Tyres
Following the strong impact of his recent comments on tyre cost cutting practices by naive truck fleet managers, independent national expert Mr Brad Bearman has now provided actual data detailing ROI.
When an experienced expert fills the shoes of a non-experienced fleet manager who acts on gut instinct alone, it reveals costly inefficiencies and poor business management.
“In my previous statement, we focused on a single-issue example; that being when a person in a fleet management role initially chose not to replace trailer hub meters as they broke down, then took it a step further and bought new trailers without any hubmeters,” said Mr Bearman.
“In effect, he took away whatever small level of capability he had to gather performance data.
“Performance data can tell you almost everything to turn your truck tyres into a business asset rather than a loss generator. As an example, let’s take a look at the working statistics we have revealed on a national fleet of Argosy prime movers.”
The following chart compares servicing taken over by the client’s own workshop which also incurs additional costs and potential mismanagement.
- Average Tyre Cost – Cents Per Kilometre
Bears Tyre maintenance reduced cost by 31%, from 0.009c p/km to 0.006c p/km (calculated per tyre) - Average Days in Service
Service Days were increased by 45% when maintained by Bears Tyres, effectively increasing lifespan from 184 days to 266 for each tyre - Average Service Kilometres
Again, the service kilometres also increased, this time by 29% from an average of 141,228 km to 181,672 km.
“Any manager in the industry can claim to be an expert on truck fleet tyres, but how many are prepared to stand by their performance with actual working data?” asked Mr Bearman.
“We have been able to gather this data for a specific national fleet operator because we own the Bears Tyre Tracker, so we logged distances and advised rotations at optimised moments of each tyre’s lifespan.
“In an era when fleet managers religiously monitor and schedule engine maintenance, it is foolish how most aren’t gathering data to manage and maximise the lifespan of the tyres.
“Apart from reducing the investment return of the product, they are actually costing their owners dearly. The Tyre Tracker can show this inefficiency very easily and correct the costly problems
“Remember, it’s not what you pay for a tyre but what you get out of it,” said Mr Bearman.