How to Reduce Fleet Maintenance Costs and Maximize Uptime: Insights from Expert Jim Konen

Welcome to National Fleet Services: Ask an Expert

I’m your host, Larry Wyatt. In this episode, we’ll be discussing how to know your fleet, and identify your high-cost maintenance items.

Larry: Joining me is our expert, Jim Konen, National Sales Manager, East Region at National Fleet Services. Jim joined the company’s sales team in 2018 after retiring from UPS, as Director of Maintenance and Engineering with 34 years of fleet experience. Jim also has deep experience in alternative fuel vehicles, including electric, hydraulic, CNG and propane.

Jim, thank you so much for joining us today.

Jim: Thanks, Larry, it’s an honor to be here.

Larry: Jim, I know you spent a lot of time with one of the largest delivery fleets in the country. What do you think are the most important things to consider when operating a large fleet?

Jim: Thanks, Larry. That’s a great question and I get asked that a lot. First, you need to understand your duty cycle. Then you can determine your vehicle specs along with your maintenance program that works for you. What I mean by duty cycle is it details exactly how the vehicle will be used. You have to think (about) mileage, idle time, payload, terrain, towing requirements and operating hours. Knowing this, allows you to spec the vehicle correctly, as far as your engine, transmission, axles, tires, cooling system, etc., to handle the needs of your business. A vehicle spec’d properly for its duty cycle is more likely to be reliable and last longer while minimizing costly downtime and repairs.

Larry: What are your thoughts on improving reliability and reducing downtime once specific issues are found?

Jim: You know this is something that NFS can help you with using our years of experience, and our quality inspection process, QIP. The QIP is a 90-point plus inspection, verifying correct component installation, torque specifications, electrical connections and routing, brake and steering components, tires and fluid fills. Any item noted can be repaired before the unit goes into the field, or to the customer. And at that point, you can also do trend analysis to help develop a plan to monitor certain items.

There is also component cycling or service intervals. What that means is that you track the lifespan of critical components (for example, steering components, batteries, alternators, starters, tires), and develop a service interval, and proactively replace these parts before they fail. This also helps you plan your maintenance costs, and takes the peaks and lows out of your maintenance costs.

Larry: Jim, how do you verify that the features added to the vehicle are performing as intended, and that the enhancements that you’ve done increase uptime?

Jim: You know, Larry, this is an important part of the upfit and building your specs.

First, you need to establish clear, measurable criteria for what constitutes proper functionality and performance of the upfit’s features. This might include benchmarks for safety, efficiency, reduced labor time, user experience, or technical experience.

Other means include:

• What are you finding on your preventive maintenance inspections, your PMI’s?
• What are you finding on your post-trips and pre-trips?
• What is the driver and technician’s feedback?

You could also use telematics, and you can look at your cost per mile. Based on your results and feedback, you can make necessary adjustments to optimize your upfits performance.

Larry: Let’s finish with this. How important is it that the updates and features added to a chassis be shared with the Fleet Service team?

Jim: Larry, that’s a great question. It’s absolutely critical that the upfits be shared to keep everyone on the same page, avoid confusion, and ensure that the fleet service teams know exactly how to maximize and take advantage of the upfits. It will also help boost efficiency and safety for everyone in the loop. The fleet service teams should actually be part of the spec building process.

Larry: Jim, thank you for your time and your expertise.

Jim: Larry, it was great being here and I appreciate the opportunity.

Larry: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for watching and be sure to join us for another episode of National Fleet Services: Ask an Expert.

Be sure to check out our other Ask An Expert videos!