Managing a trucking company requires a great deal of time, effort and knowledge. As a manager, you must be on top off all aspects of the company for it to succeed. This includes managing the vehicles in your fleet as well as the drivers and ongoing costs such as fuel and insurance. It is essential that your company is run in a safe, efficient manner and accurate records are kept daily, weekly, monthly and yearly.
Vehicle Management
When you’re responsible for managing the vehicles in your fleet, you must track vehicle maintenance and repairs as well as the general condition of the vehicles themselves. Fuel is a large cost for most trucking companies, so fuel management is particularly important. Many trucking companies find that getting fuel cards from one company helps to streamline their fuel management because they get one or two bills per month instead of having to track daily fuel receipts.
Part of vehicle maintenance is deciding when a vehicle should be replaced instead of repaired. The vehicles will need to be replaced as they age and break down, so finding vehicle financing to purchase replacement vehicles is something you will probably have to do at least once per year, depending on the size and age of your fleet. Comparing finance packages from several companies is a good way to ensure you’re getting the lowest possible vehicle financing rates.
Driver Management
Many trucking company owners find that driver management is the biggest part of fleet management, especially if they employ a large number of drivers. Relying on fleet management software is smart because it’s impossible to be everywhere at once and you can use software for vehicle tracking so that you can find out the location of each of your trucks quickly and easily without having to make phone calls. Vehicle tracking is especially important when you are trying to meet tight load deadlines for your customers.
Sometimes drivers have difficulty striking a balance between driving safely and getting the load delivered on time. Most computerized fleet management systems include speed management so that you can see how fast each truck is going whenever you log in. You may also be able to print a report showing the average speed each driver traveled during the month or year. Some companies use speed management and other driver data to decide which drivers should be given awards or bonuses.
Health and Safety
Health and safety are very important to every aspect of the trucking industry. Large companies often hire one or more people to head their safety management departments. This person is generally in charge of training drivers and making sure that everyone in the company is aware of all safety laws and company rules that pertain to keeping everyone safe. They may communicate with the driver and investigate the situation if there are any traffic accidents, tickets or safety violations. Smaller companies may not have the budget to hire a safety manager, especially if only one person is in charge of the entire fleet.
The head of safety management relies heavily on data from the company’s fleet management system. The information that is pertinent to their job includes driving data such as information about speed and braking. They also make sure that each driver has obtained a valid Department of Transportation physical and is in good enough health to do their job safely. They also check to make sure that each truck in their fleet is safe to operate. They use truck data from their fleet management software, such as maintenance records, to ensure that every truck in the fleet is in good repair.