of their FC to see if merong nagnanakaw ng fuel. Best to have someone ride shotgun and monitor actual performance. Palagyan mo rin padlock yung mga gas tanks if wala pa. Minsan daptat may mag-check na sumama sa kanila habang nagpapafulltank sila para makita mo kung tama nilalagay ng gas boy. Nangyari na sa amin na may collusion yung gas boy at driver ng truck. Kulang yung diesel fuel na actual na kinarga tapos yung sobra ibebenta ng gas by pa rin tapos hahatian niya driver. Mga 10 liters usually yan para tig-200 sila at least.

Do a table wherein you can post actual dates of Change Oil Interval (COI) per truck but again make sure the odo is working and make a monthly test first. Then you can already predict the 5,000kms or 6 months max COI.

Same goes for the tires useful life. Dapat consistent at kapag mabilis mapudpod, they better have an explanation. Kasi kung misaligned or may problem dapat sinabi agad para naremedyuhan. Better have a policy na kapag hindi katangggap-tanggap explanation, may charge/penalty sila. It's up to you.

Keep a record of all the maintenance done on a per truck basis and the parts bought for the repair for easier consolidation and review later on. Once in a while, talk to you suking auto shop (do you have one wherein you have a line of credit?)about prices. Mahirap na.

thanks for the tips.

we do have our own motor pool.. which I sense is another source of leakage... since mekaniko mismo ang "nag canvass" ng mga pyesa.... ang kina canvass lang ng kuya ko if ever, ulo ng trak kung kailangan magpalit.. body repair din.. may suki na namamakyaw sa amin.. or minsan gusto din pakyawin ng motor pool namin (na supposedly dapat ay ginagawa nila during their off duty - pero ang actual ay during their duty ginagawa)... electrical works din, may suki na na parang araw araw na rin nasa planta namain at parang hindi maubos ubos at matapos tapos ang mga gawa...

we have tried on several occasions to break the cycle.. na tipong sa labas ipagawa instead sa grupo sa loob... on some accounts ok naman... sumasama loob nila dahil nawawalan daw sila ng extra income... although buti sana kung competitive sila mag charge (considering bayad na sila on their on duty hours)...

[niky]

Outsourcing really is best in this regard. Or at least make sure that the one doing the work is not doing the canvassing and that it passes through the general purchasing department of your company for auditing.

[vinj]

But right now talagang blangko ako on principles.... malinaw lang sa akin is we need to improve the way we manage our fleet... madali sana kung benta na lang fleet then outsource to 3PL.. but sa negosyo ngayon, hirap din sa cash na pambayad sa separation ng mga maaapektuhan na empleyado... so right now do the best we can na lang...

One thing you can do is to also slowly wind down and ease out your delivery fleet and personnel. Start talking to 3rd party delivery services to have an idea on how you can start implementing their services little by little so as people from your company resign, retire or are moved to other duties, you can choose to not replace them anymore and move the vacated duties to the 3rd party.

I agree with what others have mentioned. The people handling the repairs and procurement of parts and services should be separate. Try looking onto the fleet card services of the gas companies as well. This is an added control point for your fuels and oils and even repairs (the companies i have worked for all have their fuel and regular servicing done through the fleet card services of Shell).

[Ry_Tower]

^ yeah, fleet card is a big help.

[Stealth Jaguar]

Hi,

I've been managing a fleet of at least 20 trucks since 2005 and all situations you mentioned earlier are the dark-side of delivery logistics operations. When i joined the current company im working with and after thorough assessment, i recommended investments in GPS technology to be the backbone of my loss prevention measures in addressing chronic problems in logistics operations. Aside from GPS technology, manpower revamp is necessary plus systems awareness. Data gathering is very important to establish standard benchmarks. Lastly, need to invest time and effort in operations implementation monitoring activities to ensure that operations worked as planned... Manpower revamp is crucial in logistics operations and its better to stop the bleeding from this area to ensure a fresh start... if you are interested , i can offer my services with objectives to loss prevention and operational cost reduction. i will teach you what are the best methodology to eliminate pilferage, reasonable allowance usage among other cost reductions i implemented with the help of GPS technology... you can call me at this number 09178660979 or email me at joshag_99*yahoo.com

[wowiesy]

I am still at it in this issue...

