The National Private Truck Council (NPTC) has launched a web-based management resource for its private truck fleet members. The Private Fleet Assessment Tool was developed by NPTC in collaboration with Optima Associates as well as leading transportation and logistics services provider Schneider National, Inc.
According to NPTC president & CEO Gary Petty, the new tool represents the "next generation" of the association's highly respected annual benchmarking study, which he said is used by a majority of private fleet managers to gauge the cost effectiveness and overall operational excellence of their fleets.
"The new Private Fleet Assessment Program we're unveiling takes that [benchmarking] information and insight to a much higher and more sophisticated level in an interactive and dynamic way," said Petty. "It is the most comprehensive fleet assessment program on the market today."
Petty said the power of the Private Fleet Assessment Tool lies in it "combining the expertise, industry knowledge and firsthand data of NPTC, Optima Associates and Schneider National and delivering the assessment capabilities in a single web-based tool."
As the tool is intended to bring more value to NPTC membership, only NPTC fleet members may access it, Tom Moore, NPTC vp-education, told Fleet Owner. "Members will register via us to use the tool," he noted, "which assures the confidentiality of their data as well." He noted that NPTC members may take the basic-level assessment free of charge, but to complete the assessment an additional fee is required.
The web-based tool evaluates private fleet performance and targets improvement opportunities within "Eight Pillars" of scoring: safety and fleet organization, network planning, customer management, fleet management, information management, driver management, continuous improvement and financial management.
Fleets navigating the program visit a web site, enter key operating information and assess their performance against some 40 qualitative and quantitative attributes. NPTC said fleet performance is scored against "world-class standards that were derived from hundreds of industry benchmarks and subject matter experts." The participating fleets receive a report comparing its performance to the standards as well as detailed recommendations on how to improve its performance.
According to NPTC, along with identifying opportunities for improvement, the tool can also provide a sliding scale of the impact of any proposed changes -- covering "the 'what if' scenarios that have been too complex to thoroughly consider until now."
"While each fleet has its own performance characteristics, there are common dimensions influencing the outcomes and success of each fleet," pointed out Steven Hirt, president of Optima Associates. "We collaborated with NPTC and Schneider to develop a program that measures 40 different attributes contributing to a fleet's overall performance. The transportation planners and fleet owners we've previewed the tool with find the insight into fleet management best practices and the customized suggestions for improvement for their individual fleet to be invaluable."
Gary Strausbaugh, vp of transportation of Mennel Milling Co., who is testing out the tool, said the "systematic way in which the program captures and scores relevant data gives a private fleet a realistic picture of how it stacks up against best-in-class standards."
For more information on the Private Fleet Assessment Tool, go to www.nptc.org or call NPTC's Serena Porter at 703-838-7960.
