The American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC) and FleetNet America have teamed up to introduce an online fleet maintenance benchmarking program for the industry.
Introduced Sunday at the TMC Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Jim Buell, executive vice president of sales and marketing at FleetNet America, says the “TMC/FleetNet Vertical Benchmarking Program” will allow TMC member fleets to use vehicle maintenance reporting standards (VMRS) to compare their unscheduled roadside repairs with those of comparable fleets through an online dashboard.
By tracking what systems are failing and comparing that to similar fleets, Buell says the study will help fleets better understand the effectiveness of their overall maintenance operation. Additionally, by participating in peer-to-peer benchmarking, companies can quickly identify areas that are most likely to drive down maintenance costs.
TMC says all participants will receive access to an analytic tool that compares the miles their fleet runs between breakdowns to similar fleets at other companies. The analytic tool will be updated quarterly so fleets can review their progress against industry peers. Buell says TMC members can sign up to participate in the study at any time, and new fleets’ data will be integrated into the study on a quarterly bases. The analytics provided via the program will be cumulative and non-fleet specific, TMC adds.
“All TMC fleet executive level members will receive quarterly benchmarking reports – generated from program data – by virtue of the Council membership,” says Robert Braswell, TMC executive director. “Fleet members whose companies contribute data to the program will also get the added value of access to the program’s online analytic dashboard which features more in-depth reporting tools.”
“Our analysis indicates that most fleets are experiencing more unscheduled roadside repairs than they should,” says Buell. “Using data from the TMC/FleetNet vertical benchmarking program will help fleets pinpoint opportunities to improve. This will help them reduce costs, improve their customer service and improve efficiency.”
The new program will be discussed Tuesday during the “The Application of VMRS to Big Data Benchmarking and How It Helps Fleets” study group session at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday during the TMC Annual Meeting.
For information about the TMC/FleetNet Vertical Benchmarking Program, and to sign up, please visit https://benchmarkit.fleetnetamerica.com/.
