Receiving the title of No. 1 Leading Fleet may happen within a matter of moments at the Honors Celebration, but the journey leading up to that moment takes time. The road to becoming an industry leader involves more than just maintaining a fleet; it's about fostering a culture of continuous improvement and innovation. 

For the 2024 winner — Long Beach, California — success came from building a strong team and letting them use their strengths. Instead of micromanaging, Long Beach trusted its staff, which boosted performance and made it easier to adopt new technologies and practices. This supportive approach was vital in moving to zero-emission vehicles and cutting down the fleet's carbon footprint.

Contributing Factors  for a Successful Fleet 

Long Beach Acting Fleet Servies Manager Eric Winterset believes part of the fleet's success is due to their team and allowing that team to play to their strengths. 

"I have worked for other organizations in the past that micromanage every decision, which limits potential growth, suggestions, and innovation," Winterset said. "Allowing staff to be empowered helps with confidence and growth in their journey, which then parlays into their prospective performance."

This model has been a game changer for their division, allowing them to embrace changes in technology, work practices, and efficiency. As for a successful fleet, Winterset sees its biggest asset being the staff. Having experienced and trained staff drives exceptional performance in productivity, efficiency, and embracing change, he explained. 

"We must be flexible in our operation, especially with the new direction of moving to zero-emission vehicles and a reduction in our carbon footprint," he added. 

Fleet Changes That Have Brought About Operational Success

The Long Beach fleet has embraced its key performance indicators and has not used them as a punishment but rather as a way of improving. 

"As we measure almost every facet of our operation, sometimes we get the bad results of how we are performing," Winterset stated, noting that sometimes it can be hard to accept those figures. However, rather than burying them, the fleet uses them to improve those areas in need while still embracing the successful reports.

"I believe in working on your weakness to improve your overall operation to become a successful organization," noted Winterset. 

Facing Challenges and Moving Forward with Success

Like many fleets within the public sector, recruitment and retention of qualified technicians has been a challenge for Long Beach. The organization has worked with HR and the Union to make substantial changes in wages and incentives.

This change resulted in 13% to 23% wage increases across the staff and made Long Beach competitive with other competing municipalities in the region. The fleet has also made structural changes in the minimum qualifications by allowing candidates who graduated from a trade school to be eligible for immediate hire. 

As Winterset explained, "The previous minimum qualifications required two years in the field, and we would lose these candidates to other municipalities or the private sector with no chance of ever getting them attracted to our open positions."

With the retirement of Dan Berlenbach, former fleet services manager, the fleet has been able to make a smooth transition thanks to working on a succession plan for years in anticipation of retirements or new opportunities. 

"When Dan retired, we were set up for success because we were all part of all those conversations or all had some type of responsibility in the vision of the organization," Winterset explained. 

While the gameplan was in place the fleet did make some adjustments with certain projects or timeframes to allow staff to get acquainted with their new role in the plan. For certain projects, it was decided that a new direction was needed to make sure that they were relevant to the fleet's current pathway forward. 

"We continue to use our long-range planning format that Dan had implemented but we have adapted to our current staff, future staff, and new vision and ideas for the organization," Winterset noted. 

How Technology Has Impacted Operations

One of the biggest adoptions of technology within Long Beach has been the use of predictive maintenance. The fleet partnered with Assetworks and Pitstop to pull data (diagnostic codes) from the ECM into Pitstop proprietary algorithms to predict potential breakdowns in the fleet. 

This has allowed the team to work with departments to bring those identified vehicles in before they have a breakdown during their operation. As more data is collected, the predictive model improves and becomes more accurate.

Fleet Management Training and Development

"In our field, training is not only essential for developing staff but, for also keeping up with technology," Winterset said. The operation's approach has always been to provide everyone with 40 hours of training per staff member per year. "Investing in your people is a huge priority for us and we budget a substantial amount of funds to this yearly," Winterset added.

As for staying updated in the industry, the operation employs a training coordinator who works with all the various work groups and listens to what training is required, what new technologies are coming out, what training is needed, and different types of training that will not only keep them educated on current areas but also provide opportunities for them to grow in their careers with various other types of training.

Primary Goals for the Fleet in the Future

Over the next five years, the Long Beach fleet's vision is to move toward achieving the cleanest fleet possible, which is an aggressive approach to implementing ZEVs. While Winterset noted that this comes with the challenge of also building the infrastructure out, they have identified the needs for all of the sites that will have ZEVs. Plans are already in the works to meet these goals. As for initiatives that intrigue Winterset, he's looking forward to the development of hydrogen units in the medium-and heavy-duty space.

"I am also looking forward to seeing what new type of alternative fuel is developed that we don't know about yet," he said. "I believe we need to diversify our options to meet the zero-emissions goals."