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    Improve truck fleet management

    Truck fleet management can be stressful, whether the fleet is large or small. From costs, to training and maintenance, there are many elements Fleet managers need to consider to run a successful fleet.

    The innovation and advancements in technology have made truck fleet management easier to maintain. Using these new technologies and introducing better behaviour can benefit fleet managers of heavy-duty trucks.

    This article covers some tips on how to improve your truck fleet management. Following these tips and finding other solutions to your own specific issues will help improve the efficiency, costs and behaviour of your fleet. You will also need to consider your fleet insurance and look at ways to make sure that all vulnerable areas of your fleet are protected.

    The issues truck fleet managers face

    There are many different areas to manage and look after, the stresses of fleet management can be intense. With problems such as keeping costs down by monitoring fuel usages and staffing costs, it's important to track the expenditure to be able to run a successful fleet.

    Not only this, but fleet managers need to focus on the health and safety of their drivers, by providing comprehensive training and regular health and safety courses. Keeping track of driver's behaviours and arranging training is a vital part of managing a fleet.

    You also need to keep your trucks healthy by doing regular maintenance checks. Truck maintenance is important to keep vehicles healthy and safe to drive and to help catch any issues before they become expensive repairs. Here are some tips on how to reduce the costs and make improvements.

    How to improve your fleet truck management

    Managing fuel spend

    You can start improving your fleet truck management and costs by managing fuel spend and fuel efficiency. There are many things you can introduce to improve fleet fuel efficiency.

    Firstly, you can look at revising vehicle specifications. Many truck fleets are looking for more efficient vehicle choices, such as cargo vans, which will help reduce costs and carbon footprint.

    You can increase fuel efficiency by monitoring and modifying drivers behaviours by training them to pick up good habits, such as reducing fast starts and hard stops and avoid excessive idling. All of this combined will help reduce the overall spend on fuel.

    Bring your own device

    You can use devices and technology to manage the GPS of fleets to cover compliance, navigation, driver behaviour and vehicle inspections on fleet management apps.

    Asking drivers to provide or use their personal devices to use work-based apps significantly reduces IT and hardware costs. The benefits include a reduction in hardware costs as well as minimising the training requirements.

    Built-in telematics

    Many trucks are now provided with built-in telematics. Before they were fitted by the manufacture, having telematics installed yourself required extra downtime, administration and additional costs.

    The benefits of purchasing trucks with telematics built-in make it easier to communicate with your drivers. You simply need to activate an account online to instantly keep track of your truck fleet.

    Truck-specific routes based on load and truck size

    Commercial truck drivers need specific navigation software that understands the stress of safely manoeuvring larger machines from one destination to another.

    Special GPS tracking helps keep driver stress down and helps them to their destination, efficiently and safely. These navigation devices help to avoid roads with weight or height restrictions. They look for POI and highlight safe places for drivers to take brakes and safe places to rest overnight.

    This includes road and traffic updates as well as notifying drivers of turnings ahead and other safety precautions drivers need to take.

    Truck maintenance to avoid downtime

    New and advanced telematics is providing fleet managers with a wealth of new diagnostic data on the health of their trucks.

    We are now able to get an accurate picture of how trucks are performing, as well as signs of any maintenance that is due. This gives you the chance to order necessary parts or schedule in maintenance work that may be required to prevent further damage.

    Manage driver performance

    You can better manage the performance of your fleet by arranging routine training to ensure that drivers introduce effective measures to improve efficiency and safety.

    Using fleet management software, you can keep on track of who requires the training and what training should be provided to keep innovating your staff and provide them with relevant training on new technologies and tracking.

    Communication and incentives

    Maintaining clear communication between you and your drivers is an important measure to keep drivers updated and involved in the team. It is also important you communicate with your team if they have good drivers’ performance so that you can reward them.

    Incentivising your team on good behaviours will encourage them to do it more and improve the efficiency of your fleet.

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