Analysis of Operation Management for Fleet and Transport Business

This report provides a detailed analysis of operation management within a fleet and transport business. It begins with an introduction outlining the report's objectives, which include examining transport planning and vehicle fleet maintenance. The report explores current operations and issues faced by the transport company, such as vehicle accidents, rising maintenance costs, and staff turnover. It then delves into specific areas like vehicle fleet maintenance, offering a plan that includes developing baselines, identifying maintenance intervals, establishing service checklists, and implementing driver inspection and reporting systems. Task scheduling and vehicle programming are also discussed as essential elements of efficient operations. The report further covers manual planning using manufacturer maintenance schedules, cost analysis, and human resource evaluation, as well as in-house audit practices and vehicle accident investigation processes. The report concludes with recommendations for improvement and a summary of findings. The transport company faces challenges related to vehicle accidents, rising maintenance costs, and staff turnover, impacting operational efficiency and financial performance. The report provides a comprehensive overview of the transport planning, fleet maintenance, and operational challenges faced by the company and offers recommendations for improvement.

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Running Head: Operation Management
Operation Management

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Transport planning...........................................................................................................................4
Current operations and issues faced by transporting company.......................................................6
Vehicle fleet maintenance................................................................................................................8
Task scheduling.............................................................................................................................10
Vehicle programming....................................................................................................................12
Manual planning with using manufactures maintenance schedule................................................15
Cost analysis and human resource evaluation...............................................................................16
In- house audit practice and vehicle accident investigation process.............................................16
Recommendations..........................................................................................................................17
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................18
References......................................................................................................................................19

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Introduction
The aim of this report is to carry out analysis of operation management of a fleet and transport
business. This report basically covers the knowledge and application of transport planning along
with the vehicle fleet maintenance of company. In addition, the report also discuses task
scheduling for the business to carry out smooth functioning of business with including the
vehicle programming using software and manual planning with the usage of manufactures
maintenance schedule and in –house audit practice. The report determines cost analysis of fleet
management company with the concern to having loss of $1/2 million dollar within the time
duration of 3 years. Furthermore, the report analyzes the internal analysis of company its
complex challenges and issues that are affecting company’s fleet management operations.
Additionally, Transport Company is facing the issue with vehicle accident so that the report
presents accident investigation process to resolve the issues in satisfactory manner.

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Transport planning
The transport management system is basically an important sector which deals in transportation
and fleet management through carrying out the operations. The transport management system is
anticipated as subset of supply chain management which is focused on managing the operational
activities through vehicle. As per the case scenario, a transport company possesses the wide
range of vehicles such as dump trucks, delivery trucks, excavator plants, caterpillar bulldozers,
road rollers, mobile service and fuel truck and transit trucks. Therefore, the transport business is
also engaged into the management of commercial vehicles.
The transport management has evolved dramatically as it has made the operational activities
easy, efficient and cheap for different businesses and industries to perform their supply chain,
transportation and operations in effective manner. The transport concept is a valuable aspect that
can be defined as the movement or transfer of goods and human being from one place to another.
There are several methods through which the transportation is carried out such as land, water and
air (Black, 2018). The transportation is linked to the economic development of organization and
nation as well. Therefore, transport planning is very important process which includes the
initiation of policies and strategies to add value in the transportation process and accomplish the
goals in context of transport.
For the given case, the transportation planning is essential to implement the policies and
practices so that the transportation can be done in significant manner. The given transport
business is facing the challenges with respect to its maintenance, operating and controlling the
fleet in an effective manner.
The transpiration planning for the given business is as follows

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For the transport planning, it is aimed to improve the maintenance within 1 year of time duration.
In order to meet the objective, Transport Company needs to develop an investigation on
performance of the company and make effective decisions to improve the performance of
transport business. The transport planning will use land for parking the vehicles of company.
Along with this, the transport company will also develop the policies regarding demand of traffic
demand along with encapsulating social needs. On the other hand, the safety policies are also
implemented with respect to the public and employees health. The company has planned to
expand and enhance the quality of its maintenance so that the vehicles can work for long term in
efficient manner (Johansson, Tornberg and Fernström, 2018). Additionally, the company will put
efforts on employing the budget as $25 million. With this, the perspective public will also be
involved to improve the fleet services. With this, the environment perspective will also be
considered as a key aspect of transport planning so that environmental issues such as pollution in
air, water and land can be minimized with the better utilization of resources. In order to reduce
the cost of unnecessary activities in transportation operations, an effective cost planning with be
developed as a business strategy (Hamurcu and Eren, 2018).

