MANAGING PUBLIC SECTOR VEHICLES & EQUIPMENT
In this guest blog, public fleet professionals from around the nation present thoughts and solutions on topics ranging from everyday concerns to trending issues.
Moving past a few electric vehicles (EVs) to dozens or hundreds of EVs in a fleet has its challenges, which could be solvable through technology and a structural change or two. By Phillip Kobernick
Recently, my staff and I concluded a meeting that I wasn’t necessarily looking forward to. Our meeting concerned our utter frustration with having to maintain a constantly aging fleet with limited labor resources. We found ourselves meeting to discuss extending the PM intervals not because it’s optimal for the equipment, but to cope with an increasing labor requirement and a reduced labor force.
Have you begun to notice that your employees are becoming more tense and uptight? Do they fly off the handle at even the most insignificant of issues? As I talk to my fleet friends from around the country I am getting a sense of employee frustration at levels I have never seen before in my fleet career.
First, and to put it rather bluntly, virtually everything they listed is subject to interpretation and variation. While there are some variables that appear very reasonable, nearly all of them could be altered positively or negatively. Let’s look at the each variable individually.
With todays reduced manpower and funding levels, several fleet managers that I know have extended their PM Service intervals as a means of coping with their new reality. If you have the time, please respond to the brief questions listed below.