The Cost of Unscheduled Downtime
If each of your trucks is unavailable for work only one day per year, you're a genius or a liar.
Jim Winsor
Executive Editor
Have you ever taken the time to figure out how much unscheduled downtime there is in your fleet? I'm talking about time your trucks aren't out there making money for you because they're in the shop for unscheduled repairs. The question came up as the result of some numbers quoted in a recent column by Bill Dawson, Volvo Trucks' senior VP of customer satisfaction.
He wrote: "In the first five years of ownership the average customer experiences 136 hours of expense-related downtime (lost vehicle and driver productivity). Those 136 hours translate into about $7,000 of expense and do not include the cost of repair."
That's about $50 an hour — not an unreasonable figure for a Class 8 truck or tractor in many parts of the U.S.
My first reaction was that the figures seemed awfully high. Then, after punching in some numbers on my calculator I concluded that — if anything — it's probably low.
We're not talking about accidents, weather-related delays or tire changes out on the road.
Broken down, that 136 hours is 25 hours a year. Rounded off, it's about one day a year of unscheduled downtime.
And let's face it. If each of your trucks is unavailable for work only one day per year, you're probably a genius — or a liar.
Before you jump to the wrong conclusion, remember we're talking "unscheduled" here.
Depending on miles operated and severity of service, you're probably looking at four "scheduled" downtimes for PM's (preventive maintenance) each year — maybe six. A thorough "B" service takes an average of four hours, not counting repair work resulting from what a mechanic may find while servicing the vehicle.
The big time and cost killer are the unscheduled trips to the shop or truck dealer because of driver write-ups or road calls. And because they're unscheduled, there's usually a couple of hours lost — or maybe even a day — before the vehicle gets worked on. We're not even calculating the amount of time or cost of making the repair.
Two true personal experiences come to mind over my 40-plus years writing about trucks. No. 1 is to offer financial incentives for drivers and mechanics for all vehicles that run from one scheduled PM to the next with no in-between visits to the shop.
I remember watching a mechanic change the hinge pin on an accelerator pedal after he shook it vigorously as part of the PM service he was doing. He told me the pedal felt loose. The issue wasn't the 10 minutes to replace the pin. The issue was eliminating a risk for unscheduled downtime — or worse yet — a road call. Part of that PM even included opening and closing doors repeatedly, listening for squeaks and checking door seals for possible leaks.
My No. 2 example is to keep good records and use them. I recall a fleet's decision to change brands of engine, a true story from 35 years ago. Engine "A" consistently was giving 3/10 better miles per gallon than engine "B" or "C." With more than 500 tractors — each running 110,000 miles a year — the fuel savings were impressive, even back when diesel cost 40 cents a gallon. Management bought vehicles and engines based on the fuel savings.
It wasn't until several years later that the maintenance director, with good records to back him up, persuaded the owners that unscheduled trips to the shop (downtime) were actually costing the company more than the savings in fuel. It wasn't so much the cost of repairs. It was the unpredictable downtime and the need to have spare vehicles on hand, and even to have to rent extras. The 3/10 mpg savings meant little when management finally realized what all this was costing.
The bottom line message is still reliability and uptime.
Design a PM program that will catch those so-called little things that bring vehicles into the shop.
