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Centralize Management of the
Fleet
Controlling costs of fleet management is one
of the most crucial issues facing fleets of all sizes today. In the past few
years, state and local government and utility budgets have been caught in a
financial squeeze. That's no surprise to anyone managing fleets.
What may be a surprise, however, is what
government and utility fleet managers are doing about it, according to Michael
E. Corbett, Publisher, California Fleet News, a fleet industry
newsletter.
Some cities have resolved fiscal problems by
privatization of fleet maintenance in order to obtain substantial savings.
In other cities and counties, executives are
questioning the logic of two fleet organizations such as a general county fleet
organization and a sheriff's fleet organization.
A Southern California county studies the
consolidation of its fleets with the potential for modernization and annual
savings in the millions, according to Corbett.
Over time, some jurisdictions have gained
substantial savings through modernization and consolidating fleets.
Another means of savings is to question the
practices that remain part of the status quo, or the "because we've always done
it that way" justification, Corbett said.
Too many units of government is an obvious
item in this protected category. Numerous transportation, water quality, and
growth control agencies complicate the ability to face problems squarely, let
alone be efficient with the taxpayer's dollar, according to Corbett.
What is occurring is the "sacred cows" are
headed for the chopping block. The theory is that essential services needn't be
sacrificed if the "sacred cows" are questioned and tackled first.
Continued decentralized law enforcement, fire,
public works, airport and other fleet services departments within the same
jurisdiction keep fleet management costs escalating at a time when
centralization of the fleet function is one of the most promising actions a
jurisdiction can take to cut long term costs, according to Corbett.
Duplicating of services and administrative
functions also drain budgets.
A general trend has slowly emerged for the
past fifteen years to centralize the fleet and manage it as a business operation
using internal service or "revolving funds," according to Corbett. By doing so,
price-competitive models can be developed for easy comparison of costs with the
private sector.
Centralized fleet management has long been
viewed as a means of getting economies of scale in jurisdictions that have
relatively small fleets, Corbett reported. The best benefit of the approached is
decreased total cost for the jurisdiction's fleet function combined with a more
coordinated asset management and vehicle purchasing policy.
Jurisdictions have found that concentration of
effort in one organization can result in improved management, in successful
specialization, in uniforms policies, in more complete inventories and in
cost-justified, specialized repair facilities and services, according to
Fleet News.
Results suggest that centralization can be an
enormous help to government and utility organizations in streamlining fleet
management and making substantial savings.
Once that centralization has taken place,
fleet managers can continue to increase savings by installing
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