Streamlining a Scattered Fleet Through Comprehensive Mobility Management

Starting from Step One

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” The philosopher Lao-Tzu said it over a thousand years ago, but the description applies equally today with the mobile assets of a national dairy industry agricultural cooperative. When there was a change in both fleet leadership and fleet management partner, a defragmented fleet was inherited. Vehicles were acquired and financed from multiple sources.

Fleet expenses such as fuel, risk, and regulatory compliance lacked oversight. Together, the company and Wheels began strategizing and collaborating to implement fleet management controls through optimized mobility management.

Step by Systematic Step

The first step was simply to identify all active rolling-stock titled assets through the systematic and arduous approach of surveying 300+ various sites and multiple business units. The process confirmed if each asset had or needed a title, who was responsible for the asset, was it obsolete, had it been sold, and how to handle it moving forward. New vehicle acquisitions sources were streamlined to the company’s banking partner and/or Wheels.

Wheels instituted a managed fuel-card program. In addition, all vehicles are being loaded into the Wheels FleetView™ system for unified oversight of fuel, maintenance, toll management, registration, and replacement processes. And Wheels’ Commercial Motor Vehicle Compliance (CMVC) program will assume management to ensure IRP and DOT regulatory compliance.

Positioned to Move Forward

In a brief time, the Herculean effort is starting to right the ship. Over 900 assets that were obsolete or sold have been cleaned from multiple databases, replaced with one database that allows cost management and controls.

And with CO₂ and mileage data more easily accessed, the company can implement a more environmentally sustainable program and systematic vehicle replacement strategy. These foundational steps, in turn, enable the next steps toward a model managed fleet. It is a journey toward efficiency whose next strides promise to be even larger ones.