Prominently displayed on the Aim NationaLease website (www.aimntls.com) is the notice: “Preventive Maintenance is good in theory because it works in practice.” Ken
Singleton is an able spokesman for that philosophy as Aim’s corporate director of maintenance. He oversees a 6,000-plus unit fleet that includes everything from cars, pickups, passenger and cube vans, virtually all classes of straight trucks, cab-overs, day cabs, reefer trailers, container hauling trailers and other equipment. “If somebody makes it we’ve probably touched one of them,” Singleton says.
Aim offers full service truck leasing, dedicated logistics, commercial truck maintenance and truck rental. In the past five years, the company has doubled in size and is still growing. Among the challenges Singleton faces is making sure his more than 230 maintenance employees spread across 44 shop locations are adequately trained, equipped and operating efficiently.
Singleton contends that the preventive maintenance (PM) program is the bedrock of any maintenance operation. To improve his fleet’s performance and productivity, he says, “We restructured our PM program based on industry input, Technology and Maintenance Council (TMC) recommended practices and we employed an ergonomic approach.” By “ergonomic approach,” he means that they looked at the efficiency with which things are done and what they could do to reduce the technicians’ fatigue and discomfort. “Instead of a technician chasing all around the truck, we start at the left rear wheel and inspect the tires, the suspension and those kinds of things at that position,” he explains, “as opposed to doing the suspension and tires for the entire truck.” Singleton describes the benefits from this approach: “You put your techs through as few motions as possible, and have them be as efficient and effective as possible.” Singleton notes, “Being a tech is a physically demanding job. Anything you can do to take a few extra steps and a few extra lifting motions and so on out of the process –– when you start talking about a career of 40 years, things like that do add up and make a difference.”
Another way Singleton has restructured his company’s PM program is to utilize a filtration kit program, which he says makes charging out the parts easier for technicians and streamlines inventory management. The company works with a filter manufacturer, such as Cummins Filtration, to customize Fleetguard maintenance kits for each application. “When the tech goes to service the truck, instead of going to get two fuel filters, an air filter and maybe a coolant filter, he just has to go and get that one kit and everything he needs for that particular truck is there,” says Singleton. “He just changes out what’s in the kit.”
Singleton points out improvements regarding tire maintenance. He’s worked with his new and retread tire providers to make the right decisions regarding air pressures and the proper mounting of the tire on the rim and on the unit. “We have adopted the use of Tru-Balance mounting tools and the use of the Tru-Balance Radial Run-Out Gauge to check for acceptable standards on the steer tires.” His aim is not only mounting the tires on the rims properly, but also putting them on the axle end correctly. “If either one is off-center,” he says, “you get the egg-shape motion which causes irregular wear and driver complaints about vibration. That’s where the Tru-Balance tools help you mount it correctly, and subsequently, the radial run-out gauge is used to see whether all factors have been dealt with properly.” The result is a wheel that turns within a tolerance level that is deemed appropriate.
Effective personnel practices are also a focus for Singleton. “We have implemented a very aggressive training program at three different levels,” he relates. The company started its own 48-module apprentice program, began a training program specifically targeted at their existing technicians (a continuing education program) and implemented a business management/customer training program for service managers. The company received help from major OEs and component manufacturers and used the TMC recommended practices as a guide. Getting technicians and managers who are not use to training back into a program was difficult, according to Singleton, especially the “graying” part of his workforce not keen to go back to school. “Learning on the job is not going to allow you to keep up in today’s demanding environment,” Singleton cautions, “so that’s one of the reasons why we’re putting so much effort and investment into training.” He continues, “We work very closely with our human resources staff to develop training and development programs that will benefit our employees. This reduces turnover, gives us more to offer potential new employees, and ultimately, that brings great work performance from our entire workforce, which benefits our company and our customers.” Singleton advises others, “You have to find a way to do training in such a way people will accept it and participate in it.”
He characterizes his role as a trainer this way: “Most of what we do is manage, but still leadership comes in; that’s stepping up at the right time to make sure that you do what really needs to be done and doing the right thing at exactly the right time.” He believes every service manager has to be both a leader and a manager. Singleton believes there’s a difference between the two. “Leadership is about doing the right thing and management is about doing things right,” he observes. “Success is about achieving the right balance of both.”
