Benchmarking Analysis of Fleet Performance and Maintenance (Fleet II) - FY04NATSRL

Project summary:

As a result of previous research, several pressing needs for fleet management have emerged. Effective use of state government resources is especially critical. Benchmarking provides the means to learn from other organizations, which would allow Mn/DOT to more effectively manage its resources. The first year's project in fleet management research (Fleet I) identified Mn/DOT organizational structure and performance metrics as the top issues to address through a process of cause and effect analysis and quality function deployment. Fleet II continues benchmarking assessments begun in the first phase of the project, especially targeting fleet life cycle issues and equipment utilization rates (including economic measures). Key elements of fleet maintenance that have surfaced during the present research include the effective management of fleet assets in order to minimize costs over the life of the asset and the point at which it is more cost-effective to lease equipment rather than to own it. The goal of life cycle costing is to determine when an asset should be disposed of and replaced by another. The issue of utilization rate is to find under what conditions it is more cost effective to own an asset rather than to lease it; in other words, if an asset can be leased on an occasional basis, how many days of paying this is equivalent to the annual rate of owning a similar asset? A related issue is identifying the equipment that is critical for Mn/DOT to possess; for example, if some specialty equipment is urgently needed and the nearest available lease equipment is in Florida, the costs and delays of leasing may outweigh any economic benefit. Further analysis of data obtained from the first year and these follow-on assessments will help identify the core enabling technologies that enable fleet management organizations to excel. These enabling technologies are critical for making improvements because they act as the catalysts that enable an organization to improv