 Think about how much money your agency has invested in vehicles. Snowplows, trucks, utility vehicles all take a big chunk of your budget. How much do vehicles cost an agency? Equipment costs can represent 20% of the total budget of a public works agency and 30 to 40% of a road and street maintenance budget. Managing these fleets of vehicles can, depending on the size of the agency, run into millions of dollars. Yet making sure these vehicles work properly is vital to the infrastructure of our society. As every elected official knows, proper maintenance of all vehicles is essential. The management of equipment resources is one of the largest support functions in most public works operations today. This video will present some of the advantages of the systematic management of equipment resources through a computerized equipment management system which we will refer to as an EMS. This video has two sections. The first section discusses the benefits of an EMS, that is what an EMS can do for your agency. The second examines the elements of an EMS, that is how an EMS works. A fleet of vehicles that is suitable, that means suitable to do the job that he is required to do. If he needs a pickup, give him a pickup, not an automobile. Number two, available. The fleet should be available to use and not be in the shop most of the time. Number three, reliable. Should be running, not on the tow hook. Number four, safety. Number five, economics. The fleet should be competitive in cost. And last but not the least, the fleet should be environmentally responsible in meeting the state, federal and the local regulations. A good equipment management system will help you achieve these objectives which are so critical to any fleet operation. An effective equipment management system can result in these benefits. Increase safety for the driver and his cargo. Minimized response times. Improved service to citizens or customers. Effective management of both equipment and personnel. Selection of the best vehicle based on status, equipment on board or location. And a thorough analysis of fleet operations. An automated vehicle management system can fully automate vehicle and fleet maintenance. The system provides immediate access to maintenance schedules and other essential information vital to the physical operation of your fleet. An effective EMS can reduce the cost of owning equipment in several ways. It provides better planning of fleet sizes, extends the useful life of equipment through better maintenance practices, increases equipment availability and reduces downtime and helps you know when it is the best time to replace a vehicle at the end of its economically useful life. When an EMS is used in your agency, the benefits are easily seen. Important to any government or any organization to effectively use all the resources available and the vehicle fleet is a critical resource to a government entity delivering service. And one way to maximize the availability of that fleet is to have an effective maintenance management system available that gets you the maintenance on time in a scheduled way and responds very quickly with parts available when breakdowns occur. Just by seeing that the vehicles are not down like they used to be, that they're up and running and you're not having the problems and itself sells a preventative maintenance program and the concept of a centralized facility. Management, you must explain to people that the end users are going to be able to use how this can better benefit them. Equipment management systems focus on four main points. Shop management, inventory control, fluid dispensing and financial control. By using an equipment management system, you can optimize fleet maintenance operations, automate shop procedures, manage parts usage and track fluid dispensing. You can even get online access to information on vehicle reliability, maintenance schedules, warranty periods, repair orders and costs. Savings from improved equipment management can range from 5 to 15%. The magnitude of savings will depend on the skill and motivation of all the managers to make effective use of the information provided by the system. The first part of this video, benefits of an EMS, is now over. As mentioned in the first section, an EMS focuses on four main points. Shop management, inventory control, fluid dispensing and financial control. Part of shop management is preventive maintenance and repair orders. Equipment management system is a tool that manages periodic scheduled maintenance such as manufacturer's recommended servicing, required inspections, oil changes and tune-ups. You can define scheduled maintenance tasks for individual vehicles or groups of vehicles, specifying frequency, maintenance location to perform the work and any inspections to be conducted. When the vehicle comes to the shop for unscheduled repairs, the equipment management system records information that is later used to track the cost of operation for that vehicle. Information that is gathered includes the date and site of the vehicle repair, the vehicle number, odometer reading of the vehicle and the type of repair. In addition to being tracked internally by the system, the information gathered can be printed on the vehicle's repair order. Whether a scheduled or unscheduled repair order, the equipment management system tracks both types of repair in a similar manner. The shop foreman can print all repair orders for a given day or week. This information can be sorted according to any group such as maintenance location, vehicle type, type of repair, preventive maintenance, unscheduled repair order and the date. The printed repair order is delivered to the mechanic to perform the work required and when the repair is complete, the foreman closes the repair order by entering all of the necessary information into the work order or making sure that all of the blanks are filled. This information is retained for report purposes. At the time of closing, the system may expense labor cost to the appropriate cost control account. Although an equipment management system can act as a standalone system, it can also offer a seamless interface to the parts inventory management system. For example, when an employee requests a part by part number or description, the system automatically charges each part to the appropriate general cost control account for that vehicle and makes the necessary reduction to inventory