September 2008, Automotive Fleet - Feature

60 Ways to Reduce Your Fuel Spend

By Mike Antich

8. Monitoring Unauthorized Company Vehicle Usage.

In the era of lower fuel prices, companies often missed or ignored unauthorized use of company vehicles such as when an employee took a vacation. “I am running a monthly vacation report and will be checking it against fuel purchase dates as our employees are not allowed to use their fuel card for extended personal trips or vacations,” said one fleet manager who wished to remain anonymous.

Modifying Fleet Operations

9. Implement Idle Reduction Programs.

The worst mileage a vehicle can get is 0 miles per gallon, which occurs when it idles. Idling for long periods of time, whether at a railroad crossing or pulling off the road to make a cell phone call, consumes gas that could be saved by simply turning off the engine. Restarting an engine uses about the same amount of gas as idling for 30 seconds. When idling for longer periods of time, shut off the engine.

Prolonged idling creates excess emissions and wastes fuel. However, as a caution, turning off the engine may disable safety features such as airbags. Drivers should be certain to utilize this strategy only in situations where there is no possibility of collision.

“We have communicated reminders to all our employees about our no-idle policy,” said Hodgdon of E.A. Sween Company. “On our Class 8 trucks, we are ordering Thermo King APU equipment to eliminate the need to idle to power A/C, heat, etc.”

10. Develop a More Efficient Routing Plan.

If you are running a delivery fleet or have vehicles that follow a set daily pattern, efficient routing offers an effective way for fleets to manage fuel expenses. Not only does a routing plan make trips more fuel-efficient, but it also increases time efficiency as well. Plan and consolidate trips to bypass congested routes and avoid stop-and-go traffic.

Fleets are also reducing fuel spend by optimizing trip routing to avoid unnecessary travel and backtracking. “We are looking at ways to redesign our distribution system that will be more efficient,” said Hodgdon.

Other companies are evaluating routing software to optimize routing. “We are investigating a routing software package that would help us optimize our delivery routes to minimize miles driven,” said Jim Collins, CAFM, manager, support services for Royal Cup, Inc. in Birmingham, Ala.

Other fleets require strict adherence to routing plans. “We require strict adherence to the routing plan produced by our dynamic routing programs that minimize mileage, while maximizing customer service” said Steven LaPorte, business manager, North American transportation operations for Iron Mountain in Boston, Mass.

11. When Feasible, Have Two Employees per Vehicle.

If you have several employees going to the same work location or job site, have them take one vehicle instead of driving separately.

12. Optimizing Fleet Utilization and Realigning Vehicle Assignments.

Fleets are closely examining vehicle mileage records and eliminating marginal low-mileage vehicles that do not fully contribute to fulfilling the fleet application.

“We work under the premise that there are two ways to lower fleet costs: dispose of every vehicle you don’t need and modification of driver behavior,” said Ginny Liddle, corporate fleet administrator for Terracon in Olathe, Kan. “I provide a quarterly exception report to management listing the vehicles that have been driven less than 1,500 miles. With this and feedback from their own managers, they can make an informed decision whether to keep, dispose or transfer a vehicle. Modifying driver behavior is an ongoing process.”

Another strategy employed by some truck fleets is to realign truck assignments to be closer to the dealer repair network to minimize fuel expenditures in traveling to and fro. For instance, E.A. Sween Company is in the process of realigning its 250 Deli Express truck assignments. “We see the overall best repairs with fewer re-visits using a truck dealer repair network. Currently, the nearest dealer repair facility could be over a hundred miles away while we are parked at night near another brand of truck dealer. The fuel used for transportation to repair locations along with employee time to move a truck represents an opportunity for improvement,” said Hodgdon. “The extra transportation and repair time increases our need for spare trucks. Realignment will place more trucks with service locations that can provide quick and proper repairs allowing us to eliminate about 20 percent of our spare trucks.”

13. Eliminating Pool Vehicles.

“We are taking a close look at all our pool vehicles to see if we can eliminate some underutilized vehicles,” said Brett Switzky, fleet services administrator for American Family Mutual Insurance Co. in Madison, Wis.