Editorial

Categories

Eliminate Downtime

Explore More

Follow us on

– 3 min.

What is a fleet manager? Job function and responsibilities

Published: 22. December 2022
By Trackunit
Fleet-related costs are typically one of the most sizable expenses at any company that needs a fleet of vehicles and drivers to function. Therefore, it makes sense that the fleet manager plays a key role in a business with a mobile workforce.

The fleet manager’s responsibility is to ensure that fleet vehicles are well-maintained and ready to use and that the company’s drivers are driving safely and in compliance with government guidelines such as hours of service requirements.

Fleet managers have many responsibilities and likely have numerous titles and duties. They collaborate with vital employees from different departments, and their duties and titles can fluctuate depending on the industry, vehicle types and size of the company. Learn more about the definition of fleet management here.

What is a fleet manager?

A fleet manager is an individual who is responsible for a company’s group of vehicles, which includes all aspects from hiring to maintaining fleet performance

Fleet managers are in charge of fleet operations for fleet companies, helping the business to run efficiently, safely, and in compliance with the laws and regulations. They create policies based on company requirements to address vehicle usage and driver management and may also set driver schedules. In addition, fleet managers are responsible for directing and managing the costs of commercial vehicles owned or leased by their company.

Fleet managers are integral to keeping a positive bottom line because they manage one of the business’s most important cost centers. Vehicle acquisition, vehicle maintenance costs, fuel efficiency, insurance, driver safety and ensuring vehicles comply with government regulations are among the fleet manager’s duties.

What is the role of a fleet manager?

A fleet manager has several responsibilities within a business, depending on the type of business, the business size, and the industry. Fleet managers coordinate with other areas of the company, for example, HR, legal, customer service, safety managers and accounting.

Advanced fleet management software like GPS tracking, built-in reports, proactive notifications, automated rules, and the ability to connect to other systems via API to track vehicles has helped streamline the fleet manager’s role in recent years.

Fleet managers take on many responsibilities and experience a great deal of pressure to succeed. To be effective, they must have strong people skills, an understanding of the industry, and the ability to stay calm under pressure. While they don’t need to know how to do every repair, they should understand what each repair entails in terms of cost and downtime. This way, they can minimize negative impacts on the business and reduce operational costs.

When vehicles or workers are unavailable, a skilled fleet manager can quickly adapt, assess the potential downtime, and promptly rearrange or reassign jobs while also minimizing disruption to vehicle operations.

The fleet manager role is changing

As technologies and vehicle types evolve, fleet manager skill sets are also evolving and becoming more demanding. There is now a greater need for knowledge of technology and data uses, analytics, and strategic forecasting. The successful fleet manager of the future will also need to:

  • Be good with data and analytics, and be able to make decisions based on that data.
  • Be an excellent communicator who can collaborate across all departments in the company and with key stakeholders, both internally and externally.
  • Make insightful suggestions to reduce exposure and take advantage of industry developments.
  • Identify and manage telematics, technology, sustainability, logistics and safety.

Furthermore, one must take into account how legislation will alter fleet operations. Legislation may start to encompass taxes or penalties related to carbon footprint or fuel consumption, which would then have a bearing on the types of vehicles being purchased to meet new fuel consumption standards.

How Trackunit can ensure fleet efficiency

Trackunit Manager gives you a broad overview of all your assets, so you can always be on top of your fleet. With groups, you can effortlessly keep track of your machines’ locations and activities. And with tracking, you can closely monitor the location of every machine in your fleet at any given moment.

It is now easier than ever to ensure proper safety protocols are being followed with our innovative and user-friendly checklist builder. You can create checklists for your fleet that can be accessed and completed using your smartphone.

Trackunit Go allows you to monitor all your assets and schedule services. You can view active alarms, equipment uptime both on-site and off-site, and the intuitive map clusters show you which assets are working, moving, or stopped. Furthermore, you can see the distance to nearby equipment based on the user’s location and get turn-by-turn navigation directions.

Share This Paper

Related

How the battle on downtime is changing perspectives on safety and sustainability

The pace of learning is accelerating. To understand it, slow down.

Revolutionizing machinery manufacturing in an IoT-driven, industry cloud platform landscape

Most popular

Why productivity could boost revenues in the UK construction industry by up to £45 billion/year

’The world needs a more productive construction industry than ever before’

‘A one-size, fits-all Cloud won’t work in the next paradigm shift’

100 Ways to Eliminate Downtime

Sign Up for Emails On New Telematics Articles

Never miss an insight. We’ll email you when new articles are published on this topic.

By clicking submit above, you consent to allow Trackunit to store and process information provided, in accordance with our privacy policy, to process your request.

Today People are Reading

By Soeren Brogaard
CEO at Trackunit

Industry Report

Constructing a better future

Did you know? 58% of the construction industry says sustainability will dominate agenda in next five years.