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In this article for Field Service News, Sami Eric, UK Country Manager at Vimcar, discusses the benefits of digitalisation in fleet management.

With businesses looking to increase their fleets in the wake the Coronavirus pandemic, the pressure is on to efficiently and successfully keep track of any new vehicles added to growing fleets. In a recent survey by Vimcar, a quarter (24%) of fleet managers said they spend half their working day on spreadsheets, with almost half of fleet managers finding spreadsheet set up too time consuming and 37% say it leaves room for mistakes. What’s more, there are still some who have not made the switch to digital spreadsheets, as 10% of those surveyed are still using pen and paper to keep tabs on vehicles, drivers, regulations and more.

Those fleet managers using spreadsheets or pen and paper to track costs, etc. are clearly not utilising their data to analyse the efficiency of their fleets. Yet, according to thousands of key decision makers in a recent survey, 75% believe that ‘data plays an important role in underpinning business decision making’.

With the challenges facing business growth, including economic uncertainty, Brexit, driver shortages, changes in road regulations and emission charges, there is a need for fleet managers to utilise data effectively in order to keep track of the numerus changes unfolding and make key business decisions. Efficiency and accuracy are crucial, and without it, problems arise. But the benefits of streamlining fleet management processes will go beyond efficiency and time saving.

WHY FLEET MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE IS SO IMPORTANT

Fleet management software is a broad term that describes the work required to keep fleet vehicles safe and operational at all times. Unexpected vehicle breakdowns, unplanned trips and hefty fines for expired vehicle documentation are all common fleet management issues that can be solved with more efficient ways of fleet tracking, which is often part of fleet management software. Modern tools that draw on data analysis gives a more in-depth knowledge of how a fleet is running and makes it easier to spot any potential issues ahead of time. Businesses that are still using paper logs to track their fleet are at a much larger disadvantage and run the risk of overlooking vehicle document renewal deadlines, misplacing mileage logs and more.

With the current issues around HGV driver shortages, fleet management is proving to be even more vital for companies keeping up with increased customer demands. As a temporary solution to the driver shortage, the government relaxed the HGV driver’s hours rules, meaning drivers can increase their daily driving limit from 9 hours to 11 hours twice a week. However, it’s up to each company to ensure drivers are properly tracking and sticking to their hours.

The problem is that many companies lack proper oversight of their drivers’ movements, and few can afford steep fines from incompliance. Plus, when you don’t monitor drivers, resources inevitably get wasted. And during a driver shortage, efficiency is essential.

THE DIGITAL SWITCH AND ITS BENEFITS

SMEs that have not yet digitalised their fleet are at a significant disadvantage compared to those who have. Without fleet management software, it’s impossible to tell where each driver is and whether they’re running on time or within the desired driving hours. That also means customers can’t be provided with accurate ETAs, nor can they be given concrete proof of delivery or pickup.

Without this digital software, fleet managers have to monitor driving hours with manually-filled mileage logs, which take longer to go through and are easily misplaced. With fleet management software, users are able to optimisie drivers’ routes, which not only reduces travel time, but also helps to decrease fuel expenses and optimise driving behaviour.

Vimcar’s survey found that 1 in 3 SMEs digitalised their fleet during the Covid pandemic. Of those, 94% agreed that adopting more technology has directly benefited their business by making services more efficient, improving the customer experience and it making employees’ lives easier.

As the pressure grows for business of all sizes to continue to build back, whilst maximising efficiency and satisfying customers’ demands for deliveries, using data to provide insights and analysis on how fleets are performing is key. With clarity comes efficiency, but also helps to relieve the stress from fleet managers and drivers, when a fleet is well managed and under control.

TIPS AND TACTICS TO SUPPORT THE SWITCH FROM EXCEL TO A FLEET ADMIN TOOL

• Tracking vehicle hours: If you know how long a vehicle is booked for, you know how long it will be driven for and which driver you need to follow up with if they do not drive the hours specified.
• Fuel consumption: Ensure your fleet management software supports the fuel card you use. This makes it much easier to keep track of fuel costs, which are undoubtedly one of the biggest expenditures for a fleet.
• Take time upfront to input important dates and tasks: Regular tasks and deadlines such as contract expirations or MOTs can quickly creep up when they are not properly managed. By taking the time at the start to input this data will not only save a lot of time in the long run but will ensure you never miss an important deadline.
• Get the guidance you need: Make sure your fleet software provider takes the time to walk you through the software – either in person or remotely. This will give you a good understanding of how each aspect of the software works and will allow you to make the most of all of its functionality. At the very least, be sure your provider has a high level of customer service so if you do have any questions you can get through to someone easily.
• Automated workflows: Where possible, set up automated workflows to help save time, allow real-time improvements to your fleet and give you reduce running costs.
  

