Chapter 7

Vehicle Maintenance Management

STUDY OBJECTIVES

At the end of this chapter students will be expected to:

Be able to discuss vehicle productivity, availability, reliability and maintenance.

Understand the necessity of preventive maintenance inspections and work and the scheduling thereof.

Have insight into the importance of maintenance personnel and drivers in the maintenance programmes and minimisation of vehicle downtime.

Be able to discuss maintenance facilities and personnel in detail.

Be able to describe the importance of breakdown analysis and of fleet maintenance information technology, to a productive fleet.

7.1 INTRODUCTION

7.1.1 THE IMPORTANCE OF FLEET MAINTENANCE

• One of the main objectives of acquiring vehicles is to transport goods - either as an 1. ancillary haulier (private carrier)with no profit

motive realising the lowest cost per unit transported, or as a

2. public carrier, transporting goods for gain.

7.1.1 THE IMPORTANCE OF FLEET MAINTENANCE cont’

• In order to achieve the lowest cost possible per unit transported, vehicles need to be productive, available and reliable, and therefore well-maintained.

• Productivity is the ability of a suitable vehicle to continuously transport goods within established time schedules, and at realistically acceptable costs, providing a high level of availability and reliability.

• Reliable vehicles are those which can be depended upon with confidence, i.e. which do not break down regularly.

7.1.1 THE IMPORTANCE OF FLEET MAINTENANCE cont’

7.1.2 MAINTENANCE POLICY

• Facility must be workable, – the layout, for example, lends itself to the type of

maintenance and/or service necessary.• Facility must be adequately staffed, – reduces undue pressures upon the manpower. – monitor overtime or idle-time ratios which

provide indication of personnel productivity

• Transport management must always involve maintenance personnel in the decisions, as they have valuable firsthand knowledge of all the factors that can influence the productivity of vehicles:– The parts and service availability, – the reputation of the supplier, – the effect of standardisation, – the interchangeability of components, – the capabilities of the maintenance facility and – the effect on manpower requirements,

• Vehicle availability (and productive use while available) is the only guarantee to the containment of costs.

• Maintenance plays an important role in making vehicles available.

• To understand this, it must be accepted that maintenance and repair policies and procedures must be rigidly enforced and adhered to.

• Critical areas in maintenance policy development:

(a) The availability of manpower and facilities– availability of both premises and staff.– full service provided by manufacturers– in-house domestic maintenance only,– maintenance and minor repair,– full maintenance and repair,

• (b) Fleet composition– Standardisation of vehicle makes and models

offers great potential in respect of manpower training, parts holdings, unit exchanges and high residual values.

– A very mixed fleet imposes complications with respect to policy development, and can impose unrealistic demands on technical staff.

(c) Fleet deployment– simple to introduce policy for centrally operated

fleet – Complicated to introduce policy for widely

dispersed operations for controlling training and in the monitoring of standards.

7.1.3 DETERMINING THE MAINTENANCE PROGRAMME

The prime responsibility of the maintenance unit is the planning of maintenance, i.e. – developing, – introducing and then – monitoring systems,

specifically designed to ensure that (i) the vehicle manufacturers’ requirements and

recommendations are fully complied with; and (ii) the company’s policies and procedures are fully

met

• The manufacturers’ recommendations should be seen as the basic requirements which must be met and catered for when determining and drawing up the maintenance programme.– Follow the manufacturers’ recommendations but

it must be adjusted or updated to cope with the particular demands of particular operations.

E.G.• The manufacturers’ recommendation may be

to service a vehicle every 10 000 km. • This may be acceptable for a medium- haul,

on-road type operation, but would probably be totally unacceptable for a vehicle operating in a short-haul, off-road environment.

• Scheduled Maintenance on trucks are not done on a kilometre basis but on a gearshifts/service or gearshifts/km basis

• The cycle of maintenance and the checking operations, from the most basic lubrication service to the most comprehensive major maintenance service, must be established by considering the manufacturers recommendations together with the conditions under which the vehicles will operate.

• If vehicles are not presented for scheduled maintenance and service no responsibility can be attributed to the maintenance facility

7.1.4 DEVELOPING PROCEDURES

• Having established the content of the worksheet the items of work must be set out in a form that will lead maintenance personnel in a logical manner from section to section of the vehicle.