I've started to change the way we do things on some areas (systems) but the fact of the matter is, fuel is still the single biggest cost!..

Pinaka bago na trak na namin is mga surplus na bili pa nung early / mid 2000s... the rest... 1990's pa.. either bili sa surplus, auction.. or hatak sa mga accounts na di na makabayad...

crucial is fuel... especially for our long haul trucks... maka save man lang ako ng fuel sa mileage.. malaking bagay na... example na lang.. we "clocked" a few of our 10W trucks to be 2 - 3 km/liter... I do not know ang benchmark sa labas kung ilan dapat... pero, assuming kaya pala ng 4 - 5km/liter... that's already a 2 - 3km/liter difference! at 45/ltr and at 5,000 kms minimum per month... that's already 450,000 - 675,000 savings!!! in 2 - 3 months, maka ROI na ako sa fuel pa lang kung sakaling bili ng bagong trak (well.. not really brand new.. but mas modelo na trak - 10W wing van now is what.. about 1.2M ? ) I think I need to know ano ang fuel mileage sa labas na realistic maabot... because dun manggagaling ang justification ko (whether to buy, or to overhaul the engine, engine rebuild - is this an option?, change engine perhaps)

any leads?

are there pinoy local haulers forums here? or saan kaya makakuha ng data on fuel mileage / consumption? for a typical engine model perhaps?

will overhauling an engine improve fuel efficiency? engine rebuild? kung change engine na lang sa mas modelong makina? may gumagawa ba dito ng ganun? possible ba to source locally ng mga malalaking engines for 10W trucks?

[wowiesy]

I am still at it in this issue...

I've started to change the way we do things on some areas (systems) but the fact of the matter is, fuel is still the single biggest cost!..

Pinaka bago na trak na namin is mga surplus na bili pa nung early / mid 2000s... the rest... 1990's pa.. either bili sa surplus, auction.. or hatak sa mga accounts na di na makabayad...

crucial is fuel... especially for our long haul trucks... maka save man lang ako ng fuel sa mileage.. malaking bagay na... example na lang.. we "clocked" a few of our 10W trucks to be 2 - 3 km/liter... I do not know ang benchmark sa labas kung ilan dapat... pero, assuming kaya pala ng 4 - 5km/liter... that's already a 2 - 3km/liter difference! at 45/ltr and at 5,000 kms minimum per month... that's already 450,000 - 675,000 savings!!! in 2 - 3 months, maka ROI na ako sa fuel pa lang kung sakaling bili ng bagong trak (well.. not really brand new.. but mas modelo na trak - 10W wing van now is what.. about 1.2M ? ) I think I need to know ano ang fuel mileage sa labas na realistic maabot... because dun manggagaling ang justification ko (whether to buy, or to overhaul the engine, engine rebuild - is this an option?, change engine perhaps)

any leads?

are there pinoy local haulers forums here? or saan kaya makakuha ng data on fuel mileage / consumption? for a typical engine model perhaps?

will overhauling an engine improve fuel efficiency? engine rebuild? kung change engine na lang sa mas modelong makina? may gumagawa ba dito ng ganun? possible ba to source locally ng mga malalaking engines for 10W trucks?

Bump up please....

[ARB]

from your posts that most are pre 90's and surplus most of the engines, the 10w na isuzu would probably be the 10p series na either a/b/c, and if may fuso 8dc series. Used to have dump trucks that haul filling materials but here in the province, the average consumption is 2-3 km/l which almost the same as you have measured also.

sa parts suggest ko is canvass first, at least 3 to 4 na suto supply, take note also of the brands that they sell, may replacement na parts na mura but wont last long. sa tires naman, since you do highway lang I suggest you get steel belted truck tires, if not branded lang, gajah tunggal is one brand that stays long.

monitor mo lang na monitor at least the ang tao mo mag dadalawang isip in case gusto ka nilang dayain. even the most stringent measures implement mo kung gusto ka nilang dayain kaya yan nila.

