Fleet management system guide

 

Introduction

Have you ever wondered how you get your online deliveries so fast? Especially if you have ordered from Amazon or Walmart? Well, the simple answer to this question is an effective fleet management system! Out of all logistics solutions, this one helps to enhance delivery while saving costs!

But what does fleet management mean? What are the challenges you face while managing it? What is this software? Who uses it? Why do you need it? How will it help you? If you have all these questions then head on to this article to get all your answers!

What is Fleet Management?

Hiring or utilizing of commercial vehicles is a common logistics process. However, keeping an eye on these vehicles and their information are crucial. Thereby, organizations dealing with these vehicles engage in a management process.

The process of supervising overall fleet performance and maintenance is called fleet management. Simply put, it is a process of handling vehicle tracking, navigating, routing, maintenance, financing and replacement. Implementing fleet management helps an organization to:

• Reduce operational costs
• Increase productivity
• Guarantee compliance and much more.

Yet fleet management is not an easy task and includes responsibilities like:

• Vehicle maintenance
• Monitoring fuel consumption
• Driver management
• Asset utilization
• Fuel cost analysis
• Route planning and management
• Productivity optimization
• Waste reduction and much more!

Moreover, these are even difficult to manage. Companies usually hire a fleet manager to monitor all these sub-processes. But this is a burdensome task and consumes a lot of time. Let’s take a look at the challenges that fleet managers often face while handling the above processes.

What Challenges Can You Face While Managing Your Fleet?

Fleet managers often have years of experience in this field. Yet, managers often face unexpected problems arising out of nowhere. So, if you are into managing the fleet all by yourself then you may face the following challenges.

Acquisition of Vehicles

To determine the number and types of vehicles in need can be a major challenge a fleet manager can face. Moreover, buying a new vehicle can dis-balance your company’s budget. Thereby, a fleet manager needs to:

• Assess changes in vehicle legislation
• Determine vehicle purpose and suitability
• Effectively negotiate with vehicle manufactures
• Analyze fuel consumption, insurance costs and taxes
• Consider vehicle’s life and resell value
• Keeping in mind employees’ expectations

And as the list ends, a manager always faces problems with budget allocations and savings.

Fuel Management

The fluctuation in the fuel cost is the secondary problem a manager can face. Fuel price varies depending on the market price and other external factors. This situation comes like a crisis and does not rest in the hands of a manager. Yet he/she needs to save fuel costs irrespective of the situation.

Vehicle Maintenance

Another fleet management challenge is vehicle maintenance. Improper vehicle maintenance can lead to severe problems like:

• More expenditure
• Low vehicle life
• On route breakdowns and much more.

Thereby, it is the duty of a fleet manager to oversee the whole process. Moreover, managers need to undergo a complete cost saving analysis before selecting a resource. Furthermore, they also need to ensure that the maintenance complies with law. So, maintenance is not the only issue, managers also need to check other problems related to it.

Driver Safety   

A fleet manager needs to take care of drivers and their necessities. Safety and security are important factors that a manager needs to handle effectively. Which is also a challenge in itself.

Managers need to take proper action if any of his/her drivers meet with an accident. Moreover, instantaneous actions are crucial in this situation. Thereby, managers need to be quick with data and reports. However, manually handling data increases the intensity of the challenge even further.

Furthermore, managers also face problems when an accident occurs at a faraway place. And it may take a long time to track the exact location of the accident. So even though a manager is blessed with spontaneity, unexpected odds can stand as barriers.

Route Planning

Managers also happen to take charge of planning the best route for every vehicle. However, determining the best route for your vehicle can be tricky. How can you determine which is the safest and shortest route to reach your destination? Well managers face ample problems to determine this very answer.

Moreover, longer routes can add to your overall expenditure. And unsafe routes can lead to accidents.  Hence, you too can face a dilemma while planning the best route to travel on.

Managing Compliance Requirements

Every company abides by the law. And that requires proper documentation of each and every vehicle a company owns. Moreover, failure to provide the proper documents can have serious consequences. You may be charged a heavy fine. Or you can even end up in a legal procedure.

