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March 5, 2010
Management
Numbers Don’t Lie
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Jim Tucker discovered that his fleet is one of the greenest of all the municipalities.
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The most tedious part of any fleet professional’s job is number crunching and budgeting... but it’s time well spent.
A thorough fleet review can arm a fleet professional with the information needed in order to determine where money is being saved or spent, what changes need to be made, and how best to use available assets.
Jim Tucker, the coordinator of asset management for the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, recently completed an E3 Fleet Review with Fleet Challenge Ontario, and discovered that his fleet is one of the greenest of all the municipalities. The review also pointed to areas where Tucker’s fleet could be doing better.
“They told us which vehicles we should replace over the next couple of years, and we will be using their recommendations from now on as our template,” Tucker says. “This will help us reduce our costs as well as our greenhouse gas emissions.”
Raw data
In order to get accurate information from a review like this, Tucker had to supply Fleet Challenge Ontario with the raw data they needed. Fortunately, that wasn’t a problem.
“We were told by Fleet Challenge Ontario that we have excellent records,” he says. “We were told that some organizations are still using pen and paper to keep track of things, whereas our data is all computerized and web-based so I can go online anytime to find the information I need.”
Tucker credits Transportaction for their ability to collect reams of data on his fleet, which he in turn was able to provide the E3 Fleet Review. In addition, Tucker also collects data directly from his employees, which gives him an accurate idea of which vehicles he needs, and which should be replaced.
“We know who is using our vehicles, when and for what purpose,” he says. “We also know how many people are in a vehicle when it’s being used, and all this information helps us determine what we really need. If we’re always using a minivan to transport two people, then obviously we don’t need something that big. We also know exactly how many vehicles we need, so we never have anything sitting around not being put to good use.”
Although employees aren’t always happy to fill out the paperwork, Tuckers insists. “There’s always resistance,” he adds. “They don’t want to take the time to fill in the sheets, but they have to.”
Encouraging results
The results of Tucker’s E3 Fleet Review are encouraging. The average fuel consumption numbers for his fleet (17L/100 km) are about half of the average of most municipal fleets, greenhouse gas emissions are about a third of those produced by other municipal fleets, and maintenance and downtime are significantly lower than average.
“The average municipal vehicle is down about 17.2 days a year, whereas our is only 0.8 days a year,” Tucker says.
The review also recommended beefing up the anti-idling program, getting rid of some of the older vehicles that require excessive maintenance, and switching over to diesel engines—something Tucker will definitely do now that cleaner diesel engines are more readily available for trucks.
Tucker has also convinced management to break out of the “Big 3” mold municipalities seem to be stuck in, and to invest instead in trucks like the Toyota Tacoma and Honda Ridgeline. “These trucks are smaller, more effi cient, and offer better residual values,” he says.
Spending the time and money to properly audit a fleet is well worth the effort, and reveals facts and fi gures that can help an organization save money in the long run, and budget wisely for the future.
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Jack Kazmierski