FleetPortal: A Progress Report

John Bendel
Technology Editor

      FleetPortal has come a long way in a year. The online project of the Technology & Maintenance Council debuted at the TMC meeting in March. It's up and running, according to TMC executive director Carl Kirk, although commercial launch awaits final contractual negotiations with suppliers and would-be customers.
      www.spec2000.com, that provides maintenance specifications, products and services to more than 380 airlines and suppliers. The airline site is maintained by a California company called Continental DataGraphics, a subsidiary of The Boeing Co., the same company that designed and is implementing FleetPortal.com.
      When HDT reported on FleetPortal last year, the project was more dream than reality. At that time, Southeastern Freight Lines, an active TMC member, had begun providing information on its mixed fleet to FleetPortal developers. Volvo was the first major OEM active in the project. A major concern of suppliers was control of proprietary product information.
      While that concern remains, it no longer overshadows the entire project. Now many suppliers are cooperating with FleetPortal, even if some have yet to sign definitive agreements. Ali Khan, FleetPortal project manager for Continental DataGraphics, said he is working with Freightliner, Navistar, General Motors, Cummins, Caterpillar, Detroit Diesel, Great Dane, Silver Eagle, Hendrickson, Allison Transmission and Maxon Lift, among others.

A SINGLE SOURCE FOR SHOP INFORMATION
      The FleetPortal idea is simple - to provide a single source for all the parts ordering, technical information and warranty paperwork.
      Not too long ago, all the information a technician needed was contained in sets of books and catalogues. If the books were on site, the technician flipped pages. If not, he made phone calls to get the necessary information, diagram or schematic. Then manufacturers began providing information in digital form. Things got easier, but the larger promise of digital technology remained unrealized on the shop floor.
      "For as many manufacturers as there are, there are as many different ways of getting parts, service and warranty information," said Robert Braswell, the TMC's technical director.
      "If you go with brand A, they have paper, CDs and a web site. Brand B has the same, but it's navigated differently. Brand E only has paper and you can see where it gets rather unwieldy."
      FleetPortal is designed to provide a single source for all that information, a web site that brings together parts, service and even warranty information for the entire truck and component manufacturing industry. The FleetPortal site, which is navigated with Microsoft's Internet Explorer or other common browser software, provides what Braswell describes as "a common look and feel, a common GUI (Graphical User Interface) for technicians and parts professionals within a fleet."
      FleetPortal provides a convenient source for maintenance literature and updates rather than the constant bombardment of literature, CDs and web updates from various manufactures - what many fleet consider information overload. FleetPortal users will find only those updates that apply to their vehicles and fleet and they will be in place and ready for use.
      Besides time savings in the shop, FleetPortal offers the less tangible benefits of VMRS, which stands for Vehicle Maintenance Reporting System. VMRS provides a series of codes to describe virtually every part and function involved in fleet maintenance. It enables standardized reporting and computer analysis. Used properly, VMRS can help determine how many mechanics and what parts inventories are needed to support fleets of similar or different vehicles. VMRS pinpoints specific costs, and tracks the life-cycle of vehicles and components. The system is recognized by most industry suppliers and facilitates warranty claims, providing needed support documentation. It also helps benchmark productivity of people and equipment.
      VMRS has been around since 1970, but has only been adopted by a few - usually very large - fleets. One reason is that it takes time and effort to implement, resources simply not available in many smaller fleets. Another is that even if the effort is undertaken, it is possible to miscode things in the course of implementation or in regular updates.
      FleetPortal eliminates that problem by providing a constantly updated source of VMRS code that can be downloaded to a subscriber's computer or network.

FLEETPORTAL IN A MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT SOLUTION
      Last year the idea of integrating FleetPortal with popular industry maintenance software packages was barely on the radar screen. Today, at least one software vendor provides a vision for the shop floor of the future.
      TMT Software Inc., is working with Continental DataGraphics to make FleetPortal available within its Transman maintenance management system. Rinaldo Adler, TMT's vice president of development, describes how FleetPortal built into a TMT touch screen would speed work.
      "We have a touch screen that sits out there on the shop floor," Adler explained. "The mechanic interacts with it when the shop supervisor schedules a job for him. (The supervisor) says, ิhere are the units you need to work on. You need to work on this one first, this one second and so on, and here's what you need to do.'
      "[The technician] logs in and out of those jobs on the touch screen. In the computer is all the information about the vehicle, year, make, model, repair history that he can look up currently. If he's signed into a job to fix brakes or replace an alternator or whatever, we want to give him the option to hit a button and go out to FleetPortal to see his technical information."
      FleetPortal would cross-reference parts numbers to VMRS codes.
      "What they (VMRS users) have to do now is figure out what the right code is for, say, an alternator. FleetPortal will give them that automatically. It will be a huge time-saving thing to standardize everybody on the same VMRS codes," Adler said.
      Integration would also enable TMT users to file warranty claims electronically with participating OEMs. "We're going to be sending potential warranty information from TMT."
      Adler said that several TMT customers are aware of the FleetPortal project "and there are a couple that want to get on board." TMC's Braswell said that at least one "very major" fleet is ready to sign up.
      Last year, HDT asked who would pay for FleetPortal - fleet users, suppliers or a combination? The question remained open then.
      Not any more. Fleets will pay on a subscription basis to use FleetPortal.
      At press time, the actual commercial availability of FleetPortal awaited resolution of final negotiations, with suppliers as well as potential fleet customers.
      Among those pending issues: pricing.