Driver productivity is becoming as big an issue in the fleet industry as safety is currently. To get a handle on what experienced fleet managers are doing to make sure that company drivers obtain maximum usage of their fleet vehicles and of their time in he field, Automotive Fleet sponsored a symposium in April 1993 during the National Association of Fleet Administrators annual conference held in Nashville, TN.

Participating on the Automotive Fleet panel were:

• Don Boyd, fleet manager, Lone star Gas in Dallas, TX;

• Craig Kundrotas, Western region fleet manager, Hewlett-Packard Co. in Van Nuys, CA;

• Dick Prettyman, fleet operations manager, DuPont in New Castle, DE; and

• Wayne Teece, national fleet manager, Abbey Home Healthcarein Costa Mesa, CA.

AF: How do you utilize driver communications to increase productivity?

Prettyman: We use a variety of communication methods with our people. Everybody is on an electronic mail system so that we can send them new price changes for products or other information overnight. We also utilize monthly publications. We send out a driver communication publication so that they're aware of any things that are going on as far as policy changes, safety concerns, or other related issues.

Boyd: Lone Star Gas Co. is a natural gas public utility company and conducts pipeline and customer service operations. The two-way company radio is used to communicate with the driver, and we have begun using cellular phones in certain situations. Another type of communication system was placed in service in 1989 in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. This area covers approximately a half-million customers. Mobile data terminals were installed in the vehicles utilized by our customer service technicians. These technicians go to businesses and homes to initiate gas service and service appliances. We have approximately 140 vehicles with mobile data terminals which have revolutionized the way the dispatching of service orders are handled. During the first year, the time required to work service orders was reduced by 15 percent and since 1989, an additional three to five percent has been saved each year.

The system also allows the service order dispatcher to continually monitor the status of each order. If the service technician notifies the dispatcher that a job is taking longer than anticipated, the dispatcher can redistribute work orders to other service technicians. When the customer calls to check their request for service, our Customer Service Center has immediate access to that information.

Cellular Phones: A Productivity Tool

AF: What are some other examples of using communication equipment such as cellular phones, tape recorders, and fax machines in the field to help employees be more productive?

Prettyman: Well, our people are using cellular phones. They're using portable computers and fax machines. We did a productivity study probably four years ago when we started getting into cellular phones. At that point we identified that there's probably about a 15 percent productivity increase by having someone with a cellular phone being able to call ahead and find out if the customer is going to be available for a sales call or, what probably was going to be more convenient if we were running late, or whatever, so that they could check ahead and keep rolling if need be.

Boyd: I look for the cellular phone to take the place of the two-way radio in customer service applications. It has advantages, particularly in today's environment where the husband and wife both work. The cellular phone allows the service technician to have direct contact with the customer to provide them with the status of their order and to verify appointments after working hours.

PM Reduces Driver Downtime

AF: How do you reduce driver downtime?

Prettyman: We ask that the drivers call into the fleet management company for preapproval for repairs so that when they arrive at a maintenance facility they're not standing there trying to negotiate with the facility to get the repairs done. They just go and leave the car and conduct their business. We've also encouraged our employees to utilize their Saturdays for repairs on vehicles. The fleet management company is open on Saturdays for maintenance approval on repairs. We provide 24-hour roadside assistance so that if in the course of their day they break down, rather than losing time, we can take care of their needs right away.

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Kundrotas: Instead of the fleet department second-guessing our drivers, we survey them on a regular basis. We ask them what they want to help them be productive. They want perfect vehicles, effortless repairs, and expert accident assistance with uninterrupted use of the vehicle. So we start with that as baseline. My drivers are the customers, so I try to satisfy these needs. In the past couple of years, we've done a number of things to help them be more productive. One of the things is going from a multi-use fuel card to a universal fuel card. We used to give our drivers four, five, or six multiple cards. The drivers get one card and can use it at 15 or 20 stations. I get central billing, exception reports, etc. So that was a good move. We also have a very large pool car fleet. We have a 13 to one ration pool car fleet. In other words, for every 13 assigned drivers there's one pool car. And that's done by branch. Pool cars are primarily used for maintenance loaners, short-term accident replacement vehicles, damage repair replacements - to get the driver on the road right away.

Teece: We do monthly preventive maintenance (PM). Every vehicle has a PM done, and we utilize mobile PM services. What we typically contract with is one of the fleet service companies that actually brings out the mobile service to our site. With that, we have do downtime to do the PMs. And our PM policy is extremely strict in that it must be done every month and what we look  at every month is pretty extensive. The reason for this is that we deliver oxygen and medical equipment to patients' homes. We can't have downtime. We can't let service techs sit because the vehicle is broken. They just have to get there so we have to go a little further that normal to ensure that.

Training Drivers to Be Safe

AF: What does your company do to help employees maximize efficient use of time while driving? Are employees trained on the proper usage of company-provided vehicles and equipment?

Prettyman: Everybody who operates a company car has to take a defensive driving course every three years. In between those three-year intervals, we ask that they go through a driving evaluation. Normally it's program where a professional driver from Industrial Training Consultants rides with the driver and evaluates him. It's usually a half-day program. We also have people who do go through either the Bob Bondurant or Car Control Clinic driving schools. They have skid cars that they bring around to our various sales and marketing meetings while we have a group of employees there.

Boyd: The Safety and Training Group develops and administers the driver safety program. Monthly safety meetings are conducted and a portion of the meeting is devoted to safety training for drivers. Immediate supervisors provide vehicle safety training for new employees.

Kundrotas: As far as training drivers on the vehicles themselves, by the end of 1993, we'll have trained more than 2,000 drivers on a one-day driver safety training course. We also put all new hires through the safety training. Incorporated in that training is a half-day classroom session, and in that half-day session, they talk about driver attitude. Employees are also trained on proper lifting techniques and on handling hazardous materials. Lastly, we just went through a revision of our fleet policy. We condensed it down to a small driver booklet which gets to the bottom line on how to operate the vehicle, how to get it maintained, how to call for help, and what the fleet policies are. And then they must sign for this, an acknowledgement form that they've read it, then they can get their new car.

Teece: We allow one moving violation every three years or one accident in a three-year period. If they get two moving violations in a three-year period, we ask them to come off the road and sometimes terminate them. As for the equipment that they deliver, service, and set up, we provide extensive training on a weekly basis. We have what we call in-services for an hour every week in the morning. Sometimes it will be a job safety talk on the operation of the truck, but primarily it's on the set-up of the equipment. We also have a very extensive and strict policy for pre- and post-trip inspection of the vehicle which keeps them very familiar with the equipment all the time.