Too often when it comes to truck maintenance and repair, the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing. This is especially true given the complex nature of today’s commercial vehicles.
Whether you are doing maintenance and repair in-house or using outside service providers, it’s important that everyone have access to the same information about the status of repairs.
This information sharing needs to extend past the technician and the service manager to include dispatch and operations people. Knowing how a repair is progressing allows them to make informed decisions about when an asset can be scheduled back into service, or whether another truck needs to be deployed to deliver the load in order to meet a customer’s delivery window, etc.
Using an automated system allows you and others you have designated to see in real time the progress of a repair. This is especially handy when you are working with an outside service provider. You will no longer have to waste time trying to track down someone who can give you a status update or waiting for a return phone call or email.
Having a system that allows real time interaction means the service provider won’t be waiting for you to return calls with approvals for additional work, which is a big time waster. You’ll get notifications that you need to take action before a repair can continue and you can act on these requests quickly to keep the repair moving along.
An automated maintenance and repair system should also capture all the information about the repair — the problem, the repair performed, parts used, time it took to complete the repair, and the technician assigned to the repair. Of course it goes without saying the VMRS codes need to be used where appropriate.
Having all this information about each repair can also be used after-the-fact to make decisions about the future of that asset. But that’s a subject for another day.
For now, consider moving to an automated system that allows you to track maintenance and repair in real time to keep the repair process on track and give you more control.
About the Author
Jane Clark
Senior VP of Operations
Jane Clark is the senior vice president of operations for NationaLease. Prior to joining NationaLease, Jane served as the area vice president for Randstad, one of the nation’s largest recruitment agencies, and before that, she served in management posts with QPS Companies, Pro Staff, and Manpower, Inc.