Meeting compliance requirements thereby is a responsible job. Moreover, this burden also falls on the shoulder of fleet managers. This is a big challenge. Since it includes storing and analyzing much data. Moreover, each and every procedure needs to be carried out effectively. And a single error can make things worse.

Controlling Costs

Who doesn’t want to save? Every businessman wants to. Thereby, managers have the special responsibility of analyzing fleet information to detect areas which requires improvement. In simpler words, managers have the task to analyze problems and come out with solutions that can prevent excess expenditure. Fuel management, route planning falls under this process.

Information Overload

Storing bulk of information can consume much storage and costs. Thereby, managers need to sort out important data from the unimportant one. Furthermore, fleets generate a lot of data. Analyzing every single data can be a laborious process. Moreover, there is a high change of important data getting misplaced. So, managers need to be extremely careful while handling data.

What is a Fleet Management System?

Now you must be wondering how to make operations smoother while handling the above challenges. That’s why 95% of fleet managers feel that a fleet management system is necessary.

Fleet management software is a central information system.  It combines data analytics and GPS to provide intelligent solutions. It easily tracks vehicles, stores and analyzes information to provide enhanced predictions.

Therefore, with a fleet management application you can easily manage your assets. Now that we know what a fleet management system is, let’s check out who can use this system!

Who Should Opt for a Fleet Management System?

To be honest any logistics company can use a fleet management system. Moreover, companies who eliminate third-party logistics organizations can use this system as well.

In terms of sectors, fleet management systems are mainly opted by:

• E-commerce companies
• Manufacturers
• Retail firms
• Distributors and
• Logistic service providers

Moreover, fleet management software helps start-up companies. Since using this software allows them to track, manage their assets while saving much expense. But how is that possible? Let’s take a look at the features to understand that!

What are the Features of a Fleet Management System?

The features of a fleet management software depend on the user’s demands. If you have a small fleet then you can easily manage your fleets with the basic features only.

On the other hand, a holistic software provides you with all the facilities to manage your assets effectively. You can track and analyze every single data about your vehicles from the multi-purpose dashboard. From the dashboard you can:

• Check every information about your vehicles
• Analyze fuel consumption related details
• Monitor vehicle inspection and compliance requirements
• Check issues and complaints against your assets
• Get reminders for renewals and other left-over procedures
• Track services and get notifications for overdue ones
• Manage your contacts and users easily
• Keep an eye on replacements and inventory
• Get accurate reports
• Online help facility

Now let’s check them in a descriptive manner.

Vehicle Management  

A fleet management system comes with an easy search option. This option allows you to find any asset information in minimal time. You can filter your searches using the name, VIN number or even the type of vehicle. Moreover, listed below are the additional vehicle management features that this system provides:

• Vehicle List: The vehicle list provides you with detailed information about each of your assets. Moreover, it shows the status of the vehicle, its type, the current meter details, assigned operator and the work it is assigned for alongside each asset. You can also upload photographs and documents like insurance cards, registration information, etc. for each vehicle.
• Vehicle Assignments: This section provides you with detailed information about vehicles’ work order. You can easily track down which vehicle is assigned and unassigned and utilize your vehicle accordingly.
• Meter History: The meter history provides every detail about the overall distance your vehicles have covered.
• Expense History: In the expense history, you can analyze the expenditure behind every vehicle. It includes details about vehicle acquisition, maintenance, insurance, license plate renewals and fuel consumption.
• Vehicle Location: The vehicle location allows you to track your vehicles that are on the move. You can easily do that by setting a geo-fencing radius. You can also plan and track trips by just inserting the pick and drop points. The system will find the best route for your journey automatically!

Fuel Management

Monitoring fuel consumption and detecting fuel theft and discrepancies has become easier with a fuel management system. Let’s see how:

• Fuel History: This section provides you with every fuel purchase and consumption details. It provides odometer readings, type of fuel purchased, date and place of fuel purchase, number of gallons purchased, vendor location, live MPG status and much more. The system automatically analyzes the data to provide information about the fuel economy and your cost per gallon! You can also manually log fuel details via a web or mobile app that comes with the fleet management system.
• Fuel Card Integration: Fuel cards have made fuel purchase easier. But these cards can also provide you with live updates about the above. Once a driver makes a purchase using this card, the above data automatically gets registered in your system.

