There’s no doubt that rising prices, both in regular gas and diesel, are slicing into companies’ margins. The good news is there are ways those same companies can help their own cause. Here are some actionable steps your company can take to become more efficient with fuel usage.
Here’s a not-so-fun fact, courtesy of the U.S. Department of Energy: “Idling a heavy-duty truck consumes about 0.8 gallons of fuel per hour.” Extrapolate that across a company’s fleet, and consider that a long-haul truck typically idles about 1,800 hours per year: that’s 500 gallons of diesel. For these heavy-duty trucks, examples of idling include leaving the truck on during rest periods and while loading or unloading.
But that doesn’t mean only businesses with heavy-duty trucks should curtail idling. They are as likely to cut a company’s profits by excessively idling. It’s easy to see the impact idling can have on a business’s bottom line.
Technology has worked wonders for nearly all aspects of a business. including assisting companies in becoming more mindful of fuel consumption and meeting their efficiency goals. One type of tech your company should explore is field service management software, a solution that helps businesses better oversee their fleet vehicles. Thanks to GPS technology, field service leaders using the software can receive real-time insights into the habits and patterns of their drivers. Things like the speed they’re traveling, when hard braking is involved, and how often they are idling. With that information, leaders can use it as a teaching moment to help the driver improve their own performance (and the company’s profitability).
Field service management software is also very helpful for fuel efficiency. Clear preventive maintenance plans are imperative for the life of your vehicles. Keeping them running smoothly and as fuel-efficient as possible. Setting custom alerts regularly will ensure that tasks like oil changes and tire inflation are completed.
We’ve talked a lot about behavioral steps in drivers, Such as eliminating idling and hard braking but what about back-office employees? How can they be involved in improving fuel efficiency? The answer is optimized route planning.
Fortunately, field service management software can help here as well. Using this technology, schedulers can plan technicians’ tasks in clusters. It’s a great way to limit the amount of time they’re driving from job to job. The software can also deliver turn-by-turn directions, ensuring they’re always on the fastest and most efficient route. Also shielding them from traffic and other road hazards. With field service software, drivers use less fuel, and fleet vehicles rack up fewer miles and wear and tear.
If your business is feeling the burn of rising fuel prices, the field service management software from EnSight+ can help. Our solution is fully customizable, which means we can configure it to your exact specifications and needs. EnSight+ touts a variety of embedded modules, including work order management, scheduling, routing and dispatch, and fleet management. To learn more about what we can do for you, book your demo today.
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