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Using telematics, service fleets can leverage data to reduce\u00a0the fuel spend of problematic vehicles.\u00a0Photo courtesy of ServiceMaster Restore.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Telematics<\/a>, for example, can provide insightful data on driver patterns, which can be used to lower fuel costs, optimize driving routes, and produce various other benefits.<\/p>\n Automation technology can help fleet managers with small teams tackle tasks that would have previously taken larger teams to accomplish.<\/p>\n The form of technology that a company should implement into its fleet operations largely depends on that particular fleet\u2019s needs and problem areas.<\/p>\n Reggie Eubanks, fleet operations manager for ServiceMaster Restore, knew that there were various areas where his fleet needed help, so he implemented various technologies into his fleet and saw noticeable results.<\/p>\n ServiceMaster Restore is a subsidiary company of the larger ServiceMaster Company.<\/p>\n ServiceMaster is a publicly-traded service company that operates nationwide. As of early 2018, ServiceMaster\u2019s fleet was comprised of well over 9,000 vehicles, with the bulk of those vehicles being Class 1-2 trucks.<\/p>\n ServiceMaster Restore is a franchised business unit under the larger ServiceMaster umbrella, and some of its locations are independently owned.<\/p>\n Eubanks joined one of those locations: ServiceMaster Restore of Cobb, a branch that services the Georgia, Florida, and Tennessee areas.<\/p>\n Eubanks \u2014 who has a long history in fleet and has started his own companies in the fleet field \u2014 joined the ServiceMaster Restore branch in July 2018.<\/p>\n The company\u2019s owner, who had the most fleet experience at the branch, had recently passed away and the company was looking for someone to take over the fleet aspects of the company.<\/p>\n The previous owner\u2019s wife took over the company, but she did not have much fleet experience. She, along with her daughter, had been making fleet decisions, but they knew they needed someone with more fleet experience guiding those decisions.<\/p>\n When Eubanks joined, the company\u2019s fleet was comprised of roughly 50 vehicles, with nearly all of them clocking over 200,000 miles on their odometers.<\/p>\n After an initial inspection, Eubanks determined that roughly 10 or 20 vehicles required more in repairs than they were actually worth.<\/p>\n \u201cSome of the vehicles had literally been run until the wheels fell off,\u201d said Eubanks. \u201cOne of the first things they did when I got here was scrap the vehicles that were far past their useful life.\u201d<\/p>\n With a better idea of the state of the company\u2019s fleet, Eubanks developed a six-month plan to revitalize the company\u2019s fleet.<\/p>\n The plan would involve integrating new software to manage the fleet that would automate certain parts of the fleet\u2019s operations and implementing a telematics platform.<\/p>\n Eubanks decided to work with Fleetio for his plan. By integrating Fleetio\u2019s platform into his fleet, he now had access to a bevy of data points on his fleet and also had the ability to build a database of his fleet\u2019s vehicles.<\/p>\n Building that database consumed the first 45 days of his new position at the company, more than he expected, but it was something that he saw as a priority.<\/p>\n The reason he perceived it as one of his top priorities was because, as far as he knew, the company did not have any records for its vehicles. This meant he didn\u2019t actually have a definitive record of when the last time the fleet\u2019s vehicles were serviced.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I asked for records to get a handle of things, the only records they had was about seven months\u2019 worth of invoices from a fleet management company that they had worked with previously,\u201d said Eubanks.<\/p>\n By creating this database, vehicle data would now be digitally stored. So, anything that happens to the vehicle going forward will have a digital record associated with it.<\/p>\n Using telematics data \u2014 along with a fuel card integration that allowed him to see the fueling habits \u2014 gave Eubanks insight into how the fleet\u2019s drivers operated their vehicles.<\/p>\n He soon found a discrepancy between two similar vehicles. His fleet had two similar trucks that operated on similar routes yet the cost per mile associated with each one of them was noticeably different.