• This document will direct the mechanic in a logical sequence to all those points or components on the vehicle that need attention.

• The use of the worksheets presents tremendous opportunities for implementing in-house training in the day-to-day functions of maintenance personnel and they allow specialised concentration on the most basic but often overlooked aspects of true maintenance.

• Table 7.1 is an example of a typical worksheet which illustrates the practicality of such a system.

• If a maintenance programme is carefully researched, implemented and monitored, and any necessary adjustments implemented timeously:

routine maintenance will be carried out when required;

least possible interference with operational requirements will occur;

the maintenance facility will operate with a balanced workload;

higher technical standards will be evident; andproductivity, availability and reliability of

vehicles will improve.

7.1.5 TYPES OF MAINTENANCE

• Planned or scheduled maintenance is more efficient and will reduce the number of breakdowns.

• Efficiency must be measured to enhance proactive planning, minimising cost and maximising availability.

• There are two main types of fleet maintenance:

(a) Scheduled maintenance– the planned servicing of equipment and vehicles

to maximise efficiency. It consists of:– a preventive maintenance inspection (PMI)

programme,– driver inspection, and – scheduled component repair or replacement.

(b) Unscheduled maintenance– results from breakdowns caused by component

failures and other surprise failures that necessitate road calls.

– Unscheduled maintenance is very costly and should be minimised, even though it can never be entirely eliminated.

• The following categories of maintenance and repair, are also found in industry:

(a) Sublet maintenance and repair– make use of an outside garage or repair shop for

routine maintenance and repairs

Advantages:– overheads are kept to a minimum. – No excessive capital expenditure on premises,

equipment and spare part stock holdings, – not necessary to employ maintenance staff.

Disadvantages:– Responsible person not a transport specialist, thus

service schedules are seldom adhered to and only gets brought it with a breakdown.

– the information and analysis of component parts that need replacing is not made available to the firm (no feedback for improvement)

– Quality of work cannot be guaranteed– Pirated parts instead of original parts may used.

(b) Contract maintenance– full- maintenance lease. – lease a vehicle from a company– included in the lease contract would be certain

maintenance clauses.

(c) In-house maintenance– own maintenance facilities– varying degrees of involvement in maintenance

and repair:• Pure maintenance• The maintenance and repair type • Maintenance and repair including overhaul

7.2 PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE INSPECTION (PMI)

7.2.1 INTRODUCTION• PMI is a systematic approach to inspecting

vehicles or equipment at planned intervals, which can be measured in terms of – time, – kilometres, – hours of operation, – fuel consumption, or – a combination of this data.

PMI involves inspecting a sequenced approach of diagnosing key problem areas, and looking for sources of premature failure such as:

Lubrication fittings that are not taking greaseLines that are chafed or wornElectric lines that are worn and exposed Leaking fluidsBroken or worn parts

• The testing of components such as alternators, starters, and engines also included in the inspection to quantify output and identify potential failures.

7.2.2 PMI OBJECTIVES(a) Maximise availability– Scheduled repairs make maximum use of

mechanics and minimise equipment downtime.– Will also minimise unscheduled repairs.

(b) Minimise cost– improved equipment reliability– breakdown prevention– By replacing a component before it fails, it is

replaced at a reduced cost. – A road call would necessitate travel time and thus

further reduce the productivity of a skilled mechanic.

7.2.3 SCOPE OF PMI PROGRAMMES

(a) Servicing– performed by the mechanic on a routine

schedule.

(b) Inspection– pre-trip and post-trip– Spot checks– Equipment inspection

(c) Detection– During the servicing and inspection process, all

defects should be noted.

(d) Correction– Repair asap before further damage occurs– Schedule to adjust for work plans and to complete

repairs

7.3 BREAKDOWN ANALYSIS

7.3.1 INTRODUCTION• Preventative Maintenance intervals should be

predicted on the basis of:1. breakdown analysis, 2. manufacturers’ recommendations, and 3. the opportunity to service a vehicle when it is

not scheduled for work

Steps (priorities) to begin PMI programme:1. Determine how long components have been

in service and what their failure rate is.2. Second priority is the electrical system.– Test battery

3. The third priority is tyres.– Tyre inspection for tread, side wall punctures and

tyre pressure

4. Fourth priority is fuel– running out of fuel i.e. someone is not fuelling

vehicles properly or fuel theft is occurring. – Diesel acts as lubricant - serious

7.3.2 REPEAT REPAIRS

• Repeat repairs (those that are made more than once) are due to faulty determination of the underlying cause of the failure.

