Truck Maintenance & Inspection key Element

  5 Key Elements To A Vehicle Maintenance Program

1. Operational planning
2. Compliance management
3. Parts management
4. Record keeping
5. Preventative maintenance

• Operational planning :-

1. Have a business plan of what are the major objectives of the department.
2. Include what are the major tasks that need to be completed.
3. Set goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, and realistic within a time frame.
4. What gets measured gets done.
5. Identify all who are responsible.
6. What is the financial impact (good or bad) that this dept. and operational plan will create for the company?
7. Use the FieldKonnect’s Safety Management Cycle or another lean principle model.

• Compliance management:-

1. Stay abreast of DOT, OSHA, and EPA regulation requirements and follow them.
2. Track every roadside violation and repair request. Watching these 2 data sets can indicate a problem with the maintenance program or a problem with specific equipment.
3. Post CSA Scores in multiple visible areas of the company.

• Parts management:-

1. Know sources for parts, new, used and rebuilt, re-manufactured, counterfeit parts, and warranties.
2. Track parts and supplies inventory, costs and reorder points.
3. Report cost by vehicle, work performed or cost per mile.
4. Compare repair expenses to revenues generated and use this information to establish replacement benchmarks for each piece of equipment.

• Record keeping:-

1. Have an electronic system in place to set up automatic preventative maintenance alerts, annual inspections, track repairs, inventory and costs.
2. Maintain DVIR records for all post-trip inspections, not just when a defect is found.
3. Consider eDVIRS for drivers with the use of an Electronic Logging Device.
4. Track mechanic hours.

• Preventative maintenance:-

1. Consider quarterly PM’s. It pays to have a qualified mechanic take a deeper look more than once a year. This will be an investment in ‘peace of mind” and provide lower overall operational expenses.
2. Based on the needs of the company, determine PMs by time, miles or engine hours.
3. Have an established a schedule for trailers, lift gates and other special equipment as well as power units.
4. Have “Inspection Lanes”; a designated lane or shop where vehicles entering or exiting the facility, drivers can bring up complaints and have them checked on the spot.
5. An Inspection Lane may be too expensive or cumbersome for every fleet so in place they may use Yard Checks. Have specified times throughout the day, have technicians that will “cruise” the yard and check the equipment that is newly arrived in the yard.
6. Conduct random “stakeouts” at customers, carrier’s lots, or fuel locations. Track how many drivers do the required inspections.
7. Conduct pre-service inspections to new equipment or equipment that has been inactive for a while.
8. Contact the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) that built the vehicles. Most OEMs have an inspection and preventative maintenance (PM) schedule available for the vehicles they build.
9. Establish “pull points” or “cut off points”. This is a per-determined “wear and tear” threshold that when reached, is the trigger for the part or component to be removed and replaced.