– By Rob Wilson –
The Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia (IPWEA) ran its second round of Plant and Vehicle Management professional development workshops for 2015 throughout October and November.
The full day sessions were delivered in Brisbane, Sydney, Dubbo, Launceston, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth and were attended by fleet managers, fleet coordinators, administrators and others with an interest in fleet management.
While attendees were predominantly from local government and utilities, the sessions are equally applicable to anyone operating a fleet of passenger vehicles, trucks or plant. A broad range of material was presented on evolving or critical issues for fleet operators and a number of site specific sessions were delivered by local fleet practitioners.
Topics covered included; the recent IPWEA benchmarking review on plant and vehicle utilisation and replacement cycles, an overview of intelligent machine control in plant, techniques to achieve quality outcomes in fleet and workshop management and a fleet industry update covering a broad range of matters such as manufacturer issues, emission standards, market trends, alternative fuels and autonomous vehicles.
A session on Lowering Light Fleet Operating Costs generated a lot of discussion during the breaks and created considerable food for thought for attendees to take back to their organisations. The session discussed a number of potential areas for cost reduction including; replacement timing, FBT management, financing options, policy considerations and vehicle specifications.
The session demonstrated the benefit of quantitative analysis of vehicle life cycles and demonstrated the application of IPWEA’s on-line tools and calculators in making decisions and justifying them to stakeholders. The on-line tools include a Light Fleet Selection Model, Whole of Life Cost Calculator and Tender Analysis Template.
The IPWEA Plant and Vehicle Management workshops are a value-for-money option for those looking to identify opportunities to improve their fleet operation and are a great opportunity to meet and network with others involved in the fleet industry. Notification on upcoming events can be obtained by subscribing to the free IPWEA e-newsletter, InTouch
