How should you assess your fleet? There are 10 key pieces of data that open the door to what’s really going on
How do you – and your transport manager – get a clear view of what’s happening with your fleet of coaches, buses or minibuses.
The traditional way is to examine the maintenance history. Yet this only gives a snapshot in time. You will learn that older vehicles require more maintenance, as do high mileage ones. But, it won’t tell you why.
Once the PSV leaves your yard your driver is in control and the only data you will get – apart from collisions – is fuel consumption. This can give you an indication of driving style, but to really get to grips with your vehicles’ cost you need more information.
As one of the world’s leading telematics providers with more than two decades-worth of experience, MiX Telematics has a wealth of global telematics intelligence at its disposal.
Now, to help its customers determine the most beneficial ways in which to use MiX Fleet Manager, the company has used its knowledge to compile a list of the top ten key performance indicators (KPIs) every transport manager should track.
“While Fleet Manager enables operational data to be collected easily and efficiently, the key to success is knowing how to put that information to best use – hence the reason why we have compiled this top 10 list,” says Jonathan Bates, Marketing Director for MiX Telematics (Europe).
Three categories
“Broadly speaking, the benefits fall into three main categories; safety, efficiency and compliance, and our list reveals the principal factors in each of these three important areas.
“The consultancy service our team of in-house specialists offer is largely based on these parameters, and the very best results we see is when their expertise is combined with that of our customers in order to maximise the gain in each area.
“There are, of course, myriad additional benefits and KPIs that can be configured using our solution.
“We work with each individual client to ensure that they are getting the information that they need in order to drive positive business transformation.”
All of the MiX Telematics top 10 KPIs can and should be automatically collected by Fleet Manager, which in turn offers pre-configured reports via MiX Telematics’ secure portal. This makes the reporting process simple and automated.
Customisable KPI dashboards are a key feature of MiX Telematics’ advanced offering and their expert consultants are on hand to help build genuine actionable intelligence for customers, it adds.
Safety
Driver behaviour is the biggest category within the safety category. Operators who monitor driver behaviour and use the data they collect for driver mentoring are best poised to improve their overall safety profile.
The top KPIs for safety are all related to driver behaviour, and include:
– Speeding incidents
– Harsh acceleration and braking incidents
– Corner handling incidents
– Accidents
Ideally, this data should be conveyed to transport managers in real time and shared with drivers, either by way of regular reviews or through the MyMiX Driver Portal, which allows drivers to review their own performance and compare it to that of their peers.
Efficiency
When it comes to the efficiency, MiX Telematics recommends that operators track:
– Fuel economy per vehicle, including idling time
– Empty miles
– Vehicle utilisation
Fuel economy and maintenance data can help managers see inefficient behaviours such as speeding and excessive idling.
Once identified, drivers can be trained to avoid them.
Reducing those behaviours in turn reduces wear and tear on vehicles, decreasing maintenance requirements. Most importantly, all of this leads to safer driving and fewer accidents.
Obtaining a clear view of empty miles and how vehicles are used on a day-to-day basis can help managers optimise utilisation of their most expensive asset and, in some cases, allow companies to reduce the number of vehicles in their fleet – further reducing costs such as fuel, maintenance and insurance.
Compliance
Here, fleets need to track:
– Available hours of duty
– Hours breaches
– Unassigned mileage by vehicle
Hours is of utmost importance, and schedulers should be looking at duty hours at least daily, says MiX.
The best practice is to look at this data live, in real time, since hours can change during a day.
MiX Telematics also recommends a weekly review of breaches – not necessarily due to failures in the management processes, but often because the rules are not always followed by every driver.
Unassigned mileage by vehicle is another key provision, and if a fleet has exceptions, the manager needs to be aware of them. Are your vehicles being used for trips you don’t know about?
MiX also puts drivers in the management control seat by providing the data on driving style to them via an app. This means that drivers can see what their on-the-road performance is. You may wish to consider a bonus system to incentivise better driving, using some of the money from the savings you will make.
Find out more: www.mixtelematics.co.uk
