The Chavez and Hagopian Fleets

[Mikey P]

I spent part of yesterday with Davis working on the AT..
It got me thinking about you two and your fleets..

Who is in charge of maintenance of the band and the units? What about the equipment?

How are records are kept and by whom?

How many and what kind of vehicles do you own?

When is a cleaning truck ready to be sold off?
And an "empty" vehicle?

What are the responsibilities of the drivers?

Are cleaning and restoration trucks shared or asigned?

Who restocks chemicals and supplies?

What spare TM parts are kept on the shelf ready for breakdowns?

How bad does a ding or scrape have to be to get it repaired immediately?

Oil change frequency?

Wash frequency

Anything to add?


Thanks guys!!

 

[Mark Saiger]

How many of a product do you want on a shelf before they notify person in charge that order needs to be placed....(kind of in your list but a bit more specific)

In our case, we can get a few things in a day(Chems and parts)....and some things take a least 2 weeks (cleaning products and parts)

Who is in charge of placing orders for restock of chems and parts?

Where are receipts to be placed, or sent for tax purposes, such as fuel receipts, those other receipts?

Do you have a "Wish List" or "Goal List" for future purchase (a new style piece of equipment that is being budgeted for)

Tire Replacement...when?

Just thinking off the top of my head....

 

[Russ T.]

I've got a $300 PTO clutch sitting in my van. I wasn't sure if I should return it or wait 5 years to see if it MIGHT fail.

Then again, I'm no Hagopian or Chavez.

 

[Shane Deubell]

What about the state inspections? I imagine they come to you?

My hair is falling out just thinking about it

 

[Desk Jockey]

We are in another class than Hagopian & Burns!

I can't answer this thoroughly this week. Its still crazy here from all the rains. We've had 3-weeks out of 4 that have just had us running. We processed 50 WDR- jobs in the first two go around's and we are over 30-from this weekend. Too much work!

Anyway this is what you need. Its cheap and they offer a 30-days free download.

http://www.carcaresoftware.com/download.htm

 

[Brian H]

I spent part of yesterday with Davis working on the AT..
It got me thinking about you two and your fleets..

Who is in charge of maintenance of the band and the units? What about the equipment? We have a 3 person maintenance staff. We do almost all repairs in house except for major engine or transmission work.

How are records are kept and by whom? Records are kept by the Maintenance Manager in a binder. We are just now converting over to logging them on the computer.

How many and what kind of vehicles do you own? 28 Butlers in GMC/Chevy vans, 4 GM cutaway box vans, a chevy HHR, a Ford Transit, and a few mini vans...

When is a cleaning truck ready to be sold off? When we get a new one... we try to keep it on a 5-6 year cycle but got away from that for a few years. We are working on getting back to that cycle as it seems to work best.

And an "empty" vehicle? We are starting to institute a 6 year cycle.

What are the responsibilities of the drivers? The Specialists ( crew leaders) are responsible for fluid levels and cleanliness of the vehicle. They are also responsible to alert our maintenance staff via a Maintenance Request Form when there are issues with their vehicle. Everything has to be in writing or the request didn't happen. The Maintenance request Form is a 3 part form and the Specialist keeps a copy. 2 copies go to the maintenance staff and when the service is completed, one copy goes to the Location Manager.

Are cleaning and restoration trucks shared or assigned? The truck is assigned to a specific Specialist until it is retired or moved to a back up status.

Who restocks chemicals and supplies? The Specialists all have their own assigned locker and their supplies are restocked by an in house person every day. The lockers contain a full set of most everything they have on their truck.

What spare TM parts are kept on the shelf ready for breakdowns? We can replace just about everything on the Butlers with what we have in stock as well as most everything on the vans.

How bad does a ding or scrape have to be to get it repaired immediately? We do have a few dings and dents on our fleet. Since we do our own body work and painting, it's more of a "do we have time" issue. I don't like to have them out on the road if it looks real bad, but if we are busy, we do what it takes to get the job done.

Oil change frequency? Once a month

Wash frequency? As needed.. sometimes daily, sometimes once a week. It is the Specialist's responsibility to make sure it is clean.

Anything to add? We have weekly inspections of the vehicles, done by a manager. We double check all fluid levels and the overall appearance of the vehicle and equipment.


Thanks guys!!

