Ford scheme for running costs analysis
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• Vehicle costing data will be analysed, for any operator having at least one Ford vehicle in this fleet, by Ford Motor Co Ltd under its computer linked operating cost analysis system (FOCAS) which it announced this week. He will, however, still have to keep his own records and supply the data to the computer service of Inbucon Ltd.
The system, which is completely confidential works this way. Ford will supply to the operator five simple vehicle record forms together with instructions on how to complete them. It also plans to have staff available to explain the system to operators at their own premises.
Two of the forms, the weekly vehicle record and the vehicle maintenance record, call for information already available from the operators's own existing records, which can be used in place of Ford's two forms if the operator prefers. The others are necessary to the computer operation.
The three remaining forms give information about yearly overheads, additions or deletions from the fleet, and three-monthly totals of operating costs.
It is the quarterly return which is sent to the computer company regularly and which is used for cost analysis.
The operator, who is identified by a code number only to preserve anonymity, receives a detailed analysis of vehicle performance over the period, aggregated to provide an overall picture of its performance for the past 12 months.
To get full value from the system, the operator must interpret the information given for himself but, if required, Ford will provide assistance in interpreting the information and suggesting what action might be necessary.
As well as details about the performance of his own vehicles, the operator also receives details of the average performance of all the other vehicles included in the system which compare with his own. From this he will be able to see how his vehicles are performing in relation to other average performances.
The cost to the operator is £35 to join the scheme. This fee covers 20 vehicles. An additional £5 is charged for each extra 20 vehicles over that number. If more than one depot is involved there is a separate charge for each.