CE Institute

What is CE Institute?
The Construction Equipment Institute (CEI) is a highly specialized management development program designed for individuals who manage fleets of heavy equipment in the construction, mining, and quarrying industries. Group work, presentations by industry experts, and panel discussions comprise this highly interactive four-day course.

When is the next CE Institute?
The next CEI will in January 2009 in San Antonio, TX.View the 2008 CEI agenda here.

Who should attend?

Equipment Managers responsible for the operational, planning, and policy decisions that affect the cost, reliability, and performance of equipment fleets.

Operations Managers in the construction, mining and quarrying industries who seek a better understand of techniques to reduce equipment ownership and operating costs and improve productivity.

Fleet Owners who are seeking to maximize their return on assets as well as improve the productivity of their fleet and gain a competitive advantage.

Learn to:

Develop budgets and business plans for equipment operations
Evaluate some of the leading equipment and fleet management software systems available
Develop and use information systems to support critical repair, rebuild and replace decisions
Evaluate financial alternatives and complete financial impact and equipment-operating costs
Analyze equipment intensive operations to improve production and unit costs
Use historical data to calculate operating cost
Balance cost and reliability throughout an optimum economic life
Set internal rental rates for individual machines and fleets
Improve the value of the equipment management function to the company as a whole
Improve team building between operations, equipment dealers, and manufacturers

Agenda

		Tuesday
8am	9am	Breakfast
9am	10am	Welcome and introductions
10:30am	12noon	Managing the fleet within the organization.
		The fact that the fleet must be managed within the organization as a whole will be stressed and a number of issues associated with organization design, responsibility and authority will be discussed. Fleet management functions will be discussed in detail.
12noon	1pm	Lunch
1pm	2:30pm	Implications of organization structure.
		This session provides an opportunity for open debate on the role of the equipment function and the many issues surrounding the advantages and disadvantages of a centralized, specialized equipment group in the company.
2:30pm	3pm	Break
3pm	5pm	Owning costs.
		The factors that impact owning costs will be reviewed. The need to determine and include residual market value and return on invested capital will be stressed as will the impact of utilization on the hourly cost of ownership.
6pm		Cocktails and group dinner

		Wednesday
7am	8am	Breakfast
8am	10am	Operating costs.
		This session will show how hourly operating costs can be estimated by using field data and a knowledge of component replacement cost to determine the relationship between repair cost and machine age.
10am	10:30am	Break
10:30am	12noon	Economic life.
		Previously developed knowledge of owning and operating cost will be combined to develop a methodology for determining economic life and answering the interdependent questions “How much does it cost?” and, “How long do I keep it?
12noon	1pm	Lunch
1pm	3pm	Maintain, repair, rebuild replace.
		Maintain, repair, rebuild, replace will be defined and presented as a spectrum of decisions made in the normal course of fleet management. The importance of preventive maintenance as the first line of defense will be stressed and it will be shown how the cumulative cost model can be used to evaluate repair rebuild decisions. Issues such as the balance between age, cost and reliability and the importance of fleet average age will be discussed
3pm	3:30pm	Break
3:30pm	5:30pm	Implementing the basics.
		This session focuses on practical tools for implementing material covered and for success in areas such as maximizing utilization, benchmarking costs, managing downtime, controlling rentals and implementing a structured replacement program.
6pm		Dinner on your own

		Thursday
7am	8am	Breakfast
8am	9:30am	Equipment accounting and finance.
		The session will emphasize the accounting, finance and cash flow aspects of equipment ownership and develop the language needed to improve understanding between equipment operations, finance and accounting.
9:30am	10am	Break
10am	12noon	Maintenance and repair management.
		The emphasis on implementation is continued with discussion on issues such as defining responsibility and accountability within the maintenance function, developing and maintaining OEM and dealer relationships, managing work order based labor and equipment reports, controlling contaminants and defining the critical features of a preventive maintenance program
12noon	1pm	Lunch
1pm	2:30pm	Oil analysis, CBM.
		The session focuses on the tools, technologies and organizational structure needed to implement a condition based maintenance program that uses advanced sensing, sampling and measurement tools to assess the condition of a machine and define maintenance requirements
2:30pm	3pm	Break
3pm	5pm	Hands on implementation session.
		This session provides an opportunity to discuss and review material covered and address specific implementation challenges. Tools and techniques for effective implementation will be reviewed.
5:30pm		Cocktails and snacks followed by dinner on your own.

		Friday
7am	8am	Breakfast
8am	10am	Cost management.
		Factors that influence cost and efficiency in the maintenance function are covered with particular reference to warranty management, service contracts, vendor selection, specifications and training. High cost high risk areas such as parts, freight, fuel and undercarriages are given special attention.
10am	10:30am	Break
10:30am	12noon	What will you implement on Monday.
		Each attendee will be asked to review material covered and develop a plan to implement at least one performance improvement on return to work on Monday morning.
12noon		Adjourn

Expert Instruction

	Mike Vorster is the David H. Burrows Professor of Construction Engineering and Management at Virginia Tech University. He is acknowledged as an expert in equipment management and has more than 25 years experience in the field. Mike effectively combines academic and operational perspectives in his approach to the subject. In addition, he is a skilled presenter and facilitator. Read Mike Vorster's columns at Magazine Archives/Equipment Executive.
	Andy Agoos is the Vice-President/Fleet for Neff Rental, a top 10 national heavy equipment rental organization with over 13,000 major pieces. Previously, he spent 17 years as the Senior VP for Equipment Operations for Hubbard Construction, 13 years as president of the centralized equipment company for the Austin Industries Company, and 10 years as region/general service manager for Caterpillar Overseas and two southeastern Caterpillar dealers. He holds a B.M.E. from Georgia Institute of Technology, is a charter member and former president of the Association of Construction Equipment Managers, and is a 20 year AEMP member.
	Andy's emphasis throughout his career is to develop uncomplicated systems and programs that can be easily implemented by large and small construction companies. His "How-to" approaches come from 40 years of successful implementation and will usually fit most equipment manager's problems.

If you have any questions about the event, please contact Dawn Batchelder by email or call: (630) 288-8141.

CE Institute

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