– By Marc Sibbald –
It seemed unconventional to start a conference at 4:30pm and hold some networking drinks on the first night with two full conference days ahead of everyone. Though the team at IPWEA Fleet know their members, and value their supplier exhibitors, so it was a complete success.
Opening the conference Ross Moody, Executive Officer and Director Fleet at IPWEA, reminded everyone that the IPWEA Fleet community had been going since 2002 and their Plant and Vehicle Management Manual was first published in 2003. The audience glowed with pride as Moody named IPWEA Fleet as the primary provider of fleet resources and training for Public Works in Australia.
The IPWEA Fleet Council (made up of fleet practitioners still working in councils and volunteering their time) had developed the conference program with three pillars in mind;
- Strategy
- Resources
- Performance
And the program was packed with sessions that will offer practical tips and advice for all attendees.
The first day ended with a panel discussion between two representatives from Expense Reduction Analyst (Tom and Brett) and the two international speakers Tom Johnson (US) and Noel Ilao (Philippines). Topics included alternative fuels, online auctions, telematics and good quality data for decision making.
The level of audience participation was fantastic with several examples provided of success and failure when dealing with CNG and electric vehicles. During the discussion about online auctions, the panel took a quick survey with the audience and it was obvious by the number of raised hands that this is now the preferred disposal method for council fleets.
When the audience was asked about telematics, more than half of the attendees indicated they were using a system. This lead to a discussion on quality data and members of the panel advised the audience that using a telematics system was the best, and fastest, way to get quality data on your fleet.
So the ‘tip of the day’ was to ask a telematics provider for a free trial. Then start working on your business case because you won’t want to give it back.
IPWEA 2019 Fleet Conference Key Statistics
- 17 sessions
- 19 speakers
- 200+ attendees
- 14 sponsors
- 20 exhibitors
- 2 international speakers
- 2 networking evenings
- 1 networking breakfast
- Offsite technical tour