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Further Reading:

• Read more about Managing the Mobile Workforce @ www.fieldservicenews.com/managing-the-mobile-workforce
• Read more about Fleet Management on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/fleet-management
• Learn more about Vimcar @ vimcar.co.uk
• Connect with Sami Eric on LinkedIn @ www.linkedin.com/in/sami-eric
• Follow Vimcar on Twitter @ twitter.com/goVimcar

Survey finds ecommerce SMEs are investing in their own delivery drivers amidst ongoing driver shortages, supply chain issues and Covid restrictionsUK ecommerce businesses are taking delivery into their own hands, according to new research released by Vimcar. In a survey of 100 small and medium sized UK ecommerce retailers, almost all have experienced an increase in online orders since March 2020, and two thirds (64%) of online retailers have had to invest in their own delivery fleet to meet customer demand.

97% OF SMALL ECOMMERCE BUSINESSES HAVE SEEN AN INCREASE IN ORDERS FOR DELIVERY SINCE MARCH 2020 AND OVER TWO THIRDS NOW DELIVER GOODS USING THEIR OWN FLEET

Undertaken by Vimcar, the fleet management software for SMEs, the survey comes at a time when ecommerce retailers are grappling with the impact of delivery driver shortages, Brexit uncertainty, supply chain issues and Covid restrictions.

Increased customer demand over the past 18 months has led the majority of respondents to hire their own staff to fulfil orders rather than outsourcing delivery, with over a fifth of the ecommerce businesses surveyed hiring between 5 and 10 new fleet drivers. Having taken delivery into their own hands, 80% of ecommerce SMEs are positive about the next 12 months, despite ongoing economic issues.

Taking delivery in-house has been a successful move for many but the research also exposes the additional strain this has placed upon SME ecommerce businesses. Three quarters of respondents said that expanding their delivery fleet had made admin more difficult to manage, highlighting a need for ecommerce businesses to simplify the management of rapidly growing fleets.

Ronald Clancy, UK Country Manager at Vimcar said: “It is promising to see that business is thriving for ecommerce retailers despite an extremely turbulent 18 months. There remain many wider economic challenges for small businesses to overcome and what this research shows is that many ecommerce SMEs are having to rapidly adapt their business models in order to remain agile and continue to meet customer demand.”

Over a third of survey respondents expect demand in delivery to increase further, reflecting wider industry reports on increasing delivery volumes in the lead up to the peak Christmas season.

Clancy added: “Efficient fleet management will be crucial to the ongoing success of small and medium sized retailers as poorly managed fleets and drivers can quickly drain a business’ costs and resources. Simplifying fleet management is therefore vital to any ecommerce retailer wanting to maximise the investment they’ve made into delivery services.”

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Further Reading:

• Read more about Managing the Mobile Workforce @ www.fieldservicenews.com/managing-the-mobile-workforce
• Read more about Fleet Management @ www.fieldservicenews.com/fleet-management
• Learn more about Vimcar @ vimcar.co.uk
• Find our more about Aircargo Transport @ www.aircargo-transport.eu
• Follow Vimcar on Twitter @ twitter.com/goVimcar

Copperberg’s Thomas Igou outlines the four key technologies that he believes are going to be shaping the future of the aftermarket in the coming years...

In an age of servitization and advanced services, spare parts management has become something of a difficult beast to fully grasp for many companies who are offer aftermarket services.

For example, in a world of guaranteed up-times, the cost of failure to keep an asset running can often far outweigh the lost revenue from the sale of the replacement part needed to get the asset back up and running and fully functional again.

Yet, the path to servitization is not an easy one to tread - so is it worth cannibalising what for many service companies is a reliable, consistent and strong revenue stream in its pursuit?

Whichever route companies ultimately turn to, one thing is certain, spare parts management is going to be a crucial aspect within the service delivery sector and as with mobile workforce management, there are a number of technologies and innovations that are emerging that could change the way we approach parts management in the future.

Therefore it was with great interest that we took a look at the insights from a recent research project undertaken by Copperberg. The research was conducted online across the last month primarily to Copperberg’s own audience of conference delegates.

In total the there were 65 responses to the survey and these representatives were all professionals within the sector ranging in seniority from parts managers through to Managing Directors - although the main body of respondents were at the division head/director level on a national scale.

The majority of respondents were from Europe although other regions, including China, were represented. The respondents were largely from manufacturing verticals, which would be anticipated given Copperberg’s flagship event the Aftermarket Business Platform is also a manufacturing dominated event. However, there were a number verticals within the manufacturing sector represented including heavy machinery, medical and automotive.

So let us take a brief look at what trends the research revealed...

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Want to know more? Click here to Visit Copperberg's website to register for an exclusive white paper based on this research!

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Inventory Management:

Inventory Management sits at the heart of good parts management as without the ability to track components and parts at any given time as they move from depot to the field (and potentially back again depending on a companies approach to repair and reverse logistics) everything else within in the equation becomes open to inaccuracies and subject to guesswork.

