JULY 2024TRANSPORTATION REVIEW8 IN MY OPINION Timothy A BarnesRegardless of which part of the transportation industry a company operates in, maximizing fleet reliability is typically one of the biggest factors in driving down costs and improving margins. Equipment failures are felt by nearly all aspects of an organization, from the customer experience and impacts to net promoter score (NPS), to the internal logistics and incremental expense of reclaiming downed equipment, to the fleet management team that must maintain additional units so that spares are available at a moment's notice. Thus, the inevitable question arises, how can one sustainably improve fleet reliability? While no single answer applies to every organization, here are five key concepts that have proven to yield positive results when implemented and adhered to.Preventive Maintenance Inspection and Service ProgramThis is the foundation of any reliability program and what most people might envision when considering maintaining any fleet type. While all PM programs should cover the standard scheduled maintenance services prescribed by the OEMs and any governing compliance standards, it should also include additional inspection points and services based on an operation's specific use case, equipment and part life cycle stages, relevant seasonality impacts, and historical failure analysis. This is the single best opportunity to identify and resolve reliability concerns before an asset goes back into operation and should be a fluid program that evolves with new equipment, technology, compliance requirements and current fleet performance issues. Quality PM programs take time and resources to develop and implement but can drastically improve overall reliability metrics when performed by properly trained inspectors.Adequate Fleet Planning & Maintenance CAPEXWhile less intuitive than the PM program, having an adequate fleet plan is crucial to long-term fleet performance. Fleet plans should allow for enough equipment to run the day-to-day services, account for any necessary strategic spares, and most importantly, provide downtime to perform all PM program inspections, services, repairs, and incidental items brought up during daily operations. This is especially necessary in operations that run 24/7 as there will always be a demand for equipment. Failure to plan accordingly can lead to pressures to postpone maintenance services, which is a direct path to reduced reliability and increased downstream cost.Where the fleet plan defines how many assets are required to run an operation, the maintenance capex plan maintains a balance in fleet life cycle stages and facilitates the replacement of obsolete assets. Maintenance capex plans are most useful for larger fleets and strategically spread replacement costs evenly yearly. Failing to replace assets on a regular schedule can result in poor fleet performance and subsequent bulk asset replacements, which then causes "fleet bubbles"--a multi-year cyclical situation that can repeatedly overburden maintenance organizations and subsequently drive abnormal annual P&L performance and poor reliability FLEET RELIABILITY:DRIVING THE BOTTOM LINEBy Timothy A Barnes, Director of Industrial Engineering & Maintenance Support Systems, Greyhound LinesWith larger fleets, an experienced engineering and management team is necessary as their expertise ensures the PM program and SOPs are accurate, comprehensive, and effective--a role whose importance cannot be overstatedTimothy A Barnes
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