[metslgx]

Bump up please....

Good morning! I actually posted a very long comment here yesterday kaya lang nagloko email ko due to some solar storm daw or whatever it is that caused communications satellites (?) to malfunction!

Anyway, your concern caught my attention as throughout my career, medyo parte ng trabaho ko ang distribution.

Very complicated animal. Will you do it on your own, or will you outsource! If you do it on your own, you already have a first hand experience on the the negative aspects of its operations that far more outweigh its pros.

You have to deal with different personalities which as we all know, (not to belittle these hard working people) but they have a very different personality.

Andyan ang absent ang driver/pahinante, truck break-downs, fuel pilferage, spare parts at tools and equipments na nawawala o hindi mo alam kung overpriced ang pagka bili, vulcanising kuno, huli, etc. etc. Kung sitahin mo syempre galit at maramdamin yang mga yan.

May parking ka at motorpol na mine-maintain that in all practicality, you could have used your lot for other income generating purposes. May mga tao ka din ito na hindi mo rin syempre alam kung sino ang gumagawa ng mga kalokohan, so you are always on the watch. You buy and install GPS, you are probably by now, thinking of getting cctv's for your warehouse and motorpool.

I am not also sure if you have proper inventory of your parts and other supplies and how your issuance and receiving are being documented, kasama na ang inventory at consumption report ng iyong fuel, oils and tires. All of these you need to be able to have proper accounting of! Mapagkakatiwalaan din ba ang iyong book keeper at purchaser? hehe...

Your father would like to have total control of his operations and maybe he is right kung talagang mapagkakatiwalaan naman lahat ng taong gumagalaw sa organisation nyo pero kung hindi, it is really your responsibility to show proof and figures that you are spending way too much money on your current set-up and provide a more solid justification why outsourcing is a much better alternative. Of course the main hurdle is how to convince your father that he will have a better peace of mind going your other way.

Ang tag line nga sa Logistics di ba core-competency! You manufacture and sell your product so that must be your core competency and you would want to invest your time and effort on how to make your products better and accepted by your target market, and strategise on how to sell more and get better margins. You donot want to waste your time on items or services that can be provided to you by other parties where their own competence lies. In this case is trucking and distribution, and to some extent, probably even the management of your warehousing and inventory!

Try to source for trucking companies with good track record. Ask for proporsals and compare them with your own cost. Do remember that cost is just one of the components as if their cost (porposal) is more or less the same with your own cost, remember that your major headache is your managing your fleet yourself and the other things that comes with it.

Hi jacking and short deliveries are one of your concerns which you can now pass on to your service provider as this is part of your agreement. In the case of warehousing, they are responsible for the losses and damages of your goods while it is in their possession.

Remember to choose trucking companies with sufficient marine insurance that will cover the value of your goods, and complete papers plus list of clients that they currently have for your reference and peace of mind.

If the above still does not convince your father, and while you are trying very hard to come up with a very good project study to present to your father, you should try attending seminars/trainings on logistics and supply chain. Ateneo and La Salle offer courses on this and this would open your world and will keep you attached to the Industry.

If you really want to do outsourcing, remember that your next problem is how to dispose of your fleet and your conscience that will bog you thinking about all those people that will be laid off and how their families would be able to cope.

You can then consider proffessionalising them and help them put up a cooperative. The purpose here is for the said cooperative and your company to have an agreement on a lease to own term for your current fleet and provide sole trucking service to your company (initially). You will have to teach your drivers and pahinante's to run and manage the cooperative by themselves eventually. This has a potentially win-win situation for both of you.

Thanks and i hope i was able to provide you of some assistance.

[loidch]

10wheelers and dumps are around 4kms/ltr. loaded one way
22wheelers at around 2kms/ltr. both ways loaded
i make sure the drivers make at least 18k a month just to lessen the temptations. they are paid by trips btw. i also made it a point that trips are always available and it for their asking.
plugging all the leaks in the system is impossible.....i can nurse a few cuts and lick the wounds, but if its an amputation then one of us has to go