Proper gear upkeep is simply as necessary for landscaping fleets as correct automobile upkeep. And not using a complete upkeep technique in place for gear, landscaping corporations can expertise elevated bills in downtime, restore, and substitute prices.
Tools Upkeep Methods
To be able to do their job, your crew wants secure, operational, and dependable gear. Being proactive with upkeep is one of the simplest ways to make sure these standards are met, and you are able to do that by creating a radical upkeep technique.
Leveraging fleet administration software program (FMS) to implement and monitor your gear upkeep technique helps enhance uptime via real-time asset monitoring and repair workflow automation. FMS lets you create both particular person preventive upkeep (PM) schedules and/or bulk service applications on your gear—with every asset maintained in accordance with utilization, OEM specification, gear kind, or different standards you dictate. Moreover, FMS automates upkeep workflows to maximise gear lifespan, monitor bills, and enhance uptime.
Take the case of ProQual Landscaping in Tempe, AZ: an operation that started with 10 vans quickly grew to over 85 numerous property. With over $1 million in asset worth, ProQual Landscaping’s fleet is its largest asset. From vans, vans, tractors, and each piece of apparatus in between, the corporate had outgrown using advanced spreadsheets and wanted to create a extra proactive course of. The corporate additionally determined it was finest to deliver its upkeep in-house. By using FMS, “[It] allowed us to create proactive upkeep plans that saved us 33% within the first half of the 12 months versus the primary half of the earlier 12 months,” says Jeremy Bader, implementation supervisor at ProQual Landscaping.
Listed here are a number of methods software program could make landscaping gear upkeep extra proactive.
- Create Service Reminders Primarily based on Tools Utilization
- Conduct Routine Inspections to Uncover Points
- Seamlessly Collaborate With Your Group to Resolve Points
- Observe Upkeep Progress With Detailed Work Orders
- Monitor Upkeep Bills and Complete Price of Possession
Service Reminders
With a lot landscaping gear to maintain monitor of, it’s possible you’ll not know when one thing is damaged till your crew is already on a job. As an alternative of being pressured to react rapidly to both get a substitute instrument to a jobsite or rapidly make repairs, PM schedules permit you to monitor gear well being extra persistently and keep away from pointless—and costly—downtime.
With FMS, you may set customizable PM schedules for all of your gear and use service reminders to inform you and the group of upcoming upkeep. This enables upkeep to be scheduled throughout off-hours or between jobs.
Up to now, a few of ProQual Landscaping’s take dwelling automobiles would return with a wide range of service lights on. With FMS, the corporate can now handle the problem rapidly and have the automobile again up in hours as a substitute of doubtless placing it out for weeks. “It takes the guessing sport out of upkeep. Everybody is aware of when a automobile might be out for service and everybody is aware of when it’s speculated to be again,” feedback Bader.
Most landscaping producers make upkeep suggestions based mostly on utilization. FMS mechanically tracks utilization by pulling in real-time data utilizing information integrations with telematics suppliers. It then sends notifications based mostly on “due-soon” thresholds you set. You can even standardize service reminders throughout gear varieties with service applications, saving you much more time.
Routine Inspections
Like pre- or post-trip and each day inspections on fleet automobiles, having your group carry out temporary each day gear inspections helps uncover any underlying points that want addressing. Customized digital inspection varieties, together with each day automobile inspection experiences, is a key benefit to ProQual. Previous to implementing FMS, the corporate spent an excessive amount of time on repairs and skilled excessive automobile downtime. The varieties now empower the corporate to arrange distinctive upkeep schedules for every kind of asset, whereas streamlining the upkeep course of.
Simple Collaboration
When there is a matter with a bit of apparatus, that difficulty additionally must be communicated rapidly to choice makers so an answer could be put ahead. As a result of your group is usually performing as your eyes and ears within the discipline, FMS with an accompanying cell app is an effective way to remain related to them, talk duties, and obtain updates submitted in actual time. When a bit of apparatus fails inspection, you’ll obtain on the spot notification so you may make knowledgeable choices and rapidly schedule upkeep.
At ProQual, the corporate not solely focuses on the performance of its property but in addition on their aesthetics. Since they function inside HOAs, the property are extraordinarily seen, and the corporate makes certain its fleet and gear are all the time displayed on the highest commonplace. Utilizing an FMS’s cell app, operators can take images of a truck, as an example, and add them instantly for evaluation. This has been extraordinarily useful in helping the upkeep division to find out if physique work is required or if a automobile’s vinyl wrap has been broken.
Even when your organization leverages a third- occasion vendor to conduct upkeep on sure automobiles or gear, FMS streamlines communication with these distributors. It lets you approve service rapidly and monitor restore progress with out taking part in telephone tag.
You can even subscribe to gear points in your FMS and obtain push notifications to provide you with a warning of all updates surrounding the problem. Monitoring difficulty statuses provides you a transparent concept of when repairs might be accomplished and gear prepared so you may reply accordingly and restrict downtime.
