In a large corporation operating many vehicles across the spectrum of cars and trucks, fleet managers play a pivotal role but, just as important, is the task of the Fleet Operations Manager (FOM) or Transport Manager.
To borrow from a military term, the FOM is the ‘wingman’ to the Fleet Manager and is responsible for the hands on daily operation of all the company vehicles, selecting and maintaining vehicles in order to keep deliveries and distributions on schedule and within its established budget.
Whats are they responsible for?
Where the Fleet Manager sets and defines policies for company vehicles, the FOM implements these. In order to succeed, FOM’s need significant experience and skills in operations, logistics and using software programs to monitor both fleets and drivers.
FOM’s are responsible for impeccable records. They keep records to ensure vehicles are serviced at the correct time, note any unusual vehicle failures, monitor and deal with accident situations and are often the company nominee for traffic violations.
This means they have to know exactly where every vehicle is, who is driving it and what it was doing at any given time. Where the driver of a company vehicle is responsible for traffic fines, the FOM needs to respond quickly when these come through to have the notice changed to reflect the actual driver’s name – or, possibly face arrest if time passes and a warrant is issued.
In order for transportation companies to work properly and make the necessary profits, vehicles need to be maintained in peak operating conditions. FOM’s set up schedules to ensure each vehicle is kept in top condition. Larger companies often have their own in-house service centres with mechanics and specialists to handle maintenance and the FOM will liaise with them.
FOM’s need excellent people and communication skills to do their jobs well as reliable drivers are essential to keep a company profitable. Poor drivers can be a problem, causing fines, lawsuits with erratic driving or tickets from speeding.
It is up to the FOM to monitor and deal with this on a daily basis, reporting regularly to the Fleet Manager to decide on the course of action that needs to be taken to resolve issue or improve operations.
In conjunction with the Fleet Manager, the FOM needs to understand fleet management software in order to automate the collection and recording of data that enables them to monitor vehicle performance and costs.
Managers can analyse the data to identify patterns and take remedial action to reduce costs. Fleet management software also reduces administrative costs by automating the production of drivers’ time sheets and any other records required.
There is often a misconception a Fleet Manager is simply a mechanic with a title, possibly even more so for the FOM or Transport Manager.
As technology moves ahead at a sometimes frightening pace, the roles are changing and more technology involving fleet vehicles, alternative fuels, fleet data and analytics means, in the future, you might have someone who comes into fleet with an information systems or IT background.
The Fleet Manager position touches all of the cross-functional groups internally, such as legal, HR, risk management, operational groups, and sales and will steadily involve much more analytics, requiring someone who can make decisions based on the data, but who is also an effective communicator. They must be able effectively to communicate to upper management within the company.
The FOM plays a vital role here in being able to communicate and collate the daily operational data to the Fleet Manager – all of this in a way that streamlines the functions, rather than burdening them with masses of information.
The fleet management role will evolve and the FOM's ability to use data to make informed decisions, implement new technologies and to improve the driver experience and compliance is vital. Just being a ‘car guy’ is not enough anymore.