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Figure: Process of Transportation planning and decision – making
(Source: Shoup, 2018)
In order to improve the performance of the company, above transportation planning process will
be implemented in resilient manner. As per the review of current business situation, first of all
short–term plans will be developed so that the challenging issues can be minimized in the
business operations. Further, the long–term planning will be carried out in order to strengthen the
position of Transport Company in the market.
Current operations and issues faced by transporting company
As per the given scenario, a transport leading business is operating its operations in fleeting of
dump truck, company vehicle, delivery truck, transit vehicle and earth moving plants. On the
other hand, the transport business also possess the fleet maintenance department in which all of

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its vehicles are maintained and repaired so that the efficiency of business resources can be
improved in significant manner. As per the company profile, it is holding large size vehicles
including 10 caterpillars- bulldozers, 10 road rollers, 10 excavators plants, 10 transit trucks, 60
dump trucks, 5 carry all machine and 30 company cars along with 5 mobile service and fuel
trucks. In context to this, the business is providing the services to different project developers as
rail, road, goods, human and movement of a thing in the market. On the other hand, the company
has also employed the 125 drivers in order to carry out the operations of business in sustainable
manner. In this concern, the company will also consider human resource management practices
to manage its human resource and improve the organizational performance in effective manner.
Apart from this, the transport business is also facing the challenges or issues with regard to its
operations and management. In context to this, it is identified that the company is facing the
problems related to vehicle accidents as the accidents and breakdown has increased from the last
three years. Additionally, the maintenance of the vehicles has also required more expenses and
time to repair which has resulted into the increased financial burden by 5% on its budgetary
planning for a year. On the other hand, the issue of higher maintenance has also become critical
for the business as it is affecting the performance of business in significant manner. It is also
examined that the staff turnover has also increased as most of the drives and workshop personal
that is affecting the operations planning and maintenance of transport due to lack of employee
with the organization. With this, it is also revealed that the poor maintenance is also affecting the
operations of business in significant manner (Imbuga and Guyo, 2018). On the other hand, the
poor recoding keeping is also contributing towards the increased turnover of the business
employees. Additionally, the poor inventory management is also resulted into the issue creation
of operational efficiency. With this, the lack of proper inventory management is also increasing

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the cost for the business as vehicle replacement policy is also conflicting that is also not good for
the business because of vehicle replacement policy is influencing the operational activities of
business. Further, the higher rate of accidents is also resulted into the allocation of budget higher
for the business and it is also increasing the cost for insurance that is also an additional budget
for Transport Company. Furthermore, it is also identified that the business is facing the issues
related to the working of staff as they are working beyond the normal working hours which is
creating a problem for the staff turnover and it is critical for business to hold the experienced
employees that is decreasing the operational performance of transport business. Including this,
the employees are also facing the health and safety issues that are the key problem for employees
to leave the organization. On the other hand, it is becoming a critical issue for the business to not
following the health standards with the transport business operations.
Vehicle fleet maintenance
Fleet maintenance is a key function of the transportation operating business because the available
vehicles are utilized on daily basis and the maintenance is essential to make the life of vehicles
for long –term. In context to the given situation of case, it is identified that the vehicle fleet
management is lacking with proper attention so it is increasing the cost of maintenance and
breakdown of assets is also increasing for the transport business. Due to the improper fleet
maintenance affect the performance of business and it drive negative impact on the services of
driver management (Scheibe, et al., 2019). So, the fleet maintenance is beneficial for the
transport business to enhance the productivity and reduces overall costs for the business. The
preventive maintenance skills and practices can be developed in context of activities including
reviewing, inspecting, testing, cleaning, repairing and replacing the parts for vehicles. Fleet
maintenance plan can be developed as follows

