Moreton Bay Regional Council’s Manager Fleet Services Warren Mashford talks through implementing a preventative maintenance plan.
This story was originally published in the IPWEA Fleet e-news in May 2015.
Moreton Bay Regional Council’s Manager Fleet Services Warren Mashford has been operating his own preventative maintenance program for many years now and has saved hundreds of thousands of dollars as a result.
“Any fleet is only as good as its quality and quantity of preventative maintenance,” says Mashford.
“Preventative maintenance is fixing all the small problems before they become big problems. As an example, it’s tightening that fan belt or putting a new one on before it actually comes off and the engine overheats and we blow the engine up, all because a $10 fan belt broke.”
Mashford has prioritised preventative maintenance across his fleet department. Operators are required to conduct pre-trip inspections and log any suspected faults in the vehicle logbook – these are then inputted into the fleet management system.
Smartphone apps exist that track maintenance needs, however the scale of Moreton Bay Regional Council’s fleet department has prohibited the council from moving across to a paperless system.
“Each driver, every morning, gets to his vehicle and he has a form to fill in that has basic checks: check engine, water, wipers – all those things on a vehicle that obviously you want to work.”
Operators also have a clear process to report any defects they spot when operating the vehicle. These will be logged in the system and assessed for urgency of repair.
He recommends continuous training for mechanics to ensure that they are up-to-date in the latest equipment and capable of maintaining equipment to the highest standards.
Mashford concedes that breakdowns are inevitable. He quotes the benchmark utilization ratio of 70:30; 70 preventative maintenance to 30 per cent (or better) repairs as the target to aim for.
When breakdowns occur, his team must complete a defect report so the cause can be identified.
“You need to look at that and then you can put actions in place so it doesn’t actually repeat itself.”
The Council follows the equipment manufacturers’ service schedule as a bare minimum. It has developed its own maintenance plans for each piece of equipment based on how it is used and any additional features it may have that go beyond the core vehicle.
He added that it is important to ensure that all new equipment purchased is fit for purpose, as this will have a large bearing on what maintenance will need to be carried out further down the line.
Three steps to implement a preventative maintenance plan
1. Implement manufacturer’s maintenance schedule recommendations. Use these as the bare minimum of what needs to be done.
2. Implement pre-trip reporting and defect reporting across your fleet department.
3. Identify what other functions the equipment performs and build upon the manufacturer’s maintenance plan. It might be that one backhoe is used in harsher conditions than the other and this should be accommodated for in the maintenance plan for each piece of equipment.
The preventative maintenance principles laid out by Mashford, are all outlined in IPWEA’s Plant and Vehicle Maintenance Safe Practice Guide.
Click here to find out more in IPWEA’s Plant and Vehicle Maintenance Safe Practice Guide
“All good fleets should be running preventative maintenance systems, but they don’t,” said Mashford.
“It’s actually cheaper to do preventative maintenance because you are adjusting something rather than replacing something.”
