Team Approach to Equipment Management or Not?

Jan. 10, 2011

If you're a frequent visitor to ConstructionEquipment.com, you've noticed our Quick Vote poll on the homepage. Recently, we asked the question, Can one person manage an equipment fleet with today's added responsibilities?

If you're a frequent visitor to ConstructionEquipment.com, you've noticed our Quick Vote poll on the homepage. Recently, we asked the question, Can one person manage an equipment fleet with today's added responsibilities?

Although informal and nonbinding, our poll indicates that the majority of respondents say the position has evolved into one too large for a single person to manage. Those who said the job required more than one person outnumbered those who said one can handle the job by a 2:1 ratio.

Among those who say it takes more than one to manage today's fleets, we gave two choices: Split the responsibilities between a financial manager and a maintenance manager, or create a team to manage the fleet. The split approach was the favored.

We also asked the question in the Construction Equipment LinkedIn group, where folks had an opportunity to respond rather than pick one of four answers. One respondent correctly pointed out that fleet size and makeup are a determinant. Yes, a small fleet probably does not deal with the depth of responsibility.

Fleet management has evolved to a level beyond what one person can adequately accomplish. The "equipment" has evolved from being something that has to be maintained to now being a key--if not the key--asset in an organization.

We're in the middle of a shift from a maintenance-based fleet approach to an asset-management approach.

About the Author

Rod Sutton

I have served as the editorial lead of Construction Equipment magazine and ConstructionEquipment.com since 2001. 

Our mission is to help managers of heavy equipment and trucks to improve their performance in acquiring and managing their fleets. One way we do that is with our Executive Institute, where experts share information and ideas that will enable equipment managers to accurately manage equipment costs so that they can deliver the optimum financial benefits to their organizations.

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