Shop Scheduling Strategies to Optimize Fleet Asset Availability

Utilities with hundreds or thousands of assets must take a strategic approach to shop scheduling to balance competing priorities. Fleet managers are tasked with ensuring each asset is adequately maintained while providing field crews with the vehicles and equipment they need to successfully complete their work.

One way to effectively manage scheduled preventive maintenance (PM) begins with identifying vehicles that are due for regular fluid and filter changes, lubrications or any other tasks as recommended by the manufacturer. Numerous shops use scheduling tools that track vehicles due for PMs based on established metrics. Crews are notified to drop off vehicles on a specific date, and the parts department can order filters, fluids and anything else the vehicle requires.

Brad Pritekel, fleet supervisor for Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU), said the company’s scheduling is currently based on fuel use. “Our scheduling tool automatically populates data every morning to reflect fuel usage, and we use that data to schedule preventive maintenance for the next month so we can schedule with the crews to get the units in.”

However, that isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. CSU is integrating vehicle telematics into its asset management tool to establish four metrics that will guide scheduling based on asset type. The system will track miles driven, hours run, fuel use, and the time stamp or time since last maintenance.

“Runtime is more valid than fuel usage, and we will have four tiers of data to schedule our PMs,” Pritekel said.

Pickup trucks will be mileage-based, while heavy-duty trucks will be tracked by hours as top priority. The other factors will be weighed to schedule maintenance and influence vehicle allocation within the fleet.

“We’ll have a backup four different ways to ensure vehicles are serviced appropriately, and we can track vehicle usage to reallocate vehicles to groups that need them,” Pritekel said.

TEP’s Approach
At Tucson Electric Power (TEP), fleet services supervisor Pete J. Cox runs a weekly report to schedule vehicle drop-offs. He also looks at a report listing all vehicles that have not been in the shop in at least 12 months.

“Any lighter-duty vehicles that don’t require a DOT inspection, we bring them in so we’re seeing them at least once a year,” Cox said.

Technicians prioritize getting specialized units without a backup in and out of the shop so that they are available for use, he added. Response vehicles undergo maintenance ahead of storm season to make sure they’re ready to roll. In Tucson, that means preparing for the monsoon season that typically begins in late July.

“In May and June, we’re getting our light plants ready, making sure that some of the equipment that doesn’t get used all the time is getting checked out so it’s ready in case it’s needed during that storm,” Cox said.

When a vehicle comes into the CSU shop for repair, the team identifies when its next PM is due.

“If it’s flagged for a PM in the next month, we’ll go ahead and do it, and that eliminates that crew from having to bring that unit back in the next month,” Pritekel said.

About 90% of CSU’s PMs are completed during the second shift. The remainder are handled by a field service tech who does PM work in the field.

Within the past two years, CSU has brought maintenance back in-house after previously outsourcing it. Pritekel noted that overall vehicle availability is 96.8% compared to a target of 93%. NAFA Fleet Management Association ranked CSU 39th on its list of the 100 best public fleets for 2025 (see www.nafa.org/100-best-fleets-2025/).

“We’re making a lot of improvements as we go, fixing things that have slipped through the cracks that you don’t think about,” he said.

Tracking Techs for Training Opportunities
TEP tracks the time it takes technicians to complete scheduled maintenance jobs, based on vehicle class. The goal is to ensure technicians have the training they need to complete the work, with each task accurately recorded.

“We’re not looking at whether they’re inefficient, but maybe they need more training because they’re not exactly sure what they’re doing,” Cox said. “And if they did the brakes but didn’t record that, then we’re not keeping track of what they’re doing to the vehicles.”

Communicating with work groups ahead of big jobs can help avoid breakdowns that delay projects. For example, Cox said, “If you have a transmission group that’s going to be pulling miles of conductor, check out their equipment before they go out and maybe you’ll save a service call.”

Both TEP and CSU operate with a day shift and an evening shift, with some overlap in between. The goal is to complete most scheduled PM visits during the second shift so vehicles can be returned to service with minimal downtime. Technicians can communicate about vehicles that may need ongoing repair work during the second shift.

“If a repair is a high priority and day shift has started it, then it just gets handed over to night shift and they take over,” Cox said.

At CSU, a fixed crew works the second shift; at TEP, the second shift rotates every six weeks.

According to Cox, “The rotating shift actually works out pretty well because about the time you’re getting tired of night shift, you switch to days.”

About the Author: Gary L. Wollenhaupt is a Colorado Springs-based freelance writer who covers the transportation, energy and technology sectors for a variety of publications and companies.