Case queried the USA’s largest EPA contractor regarding how to best manage a fleet.
The contractor, Environmental Restoration, LLC , maintains 300 pieces of rolling stock plus 200 pieces of equipment spread across the entire United States, U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. The Environmental Restoration fleet ranges from mini excavators to large plant, and includes some non-traditional construction equipment elements such as boats. Although each piece of equipment has its own life cycle, the general age across the fleet is less than seven years. Their biggest challenge is trying to contain costs for maintenance and operation of the fleet. Here are their tips:
- Telematics: New technology, such as telematics, have made a big difference in management capabilities. This allows management from their corporate office. The company relies on GPS technology for many large cap jobs, big excavations, and earth moving projects.
- New equipment: Cost control begins with new equipment. The cheapest piece of iron is not always the best piece of iron. If you want something to last at least seven years, then you want to start with a good product. They strictly follow the manufacturer’s recommendations, as far as service intervals and recommended filters. They use nothing but full synthetic oils on all their equipment.
- No set timetable for machine replacement: The average age of fleet equipment is 6 to 7 years, but the replacement depends on the application of the machine. Certain equipment may be on a project where machine utilisation is very high, While the same piece of equipment on a different project may have very low utilisation. Replacement is on a case-by-case basis. They look at maintenance records and repairs and determine if too much money is being spent on a machine.
- Better records mean higher resale value: In addition to following the manufacturer’s service schedules, keeping complete and accurate records makes a big difference in resale value. Detailed files on every single piece of equipment they own are kept; from a $ 2,500 plate tamper up to a $ 500,000 excavator; and on every piece of service from an oil filter to a hydraulic pump or undercarriage changing.
- Training is critical: One of the keys to keeping equipment in peak condition is training the operators. Although Environmental Restoration has a training center at their St. Louis corporate headquarters, the bulk of operator training is done with the manufacturers and local dealers.
- Dealers make a difference: Usually they buy a large amount of equipment at a time. Usually when you do that and it's a new machine or new model, the dealerships are always happy to send someone over to go over the operation and go over the features, some of the things to check and look for.
- Don’t cut corners: Start with a core group where everyone follows a policy and let it flow to your employees. If you start correctly at the top, people below have to follow suit and you get a good product at the end.” Source