May 2011, Vol. 238 No. 5

TechNotes

Henkels & McCoy Handles Its Large Equipment Fleet With Asset Management Solution From Chevin

Henkels & McCoy is one of the of the nation’s largest engineering, network development and construction firms serving the natural gas distribution, communications and pipeline industries. Like many other organizations in the industry, it operates a diverse fleet.

In the case of Henkels & McCoy, the fleet numbers more than 6,500 pieces of equipment. This consists of aerial equipment, line trucks and construction equipment, almost all critical to the company’s mission.

It is vital for the company to know how this geographically spread fleet is performing. This often is difficult given the staggering level of documentation and data associated with managing such a large fleet. The administrative workload generated by the fleet crosses much of the organization ranging from repair and maintenance record keeping, compliance oversight for operators, equipment to job assignments and allocation of finance and fuel costs to equipment.

Up until choosing to install an enterprise fleet management information system called FleetWave, Henkels & McCoy relied on a job management system, the main function of which was to manage the assignment of human resources to its diverse contracts. Much of the data relating to fleet and equipment operations was recorded and managed using a variety of non-integrated databases, spreadsheets and information gleaned from the company’s finance system. The procedure provided no coherent method of analyzing performance or supporting the company’s ongoing need to continually implement best practices.

The FleetWave application provided by Chevin Fleet Solutions will ultimately give the company real-time visibility over comprehensive equipment, maintenance, operational and fleet financial details while enabling total lifecycle control over the fleet from acquisition through disposal. By integrating all equipment-related data into one centralized system, administrative hours will be reduced and human error minimized, but most importantly, users will now be able to use actionable data to make informed business decisions in a timely fashion.

For the company, a critical key performance metric is the utilization of equipment assigned to jobs. With a diverse fleet of highly specialized equipment used on contracts from New York to Hawaii and Canada to Mexico, it can be a challenge to ensure that equipment is deployed in the most efficient way possible.

With the ability to support these complex equipment characteristics from upfit details to aerial device inspections and compliance oversight, FleetWave will allow Henkels & McCoy to manage job-based equipment assignments as well provide forward-looking equipment assignments, detailed equipment specification development and new equipment order tracking. Armed with real-time enterprise-wide fleet visibility, the company will be able to quickly access accurate information on where a particular piece of equipment is operating, how long it will be there and where it is needed next.

To further streamline administrative work load while simplifying the processing of countless financial transactions, FleetWave will ultimately be integrated with multiple internal systems such as finance, payroll and human resources systems as well as external workforce management, maintenance, warranty, lease, fuel and telematic system providers.

For more information about Chevin Fleet Solutions, visit www.chevinfleet.com and follow on Twitter @ChevinTweet for regular updates and industry insights.

Author
Ron Katz is the U.S. vice president for Chevin Fleet Solutions, Fitchburg, MA. Ph: 781-793-0788, e-mail: ron@chevinfleet.com.