Why Pilot Builds Matter: How to Prevent Costly Fleet Mistakes with Expert Patrick LaRiviere

Welcome to National Fleet Services: Ask an Expert

I’m your host, Larry Wyatt. In this episode, we’ll be discussing the pilot build and review, and why it matters.

Larry: Joining me is our expert, Patrick LaRiviere, Executive Vice President of Engineering at National Fleet Services. A seasoned engineering professional, Patrick is focused on manufacturing and business process improvement, leveraging his automotive experience as an engineer at Mahle and Tesla.

Patrick, thank you so much for joining us today.

Patrick: Thank you, Larry, it’s great to be here.

Larry: So, let me start by asking, what is a pilot build?

Patrick: Thanks, Larry, Great question. So, a pilot build is a critical step designed to bridge the gap between concept and production.

This phase should be meticulously designed to validate the vehicle or the chassis, any components or content, the upfitting processes to get the desired vehicle up to speed, and validate that the chassis or vehicle works under real world circumstances.

A pilot provides a works like, looks like, feels like, prototype, that is made with parts that are fabricated with the same processes as planned for the entire fleet build to make sure the customer is really satisfied with the end result.

Larry: Why is a pilot build and review so important?

Patrick: It’s a critical step to evaluate the actual vehicle meets all the needs and expectations of the customer.

We do this to make sure any changes that need to occur, occur on vehicle one, not vehicle 10, 100, or vehicle 1,000. We look to make sure we mitigate risk, playing a crucial role in identifying and addressing any potential issues. We want to validate design, the functionality, and ensure it meets the specifications and performs as intended.

Streamline manufacturing – if there’s any changes we can make, talking through with the customer what they want, or the second stage modifier, what’s going to be done with the vehicle, we can address all those things at that time.

And then there are running changes. There are times where you know, a customer might review something, they say, ah, that doesn’t really work for me.  We want to make a running change, then we can make those changes. We just want to really meet design intent and modify anything we need to do to maximize productivity and functionality for the customer downstream.

Larry: Patrick, can you give us any examples of where a pilot build really saved a project, or prevented a run of incorrect modifications?

Patrick: Thanks, Larry, that’s a great question. We had the dealer, the customer and some component manufacturers all on site. What we realized was after the vehicle came in, the customer had expected that the seats would all have leather in the vehicles, right? Well, the vehicles all came in with cloth seating. So, we had to talk to a supplier to fabricate custom leather covers for those seats, and we had to put those through the entire fleet.

On that same build, there was a directed spring kit that we were to put on the vehicles, and the customer previously had ordered Ford, and they moved to RAM. On the Ford vehicles, there was a leaf spring system on those Ford frames. What we found on the RAM series is that they were actually a coil system.

So again, you know, we had to make a running change with that vendor, that supplier, on vehicle one versus vehicle 100.

Larry: OK, how about an example of where a skipped pilot build caused a real problem?

Patrick: We had an example where a customer signed off on our content. They were super confident, they said go ahead and they’ve worked with us before. Well, because we didn’t have that pilot, we didn’t interact with the second stage modifier. So, what ended up happening is the content we installed was no longer accessible once the second stage modifier installed their box. This specific account, we added a secondary battery. Well, now that driver, if there was any issue in the field, they go to that second battery and they can’t access it, right? So, there had to be a workaround that we talked with the body builder on and ultimately came to a resolution. Something that could have been easily avoided had we taken the time to, you know, cross functionally get everyone in the same room and review the truck together.

Larry: Let’s finish up with this. How does National Fleet Services assist customers with pilot builds?

Patrick: So, NFS believes it’s critical to connect the ordering dealer, the OEMs, the second stage modifier and the end user in the pilot build process. We strongly advocate cross functional sign-off either in person, or through a virtual walk around, or what we call a “paper pilot.”

Some customers want to come in person, see our facilities, see our processes, meet our people. That’s great, we can obviously welcome them. We can also be accommodating so people don’t have to hop on a plane or in a car to drive and see their vehicles. We have the capability of doing a virtual walk-around showing them our quality processes, that everything is installed up to their expectations, and what they want, and we can get a sign off that way as well.

Larry: Patrick, thank you so much for your time and your expertise.

Patrick: Thank you Larry, appreciate the time.

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

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