Vehicle Inspection Management

Vehicle inspection is nothing but analyzing how your asset performs. This also talks about which vehicles need replacement. Moreover, vehicle inspections are mandated by several governments all over the world. So, let’s see how this fleet management system helps out with this process as well!

• Inspection History: Your inspection process and data automatically get updated on your system. You can check inspection details about any of your assets from this section.
• Item Failure: Any failed inspection item gets registered in this section. Moreover, you can also set a reminder when such an item gets registered in your fleet management system.
• Schedules: You can easily log your asset inspection schedule over here. In addition to that, you can set a reminder for upcoming inspections. Moreover, this section also shows you the total number of inspections you have missed.

Issues Management

With the rising demand of faster delivery, drivers and assets undergo a lot of pressure. Therefore, the rising issues should be looked into properly. With a fleet management system, you can track down all the issues faced by your drivers and assets and take necessary actions.

• Issues List: The issues list holds a complete log of each and every problem reported by your employees. You can track down which asset needs instant attention from this log. The issues are listed alongside the assets. You can get a detailed description of them by selecting a particular vehicle.
• Faults: Faults found during inspections are listed here. You can find the problem, its time, its status (whether the problem is resolved or not), the occurrence frequency beside each and every asset.

Service and Predictive Maintenance

Managing data related to asset service and maintenance can be quite challenging. Especially if you have a large fleet. However, with a fleet management system, you can easily track and analyze those. Let’s see how!

• Service History: In this section you can find about the services that your assets went through. It tracks the nature of the service, its date and time, and the total cost. You also get reminders about which asset are due or need maintenance
• Work orders: This section generally gives a more detailed description of the vehicle service. You can track the downtime of your assets, along with the estimated cost for an upcoming maintenance.
• Service Tasks: This section allows you to manually log which service you want. You can easily insert the type and number of parts that needs replacement and the total number of laborers you want for the task. The fleet management system automatically generates an estimated cost for it.
• Maintenance Shop Integration: You can easily manage all your outsourced maintenance from this section. Search for high-rated maintenance shops and approve service tasks from this section. Moreover, the approved service details are automatically logged in this section. Furthermore, a bill is generated at the end of the month that includes details about your overall services from vendors of the month.

Parts and Inventory Management

For leading the market, proper stock and inventory management is crucial. Now with a fleet management system you can do that too! The software provides a detailed report about your stock details and your total inventory value! Let’s see how.

• Parts List: Get a complete list of all the parts that your inventory possesses from here. Alongside the parts you also get details about the part type, current quantity, manufacture details, per unit cost and the total cost. You also get a reminder when an item is out of stock.
• Purchase Orders: With this section you can easily manage your budget. Here you can add and approve purchase orders from here.

Reminders and Notification

The best part about a fleet management system is that you can get reminders and notification for areas that you have overlooked. The system usually sends you a reminder for:

• Overdue services
• Vehicles renewals (insurance renewal, license plate renewal, registration renewals, emission testing, etc.)
• Contact renewals (license renewal, medical checks, etc.)
• Dangerous road detection
• Accident detection and much more.

So that was all of the features of a holistic fleet management system. Now let’s check how it benefits you!

How Can You Benefit from A Fleet Management System?

Well, you won’t buy it if you can’t benefit from it. Hence, a fleet management software comes with a whole lot of benefits for you and your company. So, let’s take a look at them!

• Get real time updates about your fleets
• Easy vehicle planning and utilization
• Best route planning saves time and money while providing safety
• Track driver and asset activity remotely
• Saves fuel costs by 30%
• Improved vehicle maintenance for longer life
• Simplify legal and compliance procedures
• Save with insurance discounts
• Easier inventory analysis and management
• Improved delivery time for customer service and satisfaction

Conclusion

So, we can conclude that a fleet management system is essential if you use commercial vehicles as a part of your business. Since not only it helps you improve productivity, but it also helps you to cut down your expenditure. And especially in this competitive world, where businesses are competing to remain on the top, saving time is also essential. And what’s better than using a fleet management system to cover all the three?