<\/p>\n Eubanks found that one of the drivers was averaging 19 miles per gallon on his daily routes while the other driver was averaging 14 mpg on a similar route. By analyzing the telematics data from these vehicles, he was able to find the discrepancies.<\/p>\n He found that the driver with the lower fuel economy was habitually setting off excessive speed alerts he had set up on the telematics platform. Eubanks had set these alerts up through his telematics platform, and they alerted him whenever one of his drivers exceeded a speed limit that he determined was acceptable.<\/p>\n With this data in hand, Eubanks addressed his driver and saw noticeable results within two weeks. The driver\u2019s average fuel economy improved from 14 mpg to 21 mpg.<\/p>\n Eubanks calculated that if he could replicate this sort of improvement throughout his fleet, he would save nearly enough money to buy a new truck.<\/p>\n \u201cI was able to tell him more than \u2018I see you\u2019re driving too fast,\u2019\u201d said Eubanks. \u201cI was able to say \u2018I noticed speed violations, and I noticed that another driver in a similar truck to yours is averaging nearly 19 mpg while you\u2019re getting 14 mpg.\u2019 Now he\u2019s getting better mpg than the other guy and he\u2019s no longer setting off my excessive speed alerts.\u201d<\/p>\n Another aspect of the ServiceMaster Restore fleet that Eubanks quickly addressed were inspections.<\/p>\n Due to the lack of previous service records, he had no idea of which vehicles had been neglected and which had been properly serviced. So, his first plan to action was setting up weekly inspections for all of the fleet\u2019s vehicles.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the first part was pouring vehicle data into our new system, the second part was getting the company accustomed to a weekly inspection,\u201d said Eubanks. \u201cThey had previously tried with paper inspections, but they weren\u2019t able to follow through. Now we have mandatory weekly inspections on Wednesdays. There\u2019s no particular reason for that day, but I figured it would give me Thursday to review the inspections and Friday to make the plan for the next week.\u201d<\/p>\n Eubanks\u2019 fleet inspections are now completely digitally; ServiceMaster Restore employees use either smartphones or tablets.<\/p>\n The user interface (UI) on the digital inspection platform is intuitive enough that it doesn\u2019t take too much time for Eubanks to train the company staff in using it, he noted.<\/p>\n \u201cUI is easy to navigate,\u201d said Eubanks. \u201cIt\u2019ll have certain safeguards, like if you put a mileage lower than what was previously recorded, it\u2019ll flag it. Inspection items are typically pass or fail and yes or no questions, so it makes it easy. If something fails, you can attach a photo or comment with it to explain why it failed. This helps in situations where, let\u2019s say, there\u2019s a crack in the window. The person inspecting can show me whether it\u2019s a small crack in the corner, or a big crack affecting a driver\u2019s line of vision.\u201d<\/p>\n Given that his fleet services various regions, being able to view these inspections remotely is also a big boon for him.<\/p>\n With a whole new outlook on his fleet, Eubanks has been able to generate a healthy to-do list for his fleet\u2019s vehicles. Vital repairs are being addressed, and less vital repairs are in queue.<\/p>\n Since the company scrapped a lot of its vehicles when Eubanks joined, he is now working on replacing those vehicles with newer ones.<\/p>\n The company previously had a range of vehicles belonging to various OEMs. With the new vehicles he\u2019s ordering, Eubanks plans to consolidate the manufacturers he works with.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving 15 years with a fleet repair company, I know what certain OEM vehicles are good at,\u201d said Eubanks. Source: Fleet Financials<\/a><\/p>\nFinding Extra Fuel Economy Through Telematics<\/h3>\n
Optimizing ServiceMaster\u00a0Restore of Cobb\u2019s Fleet<\/h4>\n
Identifying Fuel Guzzlers\u00a0Using Telematics<\/h4>\n
Leveraging Technology for\u00a0Vehicle Inspections<\/h4>\n
The Fleet Going Forward<\/h3>\n
\nHis current plan is to limit his fleet to two OEMs.<\/p>\n
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