 

[Brian H]

Saiger" data-source="post: 4365515" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch">

How many of a product do you want on a shelf before they notify person in charge that order needs to be placed....(kind of in your list but a bit more specific) We do have a min/max system. When it gets down to a minimum quantity we have a set amount that we then order. And it depends on the season. We are slow in the winter time, so we don't need as much product sitting on the shelves. Also depending on the price breaks, we may order a years supply if it makes sense.

In our case, we can get a few things in a day(Chems and parts)....and some things take a least 2 weeks (cleaning products and parts) We have been known to drive to pick up supplies or overnight them. For the most part though the supplies are delivered.

Who is in charge of placing orders for restock of chems and parts? The Location Manager orders cleaning supplies, the Maintenance Manager orders parts. All ordered goods require a purchase order.

Where are receipts to be placed, or sent for tax purposes, such as fuel receipts, those other receipts? The gas receipts are turned in daily and they are recorded. These are then compared against the month end bill we get from gas company fleet sales report. All other receipts are coded for P & L purposes and turned over to the accounting department for payment.

Do you have a "Wish List" or "Goal List" for future purchase (a new style piece of equipment that is being budgeted for) Yes.

Tire Replacement...when? When they are worn out.

Just thinking off the top of my head....

 

[Brian H]

What about the state inspections? I imagine they come to you?

My hair is falling out just thinking about it

We don't have state inspections in Michigan.

And my hair is falling out too....

 

[Shane Deubell]

Whaaaat

We have to do yearly state vehicle inspections at a certified shop.
Total PIA.

 

[bob vawter]

Whaaaat

We have to do yearly state vehicle inspections at a certified shop.
Total PIA.

Ya...MI.....USED to smog our cars....
till they found out everyone was cheating.......

 

[ruff]

Whaaaat

We have to do yearly state vehicle inspections at a certified shop.
Total PIA.

Finally, a state more regulated then CA. I am tickled pink.

Brian, Richard and Bryan (Oz), with your PTOs, do you add miles and machine hours to decide when to change things like transmission oil etc. Radiator flush. Fifferential oil change.

When do you do larger services then regular oil change to your vans?

I never know exactly when and how much to do as far as maintenance goes. I do change my oil (Synthetic) every 3000 miles of combined miles and machine hours calculated as 35 miles per machine hours.

However a word from experienced fleet guys will be quite helpful.
[Should I start a specific thread for that?]

 

[D Luke]

My buddy grew up out east and he told me it is almost impossible for a kid to buy their first car, because anything they can afford has no chance of passing the inspection.

In MI if it fires up, you're good to go.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Who is in charge of maintenance of the band and the units? What about the equipment?
We have mechanic’s next door and everyone informs me when something needs repair. Equipment they inform Steve who supervises the crews.

How are records are kept and by whom?
Care Care works well for keep track of everything for you.

How many and what kind of vehicles do you own?

(8) Chevy


(8) Ford’s


(3) Isuzu


(2) Toyota

When is a cleaning truck ready to be sold off?
5000 hrs

And an "empty" vehicle?
100,000 miles although Dan made me get rid of a 93 that only had 63,000 miles because it looked old.

What are the responsibilities of the drivers?
Don’t wreck it. Don’t cause anyone to wreck

Are cleaning and restoration trucks shared or assigned?
Shared. I wish they could be assigned but we are not big enough for that, we have untility players who perform many services.

Who restocks chemicals and supplies?
The assistant while the crew leader gets his paperwork in order for the day

What spare TM parts are kept on the shelf ready for breakdowns?
Very few, only the very simple stuff. We have a local distributor 15-minutes from the shop

How bad does a ding or scrape have to be to get it repaired immediately?
Bad. Why fix it they will just ding it up again. ; )

Oil change frequency?
Prochem units every 100 hours
Butler’s every month

Wash frequency
Any time they are dirty.
That can mean a couple times a week or maybe not for several weeks. Especially for the units that come inside. However we see it as very important and think if you are selling clean, you should be clean.

Anything to add?
We wax them at least twice a year. Once in the winter and once in the summer

 

[Brian H]

Richard,

One of the reasons we have the crews fill out a form is that it eliminates the " I told you about it last week" responses you get when crew didn't report a problem. I used to have that happen once in a while and if I really thought hard about it, yeah they did mention it...while I was in the middle of handling 10 other issues...

No more, I ask "where is your copy of the Maintenance Request Form?" If they can't produce it, its on them and not on the maintenance staff.

 

[hogjowl]

Has anybody answered one of Herman's questions yet?

 

[Mikey P]

use your left handed magnifier to look closer, dipwad..