Indeed, the importance of inventory management appears to be hugely important within the organisations represented within Copperberg’s research with 91% of the respondents ranking it as being either four, five or six on a scale on to six with six being very important. In fact, almost half of the respondents (43%) listed Inventory Management as very important (6) - further emphasising the significance of inventory management in the context of spare parts management.

So it is absolutely shown to be clear in the research that the focus on inventory management remains one of utmost importance for the vast majority of companies.

 

Parts Pricing and eCommerce:

Parts pricing is also another area that was unanimously outlined as being important to the survey respondents.

This is particularly interesting as the fact that so many companies still view parts pricing as being highly important to them could be viewed as an indicator that the revenue streams that come from spare parts sales is still very much a critical part of the aftermarket landscape.

In fact, 86% of respondents stated that they felt parts pricing was at least a four on the same scale as listed above, however, here it was just under a third of respondents (32%) that felt this issue was very important.

eCommerce is of course another area that is heavily linked with parts pricing and there are indeed some correlations between the two areas, yet in terms of responses, eCommerce remains somewhat less of a priority than pricing.

With regards to eCommerce, exactly two-thirds of the respondents (66%) listed it as a four, five or six with only 16% seeing it as being very important (6).

This is quite an interesting difference between the two as we might have anticipated these results being more closely aligned.

One assumption, however, may be that with regards to eCommerce the solutions have now matured and so most manufacturers in 2018 may have at least some form of eCommerce solution in place - perhaps this explains why it is viewed as less of a priority?

This is certainly though an area for further discussion - something that will be surely had at the Copperberg Spare Parts Business Platforms which are running in Q1 next year.

 

Digitalisation:

Digitalisation is the key buzzword of the last few years although given that it encompasses a number of important shifts within the current evolution of business processes this is perhaps to be expected and there is no denying the importance of digitalisation within the field service sector and it is also a major consideration within the closely related function of parts management as the research reveals.

Digitalisation was ranked was 71% of the respondents to the Copperberg survey as being listed as either a four, five or six on their scale of importance, with 22% of respondents listing it as a six i.e. very important.

This places digitalisation as being deemed to be not quite as important to the respondent base as Inventory Management and Parts Pricing but more important than eCommerce.

What is interesting to note here is that these two very specific niche challenges seem to be in some-ways the eternal, perennial headaches of the sector, whilst broader, business-wide concerns such as digitalisation are possibly more likely to appear as an issue to overcome in the short-term which in themselves could lead to improvements in other areas - such as improved inventory management for example.

Which leads us neatly into...

 

3D Printing & Artificial Intelligence:

Two perfect examples of exciting new technologies that are emerging would be 3D Printing and Artificial Intelligence (AI) - with one set to play a hugely significant role in the niche of spare parts management, whilst the other will play a broad role in almost all sectors, including spare parts management.

So how do the industry experts who made up the Copperberg respondent base see each of these exciting technologies impacting the spare parts management sector?

With regards to AI just over a third of respondents (35% ) thought it would be important to some degree (again listing it as either a four, five or six).

However, less than a tenth of the respondents (9%) felt that AI was currently very important for them.

In terms of 3D printing, surprisingly the numbers were even lower.

In fact, less than a third of companies listed 3D Printing at a four or higher and only 8% of respondents felt that 3D Printing was very important in the sector currently.

 

Parts Logistics:

One area, however, that was overwhelmingly listed as being important within the field of spare parts management across the next 12 months was that of parts logistics.

94% of respondents listed parts logistics as being at least a four in the scale of importance with over a third (35%) going on to state that they felt parts logistics was important enough to warrant being listed as a six.

This makes parts logistics one of the most important areas in the spare parts sector across the next twelve months according to this respondent base, although Inventory Management is very important to more companies.

 

Conclusions:

The results of the survey bring us some interesting conclusions - particularly when we stand them alongside the trends we are seeing from within the field service sector.

Of course, field service and parts management are two leaves on the same branch with deeply symbiotic relationships between the two.

Yet, from this research at least, it does seem that many of the forward-looking discussions we have been having within the field service sector, particularly around emerging technologies such as AI, IoT and Augmented Reality as well as the wider topic of servitization as a strategy for business growth - may be further down the line than their equivalent discussions with our spare parts colleagues - and in some companies that may be significantly so.

Perhaps, part of the reason for this is that parts management is a highly complex beast with a huge amount of moving parts (literally) and even if solutions such as inventory management systems have been put in place it may take time for the benefits there to be truly felt.

However, the simple fact is that no matter how efficient field service management is - it all falls out of the window if parts management is poor - and this is perhaps the greatest learning from the research - that the focus of professionals within the parts management sector currently remains on efficiencies - and for that, we in field service should be hugely grateful.

 

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Want to know more? Click here to Visit Copperberg's website to register for an exclusive white paper based on this research!

 

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