How often do you see or hear commercials for companies offering to “tune up” your heating or air conditioning system for winter or summer? Or ads for lawn care products to prepare your lawn for spring? These ads have been successful for years because of one underlying principle; staying ahead of problems can delay or even prevent them from happening. You can’t predict the future, but you can reduce the uncertainty the future threatens by taking preemptive action.
If you service your furnace and air conditioner every fall and spring, they will be in peak operating condition when they are needed most. If you don’t keep that equipment operating as intended, it could create a problem if it fails when you need it. Companies in all industries are catching on to this. There isn’t a single person who doesn’t get calls regularly regarding their vehicle’s extended warranty. This is capitalizing on paying a little now (relatively speaking) to avoid paying for major repairs later.
This has a different meaning in the commercial freight world, but the underlying concept remains the same. Any significant downtime due to equipment issues costs money. The list of impacts is extensive:
- Freight delays in transit
- Missing pickups/deliveries
- Drivers on standby instead of driving
- Replacement equipment/drivers (double the trip for the same price)
- High repair costs (labor, parts, expedited service, etc.)
- Mobile repair costs are even higher
Fleets that invest in preventative (and proactive) maintenance experience higher percentages of uptime than fleets that only perform necessary maintenance (oil change, tires, wheel end, etc.). Think of this as watering your lawn vs. having a fertilizing plan. While both will work, one offers a greater benefit.
As fleets learn the true cost of operation and asset ownership, the availability of data is providing more clarity and transparency than ever before. And the more that data teaches us, the more we understand that the “pay a little bit now, so you don’t have to pay a lot later” concept is applicable and critical to the efficiency of a fleet operation.
At Phillips Industries, we have built our reputation on providing solutions to the trucking industry that keep vehicles moving and improve the way you operate. As our Fleet Sales team meets with carriers across the United States, we work as a partner, identifying opportunities for improvement in the performance of your equipment and helping you find ways to keep your equipment where it belongs; on the road, making you money. And we are finding that quality matters above all else. The quality of the service you provide to your customers. The quality of your equipment. The quality of the parts powering your equipment. The better the quality throughout, the better the performance, and the better the results for your business.
In a world where just about everything is ‘smart,’ we’ve taken improved performance and maintenance a step further. Our Phillips Connect division provides fleets real-time data from your trailer and makes it actionable and readily available through a user interface. Its telematics and data solution sensor platforms offer any operation customizable tools for remote transparency and management of vehicles while on the road. This communications platform provides data before you need it, to be proactive rather than reactive by staying ahead of problems to delay or prevent them from happening.
Phillips has been a trusted partner of truck and trailer manufacturers for decades. It only makes sense that we are continuing to partner with these manufacturers as they evolve and better meet the needs of a changing marketplace. You’ve gotten more advanced in how you run your business. You need your partners to advance with you, and we are there today like we were yesterday, and like we will be tomorrow, powering your drive into the future.