levels. The parts and supplies management module of the EMS reduces equipment downtime by stocking the correct parts while maintaining the inventory at its most economical level. Stock numbering and classification establishes an effective parts numbering system and provides the necessary cross-reference to the manufacturers. The stock selection and stock levels module of the EMS establishes the most economical stock levels. With this sub-module, you can evaluate in-house carrying costs versus local purchasing, project required safety stock, and develop economical reorder points and reorder quantities. The inventory control sub-module ensures effective control of parts at the various stock locations. It establishes standard record keeping, pricing procedures for each shop, and standard charge-out procedures. It also provides standard purchasing procedures, establishes cyclical inventories, and develops stockroom security measures. Inventory management provides basic inventory management techniques to ensure continuing economical parts supplies. It develops automatic ordering procedures, evaluates obsolete or slow-moving parts, monitors stock on order, periodically evaluates established reorder points and reorder quantities, evaluates overall inventory policies, and provides stock reports to the parts manager. The equipment management system can also help your maintenance departments track warranty items. When you issue parts to a repair order, the system automatically provides a list of all parts in the vehicle that are currently under warranty. The equipment management system can manage your fuel dispensing in one of two ways. If your fuel inventories are managed using an automated fuel dispensing system, you can periodically download data to your local computer system. Second, you can use manually written fuel tickets at the dispensing point that you later enter into your equipment maintenance system. In both cases, the equipment management system charges the fuel to the appropriate cost control account for the vehicle and makes the necessary inventory reductions. As part of fluid management, the equipment management system tracks the following information. The pump number, the vehicle identification, the fuel ticket number, the mileage information of the vehicle, amount of fuel pumped, the type of fuel pumped, the date and time of transaction, and other important information. If you record a vehicle's odometer reading at each refueling, the equipment maintenance system can use the information in tracking and scheduling preventive maintenance. In addition to fuel, the fluids dispensing component of your equipment maintenance system can handle motor oil, transmission fluid, and other fluids you store in bulk. The equipment management system handles inventory reductions and charges the costs of these fluids to the appropriate cost control account. Financial control. The equipment management system can track the costs of parts, labor, fuel and outside purchases for each vehicle. Using this information, you can generate a cost analysis report that lists total costs and average costs per mile for any user-defined period or vehicle. You can print cost analysis reports for each maintenance location or for each group of vehicles. Financial control also includes budgeting procedures. These procedures establish budget allocations for shop work programs and central headquarters functions, develop procedures for budget preparation and approval, and establish methods for effective budget control. Finally, the financial control module can establish rental rates that ensure effective control of an equipment revolving fund. The module defines cost elements of equipment ownership, develops a rental rates structure to capture total costs by equipment class, establishes billing procedures, and provides a method for evaluating established rental rates. First of all, preventive maintenance system is critical to an efficient operation. And now you've got a paper trail for when the part was ordered to when it came into the system to when it went out. One of the key factors I love about the system is you don't have a lot of your money, you have budget money sitting on a shelf on parts and not being utilized with this. Comprehensive equipment management systems are designed for the express purpose of fleet-wide reporting and fleet-wide maintenance. These systems track fuel, maintenance, insurance, registration, tires, travel, cost per mile, and much more for any number of vehicles. Equipment management systems include many options, including bulk fuel, salaries, vendors, and inventory. Choose as many or as few options as you need. Equipment management systems, they analyze vehicle performance and costs. They keep track of maintenance schedules. They save your agency money by keeping equipment running efficiently. One of the things an equipment management system will do for you that will separate the cost-effective activities from unproductive activities. For example, a mechanic working on a piece of equipment is a productive activity. A mechanic chasing parts, a mechanic changing light bulbs, a mechanic cleaning the shop all day long is an unproductive activity. A good system will be able to tell you what percentage of time your registered owners or mechanics who are paying mechanic wages are being used for their task. The trick in being competitive is to cut out those activities which do not add value to your operation. And that's the key. Something that adds value, you want to promote it. Something that does not add value, you want to cut it out. And that's how you become competitive. An equipment management system can provide the right equipment at the right time and place for the lowest possible cost. An effective EMS provides procedures and controls to achieve the objectives of minimizing equipment costs and increasing availability. It also addresses each stage of equipment life from purchase to replacement. The benefits are tangible and realizable. An EMS can optimize the fleet size and makeup, extend the useful life of equipment, increase equipment availability, replace equipment at the most economical point, improve shop and parts management, provide effective preventive maintenance, provide equipment specs tailored to job requirements, and assist in establishing an equitable and effective cost allocation or chargeback system. Control your agency's equipment costs with EMS.