Preventive maintenance is simply maintenance performed regularly on any piece of equipment to minimize the likelihood of it failing. Unexpected breakdowns can be avoided by sanctioning preventive maintenance while the machine is still operational.
Preventive maintenance is based on asset manufacturer recommendations or an asset’s average life span, but never on the machine’s condition.
Preventive Maintenance in the Transport Industry
Preventive maintenance, especially for freight fleets, is an anticipatory care strategy that seeks to maximize vehicle efficiency and reliability for the long term. The strategy can involve daily vehicle checks, or extensive, systematic safety inspections carried out at scheduled intervals. It aims at ensuring that the right procedures are put in place to deal with any faults effectively.
Documented records of these activities form the basis of any preventive maintenance program, and therefore, capable personnel and adequate maintenance tools must be readily available to back the system.
Lack of proper preventive maintenance systems in the transport industry can be costly. You may be forced to spend big on massive unexpected maintenance jobs. It also causes unwarranted schedule disruptions, especially when vehicles are non-operational for extended periods. A mediocre maintenance plan can shorten a vehicle’s life, adversely impacting on its whole-life cost. On the other hand, a proactive maintenance plan reduces a vehicle’s life cost.
Determining When to Use Preventive Maintenance
The ‘don’t fix ‘til it’s broken’ policy can be quite misleading, especially in fleet maintenance. You wouldn’t want to wait to get an oil change until one of your vehicle’s engines fails. If you know the essence of preventive maintenance, act on it when you can.
There’s a reason it’s also known as planned maintenance. It’s conducted for as long as a vehicle is operational and is part of a longer plan to preserve the life of the vehicle. In doing so, you can avoid expensive consequences, such as unplanned schedule interruptions.
Basing your fleet maintenance schedule on a timeline rather than on condition means that some essential maintenance tasks are undertaken before escalating to costly challenges. It also means that your maintenance personnel can ensure they operate on a budget and that they have an inventory, and a plan to perform scheduled maintenance tasks.
Preventive Maintenance Tools
While you can still manage fleet preventive maintenance manually, it is advisable to invest in a tool that can automate most of the oversight and management processes. Modern technological advancements have brought about innovative preventive maintenance software solutions that not only make the process of maintenance efficient but also affordable.
Compared to manual reporting, generating reports through upgraded fleet maintenance software takes only a few minutes. The software makes it easier for your crew to report issues for the necessary actions to be taken. An automated data collection system minimizes the inevitable likelihood of human error, improving overall accuracy.
When looking for fleet maintenance software, consider the following features:
- Vehicle tracking
- Cost tracking
- Registration and licensing tracking
- Client or operator request portal
- Purchase and order tracking
- Insurance claims management
Mobile capabilities are also handy factors you should consider as they allow you to integrate with other existing management software. Planning preventive maintenance without the necessary vehicle preventive maintenance software can be a significant challenge. PMs are usually triggered after stipulated time or use, making it difficult, or even impossible to keep track of data manually. It becomes even more cumbersome when you’re dealing with a fleet of many vehicles.
Benefits of Preventive Maintenance Software for Fleet Managers
Preventive maintenance software like Azuga gives you full control of your fleet. It allows you to schedule, plan, track, and manage everything to do with maintenance, all in one place. With robust automated record systems in place, accuracy, and simplified auditing and compliance are guaranteed.
Preventive maintenance software is beneficial for fleet managers in terms of safety, accountability, efficiency, and reporting.
Safety:
- Provides timely alerts when driving
- Prevents distracted driving among drivers
- Provides real-time coaching to drivers and crew
Accountability:
- Verifies whether your team was at the required customer location
- Ensures your team is at the required place at the right time
- Validates payroll accuracy
Efficiency:
- Helps monitor vehicle maintenance for potential problems
- Saves money on fuel through reducing idling and unnecessary speeding
- Minimizes insurance premiums occasioned by driving behaviors
Reporting:
- Gives relevant feedback for all reports needed
- Allows you to compare your performance to others, helping you to learn and adopt the best practices
What Can You Do to Boost Safety Using Preventive Maintenance?
Generally, preventive maintenance programs offer apparent benefits when it comes to keeping your fleet running and preventing unnecessary downtimes. That brings about improved operational efficiency and minimizes cost as well.
But these are not the only benefits you get from a well-designed program. You’ll get immense efficiency, quality improvement, and safety benefits from practicing preventive maintenance rather than reactive maintenance.
There is a strong correlation between what organizations do in terms of preventive maintenance and the rate of safety incidents. Therefore, it means that with more preventive maintenance measures in place, incidents are lowered significantly, and vice versa.
For improved safety in fleet management, preventive maintenance software is one way to go. Timely alerts translate to instant action, while undistracted driving gives your drivers and other road users peace of mind on the road.
Azuga – Ideal for Drivers, Just What Fleet Managers Need
The best preventive maintenance system in transport is naturally predictable, and therefore, allows operators (including drivers and maintenance crew) to capitalize on scheduling and management tools to have tasks accomplished on time. The result is smooth and straightforward fleet management, accountability, improved efficiency, and safety for everyone involved. Azuga is valuable for helping fleet managers keep overall costs down while at the same time raising their fleet reliability.
With Azuga Fleet Mobile, you can manage your fleet easily right from your mobile phone. Contact Azuga today, and enjoy the following, among many other benefits:
- Improved productivity and efficiency
- Extended life of vehicles
- Minimal paperwork
- Minimal manual data input
- Reduced working downtime
- Improved driving safety
- Timely custom reports
