What you can do to reduce truck downtime right now

What you can do to reduce truck downtime right now

The alarming number was 26. That was the average number of days a sample fleet’s trucks were down in Decisiv’s Discovery service priority monitor. The AVERAGE. Glancing at the box just above the big 26 was a rundown of the longest open service cases and your stomach dropped even lower when you saw the slew of 43-days of downtime for those trucks. To temper the truck service terror, this was a zoomed-in view of one fleet’s service data (completely anonymized of course). The service devil was in the individual asset details.

“The box providing the average [number of downtime days] was informational; the other three boxes are where fleets can interact with the platform and do something about it,” said Dick Hyatt, president and CEO at Decisiv. “Of the other three boxes, one is most expensive estimate, the second is cases waiting approval and the box on the right was length of time out by asset so that you can drill into it. You can actually see it–you can read the notes in the case, you can see whether it’s waiting on parts, you can see whether it’s waiting on approval. It allows the fleets to act.”

“The asset with the most expensive estimate might have been in an accident, which may be a perfectly reasonable reason that that vehicle is down for 43 days,” added Ralph Dimenna, chief revenue officer, Decisiv, referring to the rundown of data that Decisiv showed off in its Discovery example. “The other thing I will say is when a fleet uses the Discovery service priority monitor, they’re going to drive better performance in their service network because there could also be data in there that indicates that service providers are not closing the case properly or not communicating properly with the fleet.”

Clearly there’s more nuance to the truck service data than the initial gut-punch average downtime days state let on.

Decisiv leadership was hesitant to put a specific number to an overall industry trend of how long trucks are, on average, sitting around waiting for service, but one thing was clear: In the pandemic After, truck service dwell times are on the rise. What they weren’t hesitant about were the tools they’re bringing to the market to give fleets even more visibility into their service process. Check out the video below for a quick presentation from Dimenna and an overview of the Discovery platform.

You May Also Like

Direct labor vs. indirect labor in fleet shops

Keeping tabs on labor expenditures is important, but make sure you’re taking everything into account before assigning blame.

service-technician-generic-maintenance-downtime-repairs

Direct labor vs. indirect labor: what do these terms mean? And how much of each is happening in your shop?When this subject comes up, general comments always end up saying that the techs must be hanging around doing nothing. Most who read the data only read the direct data and not the indirect data breakdown. And most shops do not pay attention to the indirect data, so therefore it is a good, appropriate question.

Mitchell 1 collaborates with NEXIQ to streamline truck service diagnostic information

One subscription brings together information from the vehicle and information about the vehicle.

Mitchell-1-NEXIQ-TMC-1400
Fleet Advantage, FleetNet America by Cox Automotive partner on financing, maintenance solutions

An unbundled leases structure with finance and nationwide maintenance options.

Cox-Automotive-TMC-1400
Good News! Parts, labor costs fell slightly Q4 2023

Decisiv, TMC Benchmarking Report shows trend reversal from previous quarter.

Decisiv-TMC-Benchmarking-Report-1400
Hunter Engineering to show HawkEye XL at TMC

Technician testimony appears to back up Hunter’s claims of increased alignment speed when using the HawkEye XL.

Hunter-HawkEye-XL-aligner-at-TMC

Other Posts

Diesel powertrain technology that makes a decarbonization difference

Saving diesel can reduce CO2 emissions, but is it enough to make a difference? Volvo thinks so, and made these changes to boost efficiency.

Trucking-Sustainably-mar24.-truckengine
Trade Show Talk: Trends kicking off 2024

Alternative fuels, connectivity, efficiency—there’s been plenty to report on from trucking trade shows, but which topics stuck out most?

trade-show-Talk-work-truck-week-tmc-geotab-connect-hdaw
J&R Schugel wraps Kenworth T680s to support driver causes

After a driver beat breast cancer, the company wrapped her truck in pink and white to support her goal of raising awareness.

JR-Schugel-breast-cancer-awareness-truck
A ‘Toward Zero’ emissions Q&A with Volvo Trucks’s Roger Alm

Talking through the challenges, the technological advances, and the strategies for a sustainable future.

Volvo-Trucks-roger-alm-world-volvo-sustainability-1400