Fleet in the C-Suite: The Strategic Implications of Equipment Management
At its core, the construction equipment fleet is meant to facilitate the building of projects. Yet, somewhere along the way, many in our industry lost sight of this truth and became lovers of equipment for its own sake. We propose a concept that should be less controversial than it will be – that the equipment fleet is a strategic asset and should be managed as one.
Thoroughly and properly implemented, a portfolio management approach to equipment management will focus on managing risks as well as aligning information and organizational structures to best manage those risks. Efficiently managing both risk on capital deployed and risk to operations will lower the real cost of owning and operating the necessary fleet by making it more efficient. This will allow you to bid work more aggressively and more confidently, and execute it more productively. Managing the fleet like a portfolio requires a new breed of fleet manager – one equally comfortable in the boardroom and in the maintenance bay.
