There’s no doubt a fuel management system can improve fleet performance. But perhaps you still aren’t sure if it’s right for you. Consider for a minute whether your operation could use a boost in any of these four areas:
Maintenance.
Adopting the right fuel management system means you can capture more detailed information about each of your vehicles, more consistently and more accurately. Armed with better data, you can realize better mileage and ensure regularly-scheduled maintenance happens as planned, reducing unnecessary wear-and-tear on your fleet. You can even receive alerts that provide earliest detection of impending problems.
You’ll get longer fleet life, for a better return on your capital investment. And you can stretch out future capital needs for replacement vehicles.
Tangential cost savings and productivity benefits: The data you gather can help identify needed improvements in route planning or driving techniques, to further reduce mileage and potential vehicle problems.
Record keeping.
A fuel management system gives you more information, in real time. Because everything is automated, it eliminates human error such as mis-reading data or transcription errors. That reduces incidence of mis-allocation due to missing or incorrect information.
Greater accuracy better supports compliance reporting, too. You’ll have correct, complete data at your fingertips, so you can quickly and easily generate reports or forms needed for regulatory filings or other submissions. Obtaining information immediately means billing and other accounting can be completed sooner, too.
Tangential cost savings and productivity benefits: Eliminating duplication of effort and time-wasting data entry enables drivers and administrative staff to re-focus on revenue-producing activities.
Security.
Maybe you have this under control, but for many firms fuel losses can represent a tremendous expense. Better record keeping eliminates “paper” losses, but a fuel management system also enables you to meticulously track and control assets from the day you purchase fuel until the day it’s dispensed into a vehicle. You always know how much fuel you have and where it is.
A fuel management system can help eliminate outright theft as well as wasteful mis-allocation that occurs when fuel is inadvertently dispensed into the wrong vehicle.
Tangential cost savings and productivity benefits: Employees can’t “sidetrack” fuel for personal use or waste vehicle time and fuel for unauthorized trips. No one wants to think their employees may be dishonest, but occasionally that’s a problem for some companies. A fuel management system, used properly, helps you avoid even having to think about such things.
Decision making.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have all the information you need to make truly knowledge-based decisions? Sure, you’re experienced enough to make good quality “best guesses.” And you’ve accumulated plenty of anecdotal information to guide you in the right direction. But a fuel management system can ensure you get far more information, without waiting around for someone to compile it, so you make smart, sound decisions at every step.
That means you’re covered for daily operations – things like driver and vehicle scheduling or responding quickly to unexpected repair or performance issues. You’re better armed for forecasting and planning. You suffer fewer surprises, because you’re capturing consistent, thorough, reliable data on a regular basis.
A fuel management system will pay for itself, often within the first year. How often can you say that?
Tangential cost savings and productivity benefits: There’s nothing “tangential” about lower total cost of ownership and higher profitability. You’ll get closer to both by using a fuel management system.
And here’s the thing: a fuel management system is equally valuable for any size or type of fleet operation. Are you a:
- Municipality or government agency with utility, fire-fighting, law enforcement or motor pool vehicles?
- Fixed-base operator providing third-party fueling but also managing the fleet you use to do the work?
- Trucking or transportation company, utility or delivery company that owns your own fueling operation?
If so, a fuel management system could significantly improve your fleet performance.
Photo Credit: Dok1