Operational Pressures Compel Fleet Changes

By Jim Galligan and Daniel P. Bearth

The nation’s largest commercial fleet operators responded to rising fuel costs, economic pressures and the growing environmental wave by becoming more economical and greener this past year.

Last year’s spike in fuel prices and the ongoing recession are driving changes in vehicles and operations among LIGHT & MEDIUM TRUCK’S Top 100 Commercial fleets for 2009. Fleets have responded to these pressures by reducing their purchase plans while also stepping up their use of more fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly vehicles, L&MT found.

In a survey of 53 fleet managers conducted as part of this year’s report, six out of 10 fleet managers surveyed said they were changing delivery schedules and routing to conserve fuel, while more than half (54%) said they were spec’ing cleaner-burning fuels and/or engines. (See “Survey Shows Minor Changes,” below.)

Michael Pughes, corporate director of traffic and logistics for automotive parts distributor General Parts Inc./Carquest (No. 19), said the company increased fuel economy training for drivers of the company’s 400 medium- and heavy-duty distribution trucks which handle delivery from the company’s parts distribution centers. The fleet also reduced idling and adjusted routing with a new routing software system.

“As a result, we’ve reduced the number of units and routes and [reduced] the net miles travelled,” he said.

Carquest also is improving fuel economy by adding more automatic transmissions as it renews the fleet, Pughes said.

The transmissions, in this case UltraShift automated transmissions from Eaton, have improved the fleet’s fuel economy by hitting the proper shift points more accurately than it was getting with the manuals.

Mike Wescott, corporate director of fleet management for Carquest, oversees the remaining fleet vehicles, about 5,400 cars and light pickup trucks used to deliver parts to shops and service stations. He said he had already begun a move to increase the ratio of smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles such as the Chevrolet Aveo and Toyota Yaris when the fuel price spikes hit last year.

“Luckily, we started a few years ago.”

Jay Naples, corporate fleet manager with dairy coopera-tive Prairie Farms (No. 67), said he managed to improve average fuel economy by reducing idling and enforcing strict speed limits both for his drivers and the drivers of contract carriers. Pickup and delivery trucks automatically shut down after five minutes of idling. <

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