How to maintain mixed fleet to improve performance?
Most companies are choosing mixed fleets. The main reason is that mixed fleets can help reduce costs while also improving performance. However, it comes with its own set of challenges. The key is a complex maintenance schedule. With different OEMs come different service and maintenance interval specifications, different requirements, and different lubricant needs, making maintenance a difficult balancing act.
Given below are some tips for maintaining mixed fleets well:
Don’t eliminate regular oil analysis
Often, managers take an old-school, conservative approach to maintenance schedules and oil drain intervals in a bid to find a common interval that works across the fleet. This leads to scheduling service and oil changes more often than needed and below OEM-prescribed recommendations. The reason behind this scheduling is the belief that this will eliminate the need for regular oil analysis. Avoid taking this route since oil analysis can identify many types of problems with your equipment, such as fuel dilution, dirt contamination, coolant leakage, or other issues that could hinder performance. In a way, oil analysis helps you forecast and possibly avert unexpected equipment failures. With regular oil analysis, you also cut down on the ability to predict common equipment failures. It is reported that at least 40% of engine failures are related to cooling system contamination, which an oil analysis can detect. And the typical cost to replace or rebuild an engine damaged by coolant can be, on average, $90,000.
Don’t stick to a common maintenance schedule
If you stick to a common maintenance schedule, you could not only be raising material and labor costs but also increasing your risk of catastrophic failure on any particular machine by as much as 11%.
Avoid high maintenance costs
Did you know that oil changes, including the cost of oil, filters, etc., on a common piece of equipment, such as a scraper, can amount to approximately $1,540 a year? If your fleet has 100 similar machines that get oil service four times a year, then the expenditure is $154,000 a year on lubricant changes.
Have a broad preventive maintenance program
Having a broad preventive maintenance program allows you to keep track of all OEM-required intervals and schedule maintenance accordingly. Also, including regular oil analysis can cut lubricant consumption by an average of 25%, resulting in higher equipment availability and utilization. Servicing the right equipment at the right time can alert you to potential failures before they occur. This will not only trim down your material costs but also improve productivity and maximize the return on investment for each vehicle.
