In-House Fleet Maintenance Works for Dunbar Armored

Dunbar Armored protects all customer cargo with comprehensive "all-risk" insurance and door-to-door delivery by armed guards.

As for its national fleet of more than 750 armored trucks (or armored cars as they are also known), Dunbar Armored ensures the reliability of its fleet vehicles with regularly scheduled in - house maintenance performed by trained and certified service technicians.

Few other businesses place such high liability demands on their fleet vehicles. Dunbar armored delivers the cash that keeps retailers and banks in business. The company also serves as a transporter of jewels to jewelry shows across the country. on any given day of the week, armored trucks can be targets of attempted robbery, so these vehicles must be in top working condition. In addition to providing security for the cash and valuables that they transport, Dunbar armored trucks must also be safe, punctual, and reliable. Allen wolf, who has been Dunbar Armored's director of fleet maintenance since 1995, says that setting up an in - house maintenance facility requires some work, but can have great benefits for fleets.

Tips for Running a Successful Fleet Maintenance Facility

Wolf offers some tips for success to fleet managers interested in setting up an in - house maintenance program:

1. Be sure to create a sound preventive maintenance program that takes into account all of the systems and equipment on your fleet vehicles. Furthermore, be consistent about its implementation. Dunbar has a checklist that is used routinely to ensure comprehensive check-ups.

2. Ensure that your technicians are constantly trained in the most up - to - date procedures, technologies, and test equipment. Training of your fleet technicians never stops. It is your responsibility as fleet manager to provide them with the tools that they need to do their jobs.

3. "You get what you inspect, not expect," Wolf said. Create accountability top to bottom. Use audits to hold technicians responsible for their work. Dunbar Armored uses a time card method to help identify problems that need solutions. Mechanical productivity reports provide information by unit, branch, and region. Other reports allow for review of mileage, fuel, oil usage, and miles per gallon. Dunbar's reports enable the company to track costs by current month, year-to-date, and life of the unit. "In the future, we expect to use electronic pads to record our own data processing at a central facility in Baltimore," says Wolf.

4. Evaluate your employees regularly. At Dunbar, fleet technicians are re-certified on preventive maintenance inspection quarterly.

5. Roll out your program in the areas where you have your largest concentration of fleet vehicles first.

6. Respect your mechanics as competent service technicians.

Wolf emphasizes that mechanics. "A good, well-trained individual will always be employed," Wolf said. "The knowledge that today's technicians must acquire in regard to vehicle systems, tools and testing equipment is overwhelming," says Wolf.

"Always keep in mind that although service technicians have a dirty job, they deserve your respect as professional and knowledgeable employees." Wolf said. "They maintain the assets that keep your company in business. In our case, just one armored route truck represents as much as a $90, 000 asset."

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In recent years, many fleets have outsourced their fleet maintenance needs. However, a brief look at how one company managers its own fleet maintenance program can provide a lesson on whether to outsource maintenance or handle it in-house. By adopting the focus of a fleet manager who relies upon his internal organization to handle fleet maintenance, you may gain a keener insight into your own maintenance needs.

Dunbar's Fleet Maintenance Objective

"Our objective in the Dunbar armored fleet department is to perform a quality preventive maintenance inspection (PMI) and do quality repairs at the lowest possible cost with the least downtime," Wolf says. "We act in the capacity of a proactive consultant to our branch operations and safety departments in developing and maintaining safe, reliable vehicles that enable us to perform our duties in the most productive manner possible."

Wolf notes that good departmental communication has been key to the company's successful experience in maintaining its own fleet. "For instance, we recently had a problem with brake light burnout. We solved the mystery of why we had so many by observing the behavior of our drivers. It turned out that many of them allowed their foot to remain on the brake pedal during delivery stops even though the emergency brake was already engaged. By working with our branches to get drivers to change their behavior, we expect to reduce burnouts in the future."

Why Not Outsource Fleet Maintenance?

"The economics of the situation doesn't make good business sense" says Wolf. "But far more important than cost, we cannot afford to lose control over our vehicle maintenance. We need more control over our vehicles than any outside organization could possibly deliver. At Dunbar, our fleet technicians must understand all aspects of our trucks, like engine, transmission, braking, and air conditioning systems. Many times when you pay for an outside company to provide fleet maintenance, you may not be getting what you pay for. if you represent only a small piece of revenue to an outside fleet maintenance provider, it's quite possible that you may not get the same level of service afforded their higher volume accounts. Because we are our own client, we know that our trucks are being maintained properly.

Wolf works to ensure that the quality of work performed on Dunbar trucks is always up to company standards. "When there is a problem, we can go directly back to the mechanic who performed the work. What's more, we can prioritize our own repair schedule. We get the work done that we need when we want it."

Prioritizing repairs can be particularly important in the world of armored trucks, where certain features take on increased importance. For instance, air conditioning is particularly important in the armored car industry, since driver guards must be in the trucks much of the day and cannot roll down the windows.

Wolf says that in working with an outside fleet maintenance supplier, customers usually must deal with the management of the organization, who in turn assigns the work to a mechanic. "They cannot always work exactly according to your schedule if they are providing the same services to many other clients," says Wolf.

"And as for accountability, I don't think there's any substitute for doing it internally. We always get the information we need, when we need it, in the format that we have designed to meet our internal accounting needs. In our business, we simply cannot afford to lose time having repairs performed and we certainly cannot settle for less than the total accountability we now have in-house."

What Is the Cost of an in-House Maintenance Facility?

According to Wolf, Dunbar Armored makes a significant investment in monthly maintenance with labor accounting for 63 percent of cost and parts for 37 percent. However the company also saves substantially by managing the program in-house. Recent bidding indicated that outside pricing would increase parts costs by 35 percent and labor by 20 percent.

If the vehicles in your company's fleet share common usage and equipment and you are keeping them in service for more than five years, you might want to consider in-house fleet maintenance. Wolf says. Fleets most able to take advantage of such programs typically include many municipal, state, and truck fleets.