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 Developing baseline: After the inspection of vehicle, the baseline can be developed for
each and every vehicle as what is the problem in vehicle along with the recording of
services such as level of fuel and current mileage.
Identifying the intervals for maintenance: To know the time duration of maintenance interval
it is very important as how often the maintenance will be carried out for smooth functioning. In
context to the given transport business scenario, the company needs to assess the operating
conditions of vehicles as per the hours and mileage because the vehicle assets are different in
nature as loading vehicle, transportation vehicle, and earth moving. In relation to the transport
business, the maintenance can be carried out on basis of the 2500 miles for transporting vehicle
and for earth moving or loading vehicle as 1200 operating hours (Holloway, 2018). For mobile
cars, after every 3500 kilometer, preventive maintenance can be carried out. On the other hand,
the transport management company can also use the fleet maintenance software on basis of
manual methods. It will also includes the vehicle and assets trailing, cost assessment, license and
registration process, client portal handling and claim administration for accident of vehicles and
workforce.
 Establishment of service checklists: The checklist contains the required tasks in order to
build super quality maintenance. It will be focused on the
- Modify the filters and oil
- Measurement of fuel system and cooling functioning
- Alteration of CV joints, hoses and driving shafts (Perboli, et al., 2018)
- Measurement of wheels, tires and rims for fleets
- Replacement of tires along with the alignment
- Inspection of exterior and interior lights with replacing the windshield fluid

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- Reviewing the seatbelts and structure of seats with inspecting the leakages in fluids and
engine
- Measurement of luxury systems in vehicles
Establishment and reporting of driver inspection: The establishment of driver inspection and
reporting system will be significant to minimize the risks for fleets in context of breakdowns and
damage. It will also improve the efficiency of operational activities of vehicles (Elementfleet,
2019). The vehicle operators will also play significant role in supporting to carry out the proper
maintenance of its safety systems as braking system, steering, tires, and windshield wipers.
Along with this, misfiring, exterior bodies, heating and air conditioning.
 Tracking and monitoring the success for business: The monitoring and having proper
tracking is very important to assess the reliability and validity of fleet maintenance plan
and it will lead to judging the developed maintenance system so that the operational
efficiency can be enhanced. It will ultimately reduce the unwanted or additional cost for
business.
Task scheduling
The scheduling of task is very important for the transport service providing company because of
eliminating additional costs due to the improper route and processing of fleet assets. Scheduling
will be important to accomplish the task on time and services of system can be improved. Proper
scheduling will directly be resulted into the reduction of additional cost which takes place due to
the poor operational functioning of business assets. The task scheduling for transport business is
as follow:
Task description Time Duration Responsible

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Reporting of fleet on daily basis Daily basis (In morning and
evening report)
Maintenance executive
Recording of staff working Daily basis Departmental head
Organizing and scheduling of
routes of vehicles
Based on assigned project Departmental executive
Review of fleets or vehicles Before going at the site or
location
Vehicle operator
Assessment of legal
requirements of vehicles with
the duties of vehicle operator
It will be done while a new
vehicle is purchased for
business (Dimitriou, 2013).
Head the fleet management
department
Budgeting allocation Two times in a week Finance manager
Measurement of maintaining
quality along with the required
resources
Once in 15 days Quality & Maintenance
manager
Repairing of fleets for efficient
functioning with the change in
its damaged parts
Based on the operational
time duration
Maintenance helper or staff
Human resource management Monthly basis HR Manager
Event management as training
seminar and meetings with
stakeholders and board
Once in 3 months of time
period
Plant
Manager

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Vehicle programming
Vehicle programming is also significant to assess the life with relation to its valuation so the
vehicle programming will enhance the viability of fleet management project. Vehicle
programming has become essential and common for the transport management organizations
because of managing the vehicles in proper manner. With this, the vehicle programming tools are
becoming imperative as these programming tools are supporting the fleet management
organization for the purpose of automotive diagnostics and repairing purpose. In context to this,
the fleet management company can engage into the detection and reviewing the machines and
internal processing of system (SARKAR, MAITRI and. JOSHI, 2017). The company can use the
on- board software to diagnosing the internal system accessing with the data as engine control
unit. To accessing the information or data, external device as display can be used to depict the
visual pictures. The on board diagnostic tools possess with the two major components such as
hardware configuration interface and app itself. In context to this, the Auto Enginuity’s Scan tool
can be used for the fleet management in proper manner. Its window based system that is used to
review and monitor the health of vehicles in proper manner. This programming system will
provide details about the airbag, power strain, chassis controller, bi-directional control,
transmission, testing of system, online data and instrument cluster. Auto Enginuity’s Scan tool is
an easy to use tool which allows zooming and displaying the internal processing of vehicles.
Furthermore, it also displays the DTC data as per the need in report form.
Pro Scan: