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Fleet Optimization Program Overview
The ever changing markets and competitive strategies
within the electric and water utilities are challenging
and oftentimes shortchanging the internal business units
that provide support services. Typically, in the area of
Fleet Vehicle Management, this pressure has led to
limited capital funding and decreasing O&M expenditures,
resulting in:
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Aging and marginally maintained fleets of vehicles with
increased failure rates and no clear vehicle replacement
strategy. |
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Short term supply chain strategies that lead to lack of
consistency in the type and make of vehicles purchased
on a year-to-year basis and subsequent sub-optimal
approaches to maintaining spare parts inventories. |
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Vehicle assignments based on business practices to
compensate for less than optimal vehicle availability
rates rather than support the goal of maximizing vehicle
utilization. |
The net effect, when factoring in
the resulting “hidden costs” of lost productivity in the
field and the inefficiencies inherent in the
abovementioned results, is a higher overall cost and
lower service level than can be achieved implementing a
well-conceived fleet vehicle management plan. With a
clearer focus on process effectiveness and asset
lifecycle optimization (and of course, management
attention and commitment over a sustained period of
time), solutions short of a massive infusion of capital
are achievable.
UMS Group’s Fleet Optimization
Program provides the tools and processes necessary to
assist our Clients in determining:
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Number and mix of vehicles required to achieve desired
business outcomes. |
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Strategies and tactics to optimize CAPEX and OPEX in
operating a fleet of vehicles. |
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Process, practice, and policy redesign necessary to
achieve pre-established performance targets without a
massive infusion of CAPEX. |
Approach
UMS Group’s approach to Fleet
Vehicle Optimization revolves around six key processes,
on which we can perform a value analysis of the full
lifecycle of your fleet assets:
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Acquisition (including development of standard
specifications that optimize between functionality and
cost, and lease vs. purchase decision criteria) |
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Disposal (identifying approaches to optimize the
timing of disposal as well as capture the salvage value
of the vehicles and/or limit end-of-lease penalties) |
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Fleet Configuration (Size and Mix) (including
maximizing fleet utilization, implementing vehicle
deployment strategies, and establishing vehicle
assignment criteria) |
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Maintenance (including transition to a more
pro-active preventive maintenance posture and
implementation of an optimal repair vs. replacement
criteria) |
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Supply Chain (including establishment of “state of
the art” inventory strategies and supporting strategic
vendor alliances as well as supporting the acquisition,
disposal and maintenance processes) |
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Fleet Management Systems (maintenance and tracking
of fleet asset information) |
We will apply our proprietary performance diagnostic
(quantitative) and leading practices (qualitative) program
supported by our extensive database to assess your
organization’s position against similarly configured Fleet
organizations. We recognize that other Fleet organizations
may differ greatly in structure and scope of responsibility,
and have therefore, developed comprehensive normalization
schemes to account for regional and work-related
differences. The end result will not only be a robust
presentation of data tailored to specific business
demographics; but also insights on how to achieve “best in
class” status across any and all of these key processes. In
essence, UMS Group will work with you to develop targeted
goals to achieve a “best in class” program, provide a
comprehensive view of current state, identify and quantify
gaps between the current state and these targeted goals, and
present insights on how to close these gaps. The net result
will be a comprehensive improvement plan that
acknowledges current program strengths (thereby focusing on
continuous improvement initiatives) as well as its
weaknesses (focusing on activity value assessments,
strategic investments and/or process redesign) to establish
an overall “best in class” fleet management program.
Deliverables and Outcomes
Typically, UMS Group provides the following in the form
of Executive and Operational level reports:
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Diagnostic Report/Assessment of current performance
compared with Industry Norm and “Best Practices”. |
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Vehicle
Class Utilization Analysis
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Optimal Vehicle Replacement Plan based on vehicle
lifecycle costs and historical failure experience and a
Decision Support Tool for subsequent scenario analyses. |
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Lifecycle
Cost Analysis
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Lifecycle
Failure Analysis
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Targeted Processes, Practices and/or other Opportunities
for Improvement. |
Our goal is to assist our Clients
in:
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Gaining a thorough understanding of the gaps between
their current state in the areas of Cost/Productivity,
Fleet Composition and Service Levels and the level of
performance represented by the Industry Norm and “Best
in Class” organizations. |
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Forecasting CAPEX and OPEX Budgets for maintaining,
eliminating and/or replacing their fleet of vehicles. |
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Developing a well-defined plan to achieve a “Best in
Class” Fleet Vehicle Management Program. |
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