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Budgeting Time

By: Vicki Allen

Time is one of the most precious commodities in our world. It is not a renewable resource. When spent, it’s gone. You can try to make it up, but that takes more time.

The key to budgeting time is organization. To accomplish organization, you must:

Plan, and then schedule your day:

When planning daily activities, allow ¾ of your day to be devoted to immediate tasks, these are usually routine activities. The remaining part of your day is allowed for the invariable interruptions, phone calls, unexpected meetings, handling unforeseen emergencies, or urgent unplanned edicts. Be aware of mandatory tasks and deadlines that will be required in the near future. Prepare for these whenever an opportunity presents itself. If you can carve an hour, or even a few minutes out of the ¼ balance of your day, utilize it preparing for a future monthly or year-end report, a budget that looms in the future, a proposal for your organization, or write a more efficient process for your fleet operation that currently is cumbersome and consumes too much time. Be creative, prepare reports with information that you feel will benefit the organization or keep management aware of cost, potential repair problem patterns, anticipated shortfalls, etc.

Don’t lose focus:

Create a pending file with a calendar in the front for the month or individual monthly calendars that span a budget year. Behind a specific month’s calendar, place a sheet of paper with the heading of each required task for the month. On that sheet of paper, write down thoughts, ideas, and processes when they come to mind. Attach any correspondence that will be needed to finish the tasks. Jotting down a thought or idea when it comes to you, will save untold time preparing for a project when your thoughts are cold and not easily recollected and an assignment is due. It will take much less time to complete because you have already accomplished the hardest part, the thought process.

Delegate:

Preparation for completing an assignment does not have to be borne by one person. Delegate portions of a task, such as research, data entry, contacts and etc. to co-workers. This will free up your time to concentrate on the end result. Caution: Please give these people credit for their collaboration.

Enjoy the sense of accomplishment when tasks are completed, goals are met, and a job is finished.

Remember, there is no way of knowing what unforeseen circumstances lie ahead tomorrow. You may not have the opportunity to "make-up" the time you did not spend wisely today.

Fleet Process Reengineering

The 21st Century Approach to Best Practice Management

By: Maggie Laird

Approximately 80% of fleets do not map and apply their processes and procedures consistently, leaving dangerous operational and financial gaps within their operations. These holes are the ones that the auditors and new management seem to trip on first.

By applying a 21st Century approach to Fleet Process Mapping (Band Charting) to identify problem areas, you can then more effectively and efficiently apply common analytic tools to further define the issues, and to suggest a better solution. This approach saves lost time and dollars searching through processes which are not causing a problem, and focuses problem solving efforts efficiently.

Most Fleet Managers currently use the 20th century approach - write a process or procedure down and put it on the shelf as policy. The whole picture is then not apparent, even to the Fleet Manager, leaving the sum of all processes at risk from disconnects, and worse, the assumption that staff all use the process the same way.

Band charting is a way to keep this "whole picture" dynamically available to everyone. It is a visual aid, showing that no one person or job function is responsible for the entire process and indicates the order in which each step in the process is taken. Band Charts not only identifies the players, but also identifies the procedures and practices.

The benefit of everyone knowing how they "fit in" to the overall process allows them to make knowledgeable and effective decisions at every level. The value goes straight to your bottom line.

Every organization is put together like puzzle pieces, for which there is often not a perfect fit, but for which we try to achieve a best fit, or a "best business practice." Over time, and sometimes due to the necessity of reality or politics, the pieces get rearranged or lost, turned topsy-turvy, or damaged in the interests of expediency. Often we try to force the wrong piece into the hole to complete a picture, only to find the right piece later. Band charting gives us a tool to repair and realign the ravages of time, and bring our processes back to our most effective design.

It is feasible that not all processes will be identical within an organization due to many variables. These variables may be staffing levels and skills, geographical differences, and the availability of local supplies and services. Producing the current workflow process documentation is just the first step in the overall program. You have to be able to recognize the problem to fix the problem. Band Charting will identify duplication, gaps, and inefficient practices. Once a final "best practices" has been defined and implemented, it becomes a tool for each level of the organization. It is recommended that you publish the final band charts and provide them to your staff and customers.

Process re-engineering is not new. It is a time tested technique adapted and applied to the new and burgeoning field of fleet management, with outstanding results.

Partnering for Improved Productivity

One of the largest challenges that face Fleet Managers and Administrators is budget restraint. When funding is cut, fleets often resort to minimal or no vehicle replacement. Older, higher mileage vehicles that should have been replaced are left in the fleet and pushed beyond optimal limits, resulting in more extensive and therefore more costly repairs, and a much higher liability factor. Inevitably, efficiency and productivity suffer. The work load is increased well beyond the normal technician to vehicle ratio, budgeted operating funds fall short of the amount needed when trying to safely repair aging vehicles, and dollars for technician training is used to help offset the additional cost of parts needed to keep cars in service. It’s a "borrow from Peter to pay Paul" scenario which results in "just getting by".

"Partnering" provides solutions that have proven to help in these situations.

Need an extra hand?

Check with local high schools or Automotive Repair Institutes in your area for students that would like to work part time while continuing their studies. Teachers will be glad to recommend competent candidates. Some Institutes even have a placement program with qualified applicants eager for an opportunity like this. Semi-skilled part time personnel can be utilized to perform numerous Preventive Maintenance tasks. This is a win-win solution providing hands on experience for the student and easing the workload for the more experienced technicians to tackle repairs that require more knowledge and experience.

Your Technicians don’t possess the knowledge to accurately repair a problem?

The age of the "shade tree mechanic" is history. As vehicles become more complex each model year, it is imperative that technicians have the necessary training to accurately diagnose problems and repair cars correctly the first time. Replacing parts is an inefficient and costly "process of elimination" approach to vehicle repair. Having the knowledge and training to recognize the root problem will get a car back on the road with minimal labor dollars with out come-backs.

If budget dollars fall short of the funds needed to train your personnel, "Partner" with another fleet to share the cost of training. Most trainers will come to your site and charge a flat rate per day plus expenses. This enables technicians to learn on their own fleet, saving travel time and expenses and raises the limits on the number of technicians that can receive training. If your technicians must travel for training, this puts an even larger burden on the remaining workforce in their absence.

Still short of training dollars?

Another avenue for training is offered through parts distributors. Purchasing a set dollar amount of parts from a local distributor, such as AC Delco, entitles technicians to in- depth on-line training courses, with tests upon completion and printable certificates all at no extra charge to the fleet. These courses offer a complete range of study that mirrors Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) certification as well as specialized course studies in Fleet Management. Technicians will have the knowledge to successfully challenge ASE tests. Management should consider recognizing these credentials with incentive pay for each certification which provides a means of self-advancement for the technicians and benefits the fleet with trained, skilled personnel.

You can do it.

Creative budget management can go a long way toward stretching limited budget funding. Don’t be afraid to test drive an idea. If it doesn’t work, you’ve learned from the experience. If your idea works, you’ve turned a problem into a solution.