How the Vehicle Maintenance Reporting Standards Help a Fleet

DuPont operates a medium-sized fleet consisting of 200 tractors and 450 trailers. These units are based in Wilmington, Delaware, and at six other terminals. We have three basic goals in specifying our fleet and in establishing programs for its operation: low maintenance costs, fuel economy, and safety.

To maintain our program and to work toward improved results, we make use of a variety of management tools. A major contributor is the Burlington reports. Every maintenance dollar we spend is programmed into the system. These reports provide us with all fuel and maintenance data to accurately determine costs and to develop methods to improve existing cost and fuel savings programs. Three examples will be given to show how we use the reports to make some significant decisions in our operation. The first two will deal with replacement of equipment and the third with driver influence.