Fleet Maintenance - 14

reports," says Jarit Cornelius, vice president, asset
maintenance and compliance for Sharp Transport.
"We put a lot of attention on accurate data input.
Otherwise, these reports would be skewed and
meaningless."
Founded in 1979, Sharp Transport is a family-owned truckload carrier based in Middle
Tennessee, operating dry van, flatbed, heavy haul,
end dumps, and dedicated contract services.
Other sources where fleets can collect data
include electronic logging devices, or ELDs, and
the on-board computer of the vehicle, says Brian
Holland, president and CFO of Fleet Advantage.
Fleet Advantage serves as a specialty finance
and leasing company, and business intelligence
and asset management firm for the commercial
vehicle market.
Southeastern Freight Lines designates internal
"fleet codes" for different vehicle groups, according to Lee Long, director of fleet services. "What
this means is that we may purchase multiple OE
units and each one in that purchase group has
the same specifications. The next group may have
other items not included in the first group."
Southeastern Freight Lines is a privately held
less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier operating in 14
southeastern states and Puerto Rico, in 90 strategic locations. Employing more than 8,000 individuals, with 400 technicians, the company operates
26 maintenance facilities.
"When it comes to a fleet testing [new vehicle]
technologies themselves, it is best to have a large
number of vehicles operated in the same way,
with limited differences between the vehicles,"
Nachtman says. "For example, if a fleet bought
100 trucks, half with one component and half

14 Fleet Maintenance | August 2019

» Advanced Truck Lifecycle Administrative Analytics Software, or ATLAAS, is
a software product available for Fleet Advantage clients that provides fleets
the ability to monitor and manage their total cost of ownership.
Photo courtesy of Fleet Advantage

with another component, they could evaluate
the TCO impact."
Long cites a specific example from a recent
specification within the Southeastern Freight
Lines fleet; one group of purchased tractors were
specified with an automated manual transmission, while the other vehicles were specified with
fully automatic transmissions.
"With these [groups] having unique fleet codes
assigned to them, we can evaluate the cost-effectiveness of several key components: miles-per-gallon, repair costs overall, and component repair
costs," he says. "This is valuable when testing
new technology."
"For components offered in different variations and/or from different vendors, it is important to evaluate trade-offs," Nachtman says. One

"The more money
fleets spend on
PM, the lower their
overall maintenance
costs will be."

relatable example for all fleets is tire specification and weighing the benefits and drawbacks
to features such as tread depth, durability, and
rolling resistance. "That trade-off should be evaluated to best suit the application and business
goals of the customer," Nachtman adds. "Some
technologies reduce weight or increase fuel
efficiency but may reduce residual value. That
trade-off should be evaluated."

Process of evaluation

"Fleets can record and evaluate TCO data using
simple spreadsheets, all the way up to advanced
proprietary software developed by the fleets themselves," says Navistar's Nachtman. "All expenses
must be recorded over the life of the vehicle to
provide a true TCO view."
Penske Truck Leasing has a comprehensive
program established to evaluate TCO. Penske
uses a proprietary, internally built system to
collect and evaluate this information.
Based in Reading, Pennsylvania, Penske Truck
Leasing provides full-service commercial truck
leasing, truck fleet contract maintenance, truck
rentals, and used truck sales.
Paul Rosa, senior vice president of procurement
and fleet planning for Penske Truck Leasing,
explains that the process begins at a high level.
Data on operational costs is obtained through
numerous variables, including application, cost per
mile, uptime in relation to how long the vehicle has

Fleet Maintenance

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