Managing a waste collection vehicle fleet represents a constant challenge for heavy-duty shop managers. Between the complexity of daily maintenance operations and the need to maintain seamless service, ensuring efficient truck maintenance becomes crucial. This is where preventive maintenance comes in, providing invaluable value in efficiency, safety and profitability.
1. What is preventive maintenance?
Preventive maintenance involves regular inspections and maintenance on a pre-established schedule rather than waiting until a breakdown occurs.
2. What are the benefits of preventive maintenance on heavy trucks?
Being proactive with preventive maintenance offers many benefits to waste management fleets:
Reduced Downtime: A well-managed preventive maintenance program helps avoid unplanned vehicle downtime. Several studies show that fleets that adopt this strategy can reduce unplanned downtime by 20 to 30 percent. By performing regular checks, fleet maintenance managers identify and resolve minor issues before they become critical.
Extension of vehicle life: Regular maintenance helps prevent excessive wear of mechanical components. By extending trucks’ lifetime, organizations can delay costly investments in vehicle replacements and maintain better control over their expenses.
Better Safety and Compliance: Regular inspections ensure trucks meet safety and environmental standards. Being compliant protects not only the drivers but also the company from potential fines and reputational damage when the time comes to be audited. Also, building a preventive maintenance program (PMP) recognized by government authorities allows your heavy trucks to be exempt from the mandatory periodic mechanical inspection.
3. What are the critical elements of an effective preventive maintenance program for your heavy vehicles?
To take full advantage of preventive maintenance, it is essential to structure a program based on several strategic elements:
Regular planning of interventions: The key to success lies in developing a maintenance schedule based on indicators such as operating hours, kilometres/miles travelled and vehicle operating conditions. This scheduling makes it possible to spread out interventions and ensure each vehicle is inspected at appropriate and logical intervals based on their use.
Use of heavy-duty shop management software: Adopting digital solutions such as MIR-RT dramatically simplifies the planning, execution and monitoring of maintenance tasks. Top software should offer features such as automatic maintenance tracking, work order management and comprehensive reporting to balance parts inventories and make better decisions.
Monitoring performance indicators: To evaluate the effectiveness of preventive maintenance, shop managers can use KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) such as mean time between failures (MTBF). These indicators provide valuable information for adjusting and optimizing the maintenance program.
4. How can preventive maintenance on your heavy trucks streamline operations?
The benefits of preventive maintenance translate directly into efficiency gains for waste collection operations:
Improved Productivity: Fleets that adopt a preventive maintenance approach see a noticeable increase in vehicle uptime. Drivers spend less time waiting for repairs, translating into a faster and more reliable waste collection service for the population.
Reduced long-term costs: Although preventive maintenance involves an initial cost, it provides substantial savings in the long term. By avoiding significant repairs and extended shutdowns, organizations reduce their overall expenses and optimize the allocation of their resources.
Increased flexibility for handling contingencies: A well-maintained fleet can more effectively deal with unforeseen events, such as busy periods or last-minute route changes. Waste management fleet managers, therefore, have the flexibility to quickly adjust operations without compromising service quality.
Discover how Bellemare revolutionized
its maintenance operations thanks to MIR-RT:
“What I like best about the MIR-RT system is all the information I can have, from the mechanic’s work order to the management of the units with the manuals and the date of purchase. This allows me to see clearly where we are going […] to ultimately make the best possible decisions and offer the best service to our customers.”
– Jacinthe Fortin, Director of Operations Services at Bellemare
6. Where to start when implementing a preventive maintenance program?
Involve the technical team: a successful transition to preventive maintenance requires the involvement and training of the entire maintenance team at the garage. Technicians need to understand the importance of each step in the process and how to use the digital tools available.
Choosing the right software: efficient heavy-duty shop management software, such as MIR-RT, can make a difference by simplifying planning and becoming an encyclopedia of all mechanical maintenance carried out over time and many other crucial information. It is essential to choose a solution that offers functionality tailored to the specific needs of waste collection fleets. While some generic maintenance software covers both building and fleet maintenance, these solutions often lack the advanced features of systems designed specifically for heavy vehicle maintenance. Ultimately, the choice of software should align with your organization’s specific operational needs.
Planning and adaptation: a preventive maintenance program for heavy vehicles must be flexible and adapt to changes based on feedback and operational data. Yes, we want to be proactive by planning, but it remains important to be reactive to the changing realities of your fleet if you want to avoid being overwhelmed by the unexpected. Continuous evaluation of KPIs allows the program to be optimized and improved over time.
Conclusion
Preventive maintenance on your heavy trucks is an essential strategy for any waste management company wanting to maximize the efficiency of its fleet. Fleet managers can reduce costs, improve productivity, and strengthen compliance with their heavy vehicles through regular inspections and technological tools. For any business considering improving its current maintenance program, solutions such as MIR-RT by DataDis offer fast, efficient, turnkey support to optimize operations in your garage and ensure lasting performance.