7.4 THE MAINTENANCE FACILITY AND PERSONNEL

7.4.1 THE MAINTENANCE FACILITY(a) Adequacy– adequate number of work bays– stores area for holding stock - large enough

(b) Cleanliness– cleaner the working conditions the less chance of

dirt and dust in vital vehicle components– cleaner the working conditions the cleaner the

worker

(c) Equipment– Must be in a serviceable condition.– Equipment register – monitoring the state of

equipment

(d) Tools– minimum requirement of tools to cope with job– a register and regular inspections could be

employed to monitor the standards.

7.4.2 MAINTENANCE PERSONNEL

• In any establishment, people are the most valuable asset.

• They are the ones who manage, supervise, operate and maintain.

• Without them, any facility would be worthless.

(a) Appearance– personnel have a clean appearance.– Overalls of a good quality– Provision of ablution blocks and shower facilities– Do more for your employees and they will do

more for you

(b) Standards (standard of work of staff)– Without it bad habits will persist– Achieved through keeping a register of:1. all jobs that may have to be redone, 2. breakdowns that may occur, and 3. instances where a fault in workmanship has been

detected and rectified prior to a vehicle being released to operations.

(c) Training– on a regular basis– personnel must be kept abreast of new

developments and techniques– Retraining is necessary because of short human

memory

7.4.3 SHOP PRODUCTIVITY

• A fleet manager should staff at ten percent below needs.

• New equipment needs less repair work. • Old vehicles require as much as 25 percent

more work than new ones. • For a temporary peak workload it is less

expensive for employees to work shop overtime than to hire an additional employee.

7.4.4 MAINTENANCE CONTROLS

• Conditions leading to repair backlogs (more work than the shop can accommodate) include:– Poor planning and scheduling– Prolonged bad weather placing extraordinary

strains on equipment– Old or outdated equipment needing increased

service that was not planned– Parts shortages– Insufficient shop space– Insufficient or poorly trained mechanics

• When a facility is overtaxed, there are several options to reduce the workload to manageable levels:– Hire out surplus work to commercial sources– Authorise overtime– Hire additional temporary personnel– Transfer part of the work to another departments

shop– Transfer personnel from another shop that is

experiencing a light service load

Work scheduling is also very important to sequence work.Scheduling should proceed, for each day, as follows:i. Write all repair orders, including PM workii. Prioritise repairsiii. Determine how many people will be at work that dayiv. Make certain that the equipment is therev. Make certain that the needed parts are on handvi. Delegate work to the mechanics on duty

• Once the work has been assigned, the supervisor should check the progress of each mechanic to determine when the jobs will be finished.

• The supervisor should also check the quality of the work so that the equipment will not return to the shop because of inadequate repairs.

• The shop supervisor must control unnecessary work by setting or estimating times, and sequencing and prioritising tasks to curtail unnecessary work.

7.4.5 VEHICLE PARTS AND INVENTORY SUPPLY MANAGEMENT

• The carrying cost of inventory is about 20 percent of total inventory value.

• The breakdown is as follows:Cost of storage space Cost of inventory stores and materials-handling

equipmentInsuranceInventory personnel costsObsolescenceMoney cost

7.5 FLEET MAINTENANCE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Information systems which are particularly necessary to properly maintain vehicles are:

• the vehicle record card – service history• the vehicle overhaul card – major overhaul

history• job cards – part, labour, time • the drivers defect report – defects of vehicle

7.6 SUMMARY

• The basis on which all vehicles should be purchased is productivity – – to transport the greatest possible payload at the

highest speed at the lowest cost possible • i.e. to correctly choose the vehicle for the job

to be done (payload, technical specification, etc.), operation of the vehicle, and maintenance thereof.

• A vehicle thus purchased must therefore be continuously available to transport goods and passengers within the established time schedules at realistic costs, providing a high level of availability and reliability over the economic life envisaged in the justification for its purchase.

THE END