Name: Randal Andreasen

Company: T&S Fleet Services

Title: Vice president of fleet operations

Other Positions Held: Tireman, technician’s helper, technician, shop manager, director of fleet operations

Industry Experience: 26 years

Professional activities: Member of TMC

Communication is the key to success at T&S Fleet Services, according to Randal Andreasen, vice president of fleet operations.

“If you surround yourself with good people, good things will happen,” says Andreasen. “You need to show people who work for you that they have ownership in their job by implementing their ideas. At least bring their ideas to the table and review them. If we don’t use their ideas, we get back to them and let them know why. If you don’t follow through on their ideas, you will not be successful.”

T&S Fleet Services leases equipment to Del Papa Distributing Co., which has warehouse and office facilities in three Texas cities: Beaumont, Galveston and Victoria. T&S also provides services to other fleets. Del Papa receives, stores and distributes Anheuser-Busch products to 17 counties along the Texas coast.

Del Papa has more than 240 pieces of equipment, from cars to tractor-trailers, and runs more than 50 trucks and trailers daily. Andreasen is in charge of the seven technicians in two facilities who keep the company’s vehicles rolling.

Andreasen promotes an open-door policy to encourage honest feedback.

“Employees are not intimidated because they know we have an open-door policy,” he says. “I keep in touch with them at all times. That builds your integrity with them and bonds the trust. I treat all employees the way I would want to be treated. My door is always open.”

Although his office is not next to the maintenance work area, Andreasen makes sure he gets plenty of face time with the technicians.

“I’m always passing through the shop to keep in touch with them. I’m here a lot and like to mingle with them to see what is happening. My shop foreman steps in to help technicians when needed. And, I’m not above helping out in the shop. I’m not going to ask a technician to do any job that I haven’t done.”

Training and suppliers

Andreasen is currently implementing preventive maintenance as the company’number-one priority. He plans to achieve this by bringing in all the technicians after normal working hours for PM training.

“If you don’t have a good PM program, your whole system will fail,” he says. “Maybe not this year, but eventually, it will snowball on you.

“We need to take the time and bring the technicians in and train them when there are no distractions,” he says. “I want them to focus 100 percent on the PM process. PM and maintenance are different.”

While training has changed dramatically throughout the years, the overall concept of PM has not.

“A hose rubbing against a piece of metal does not change,” he says. “You want your best techs doing PMs. I can get anybody to change a part, but I need good, knowledgeable technicians to tell me what will break down in the future.”

Andreasen also takes advantage of supplier training, such as that from International Trucks in Houston, to provide specific training.

“They provide a lot of support with videos and with their in-house training that we attend,” he says. “We are 100 percent International, and we have been that way for 12 years.”

That simplifies training and strengthens supplier relationships.

“Techs are very familiar with the trucks and the problems they are likely to encounter,” Andreasen says. “We relay any problems to International, and they help us learn patterns and identify issues.”

The company is able to carry less inventory by staying true to one truck supplier.

“We have consignment inventory in our shop that International carries,” he says. “That allows us to keep our overhead costs down. The inventory system is efficient.

“International can monitor the inventory from its computer and tell me what I need before I need it.”

Andreasen also attends Technology and Maintenance Council meetings and brings back maintenance ideas from various work sessions.

Hiring and retention

Hiring qualified technicians is more difficult than retaining good workers.

“It’s difficult to find and hire qualified technicians who want to stay in the industry,” he says. “I don’t have a problem retaining people. Our benefits package is excellent. Most people who come here want to stay here.”

The company hires through its human resources department, through word of mouth, and through a temporary hiring agency. The agency qualifies technicians, does background checks and tries to place them in full-time positions.

“We can bring them in and try them out for 90 days, and if we like them, we can put them on our payroll. I’ve hired two of their people. It costs a little bit more, but it’s worth it because they do all the leg work.”

Andreasen likes to hire technicians who have Class A licenses, so they can test drive the vehicles.

“About 75 percent of our techs have commercial driver’s licenses,” he says. “We are working to get the others licensed. They study the book on their own time, and we pay for the training and test.”