There is so much to gain
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IF the procedures outlined in this series are followed, the standard of reliability of the fleet should improve significantly, and it follows that profitability must be improved as well.
The price to be paid is that a discipline must be adopted, and a lot more give-and-take will be needed between the engineer and the traffic staff.
In terms of cost, there may also appear to be a penalty, but once some realistic costings are carried out, then the actual on-cost should not be significant. In any case, with preventive maintenance, it is much easier to budget for maintenance costs accurately, since unexpected failures should be far less frequent.
Criterion
Moreover, if the procedures tre followed correctly, none of he fleet should ever fail an doT test—and the true cost I an MoT failure is pretty An indication of the effec iveness of the scheme, and of :s cost can be gained from the vailability, which was the asic criterion adopted in the rst place. If the scheme is inctioning correctly, availbility should be between 88 rid 92 per cent. If it is much igher, then the system is robably too costly, in that too uch maintenance is being )ne outside normal operating )urs, and that means that rertime rates are being paid r routine work. If it is lower, en you still have some way go.
The availability will also be Fected by the age of the ye..!les, it being common to find at as much as 70 per cent of the workshop staffs time is being devoted to only 30 per cent of the fleet. The 90 per cent availability is probably a realistic target when maximum capacity artics are disposed of when seven years' old, the lighter artics and premium rigids after six years, and the lighter rigids after five years.
Arbitrary
Even though the capital costs may appear prohibitive, it can pay to keep trucks for shorter periods.
Establishing a preventive maintenance scheme is a fairly basic operation, and it is an essential step to modern maintenance techniques. For example, once it is implemented, and going according to plan, the engineer can consider tailoring it specifically to suit his fleet, and his type of operation.
The decision to service vehicles monthly is arbitrary, as is one based on mileage intervals. Rather than change the oil automatically at these intervals, it is possible to analyse the oil at regular intervals, and then to change it when it is necessary.
Careful analysis of service records over a lengthy period can show that fan belts should be replaced at certain intervals, and eventually it is possible to build up a pattern where virtually every minor component that wears has a prescribed life, and is changed automatically.
Inevitably, such a system would take a lot of time to develop, but it does show how far you can go once you start thinking of preventive maintenance, and keep up to date with technical developments in the industry.