A complex fleet is, well — complex
“Complex” is a subjective term. So what describes a complex fleet? It’s a fleet that:
- Combines cars and trucks
- Needs specialized licensing and compliance expertise to operate in more than one state, province or country
- Requires highly specialized capabilities for data transfer and integration
- Must comply with a variety of environmental regulations such as New Jersey engine idling and California Air Resources Board emission rules
- Operates in the difficult work conditions of specialized industries like utilities and railroads
- Utilizes trucks requiring intricate upfitting and tight supply-chain management
- Demands more hours, people and/or resources than fleet management has available
Embracing Complexity
Sometimes companies come to ARI with the belief that standardizing big fleet challenges is the best way to tackle them. Nothing is simple about the fleet business. When a company standardizes to accommodate a business process or existing technology, it’s probably putting time limits on the shelf-life of its solution. This can undermine the business advantages in the future.
Other fleet management providers may shy away from handling complex fleets, but ARI embraces the challenge. We understand the complexities impacting the fleets we serve. ARI professionals will build our understanding of a client's complexities. Our fleet services prove that together we can customize solutions and capabilities that solve problems more effectively at every point in the fleet’s lifecycle.
Our solutions drive differentiation and efficiency into the way companies run their fleets, and turn complexity into marketplace advantage.
Elevating the top line, lowering the TCO
One of America’s leading railroad companies was satisfied with our fleet management and the improvements we made, but pressed us to do even more. The company had set its sights on greater market share and intended to upgrade its fleet and support infrastructure to pursue new customers.
The project was complex because the railroad industry in general was struggling with rising costs, growing environmental regulations and various safety, technology and operating issues. As our client worked on fleet and organizational expansion plans to support growth goals, management also had the difficult assignment of complying with corporate mandates for greater efficiency and cost improvement in fleet operations.
Expanding fleet operations while constricting the budget made success seem impossible. Even worse were the fleet makeup and working environment. The fleet was sizeable and consisted of road and rail vehicles designed with extremely complicated upfitting to meet a variety of strict siding, rail, signal and mechanical requirements for highly specialized work conditions. Vehicle production, upfitting and the work of all providers in the supply chain had to be closely monitored and coordinated in order to meet the client's tight delivery schedule.
ARI responded with a customized program to meet the railroad's requirements throughout the fleet lifecycle. It covered resource allocation, data integration and communication, vehicle acquisition-build-upfit, maintenance and fuel management, process control, licensing, risk management, fraud prevention, driver safety, remarketing, and related administrative functions. ARI set up the systems, processes and performance tracking that allowed our client to take advantage of controlled authorization, repair avoidance, rebates, warranty recovery, knowledge-based alternatives and effective vendor management.
Complex, yes, but ARI's strategy saved the company $9,159,263 over the next three years. From this total, improvements in maintenance management accounted for savings of $8,711,685, while fuel management saved another $447,578.