City of Lemoore

Challenge

"A lot of the problems were obvious,” Shaw said of the fleet maintenance operation. “For one thing, they weren’t accounting for overhead in their billing costs."

More challenging, he said, was a lack of organization; nothing was standardized.

"One mechanic would do maintenance completely differently from another mechanic. I knew they needed a lot more organization. That’s why I began looking at maintenance management software," he said.

Solution

Shaw interviewed everyone in the department prior to shopping for software. Then he contacted a number of suppliers and set up nine demos in all.

"I’ll say honestly AMCS Fleet Maintenance is the most intuitive, and I think it is the easiest to learn,” Shaw said. “That was one of the reasons I wanted to go with AMCS Fleet Maintenance."

After installation and training, employee resistance to the new software – and the more intentional approach to fleet maintenance — was obvious. “It became extremely frustrating,” Shaw said.

Finally, in June, the city made some management changes that included an ultimatum to the department: they had one year to turn things around or maintenance would be outsourced.

"That’s when we started to really see changes,” Shaw said. “It’s been huge since then."

Results

AMCS Fleet Maintenance Inventory Management system enabled Lemoore to reestablish an inventory of frequently used parts. The city had largely stopped stocking parts rather than deal with its inability to account for inventory. Now, Lemoore is able to buy some items in bulk, which lowers initial cost as well as the cost of shipping. The city estimates the savings will be $4,000 annually, but it will really be more. Having parts on hand has all but eliminated the practice of sending mechanics on parts-buying errands.

The city also anticipates that AMCS Fleet Maintenance will extend the usable life of its vehicles.

"One of the principle reasons we got rid of vehicles in the past was transmission issues. Turns out we hadn’t been servicing transmissions on any vehicles. By servicing vehicles the way they’re supposed to be serviced, we can run vehicles for much longer," Shaw said.

AMCS Fleet Maintenance enables input of manufacturer recommended preventive maintenance intervals and prompts the shop when a vehicle needs attention. The impact of regular maintenance will extend beyond transmissions to other vehicle components. Shaw projects that longer component and vehicle life will save the city between $60,000 and $70,000 annually.