CURTAINSIDE TRAILER BLOG

Fleet managers are a special breed.

Like the guy balancing spinning pie plates on a stick, the fleet manager always has something up in the air that requires immediate attention. Keeping a private fleet on the road represents the largest recurrent expense in many companies. Competition is more keen than ever in freight hauling, and the options to distinguish your fleet from one across town or across the country are limited. Today’s fleet manager isn’t “the guy in the garage” anymore. To hold the job, you need expertise in a variety of disciplines that extend beyond the fleet itself, like finance, operations and sales. To stay competitive in the 21st century, you need to remain agile and informed. Here are some suggestions for keeping those plates spinning:

Multi-tasking is increasingly the nature of the fleet manager's job.

It's a trend that seems likely to steepen as time goes by. Staying connected to the industry at large is just one of the items that demands daily attention. It’s important to keep up with industry trends, financial metrics, government regulation and advances in technology—all of which affect the freight industry and your company's ability to compete profitably. In addition to flipping through the pages of printed publications, the internet offers a number of sites that should be included in your bookmarks. The challenges posed by fleet management—and the ability to formulate the right decisions at the right time—rely on the quality of information you’re exposed to every day. Here are some reputable and clickable sources to keep you in touch with the pulse of the industry.

Until recently, the infrastructure of trucking didn’t exactly occupy the cutting edge of innovation. While trucks themselves became more high-tech, software applications for the trucking business lagged behind. Today, the smartphone has become a must-have accessory for truckers and freight managers. Apps produced by a wide array of start-ups have gained ground and re-defined business as usual in the trucking industry. Here are just three trucking apps that now boast impressive download figures:

Truck drivers have an on-the-job injury risk that's about three times that of employees in other industries. Roadway accidents account for 25% of driver injuries due to the risks of other drivers, bad weather, and unsafe road conditions. Yet many trucking injuries occur when the truck is standing still and the driver isn’t even behind the wheel. The most common injuries are slips, trips and falls; or struck with shifting freight or moving equipment like forklifts. 8% of trucking injuries that result in worker's compensation claims are related to tarping loads on flatbeds.

Some costs of operating a fleet are beyond your control: fuel prices that rise and fall with the international market, insurance, and necessities like the cost of finding and training drivers. However, you’re not totally without options in the fight to reduce operating costs of a fleet. Numerous opportunities exist to make changes and improve the bottom line. More good news: many changes that lower costs also make your fleet more efficient and productive, as well as increasing customer satisfaction. Take a closer look at your own operation and you can probably come with a number of ways of cutting unnecessary expense. Meanwhile, here are three examples to start with:

It won’t come as a surprise to any fleet manager: Traffic congestion is a factor that complicates daily dispatching and it’s only getting worse. Today, freight in urban areas moves slower than ever. Increasingly, fleet managers have to make on-the-fly schedule adjustments as trucks are snarled in standstill traffic. The Department of Transportation estimates that traffic congestion imposes $27 billion dollars in wasted fuel and labor hours on freight companies. It’s also a public relations issue for our industry. Trucks inevitably tend to be the highest-profile, most visible target for the frustrations of commuters fuming behind the wheel in ever-growing gridlock.

Fleet managers keep the rubber on the road and freight moving on-time and cost-effectively.

The job requires having the right truck and trailer available for the load requirements at all times. This can be a challenge when the fleet mix is fixed—limited to only or predominantly van trailers or flatbeds. You need the flexibility to pick-up and deliver exactly the freight required, where and when it’s scheduled; and to make sure that both the quality and security of the shipment is maintained from the shipping dock clear through to the destination. Roland curtainside products offer alternatives to the limitations of a traditional fleet, readily adapting to the changing requirements of shippers.

 

Fleet managers have their hands full keeping trucks and freight in perpetual motion from Point A to Point B and back again, on-time and at the lowest cost.

 

 

Labor hours, fuel expenses, scheduling, dispatching—the job is complex enough as it is. So why should fleet managers use curtainside trailers? What freight managers don't need to deal with are gnarly loading issues and restrictions imposed by trailers that don't adapt to a diverse freight mix. A flatbed is ideal for some loads, but it can't fully replace an enclosed van trailer—which, by the way, will never serve as the sole substitute for a flatbed, either. The goal of accommodating ever-changing loads is a moving target you never quite achieve.