Equipment shortages and skyrocketing prices have made being a fleet manager a tough job over the past few years.
In this episode of The Dirt, we hear from Ernie Stephens, senior vice president for equipment management at Infrastructure and Energy Inc., an infrastructure construction company.
One of the first things he notes is that the days of a one-year capital expenditure plan are over. Fleet managers need a three- to five-year plan for equipment purchases and be willing to adjust and be creative in today’s market.
To hear Stephens’ take on the current market and how he has had to change his strategy to keep his company’s jobsite well-equipped, check out the latest episode of The Dirt.
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In This Episode:
00:00 - Intro: How to Manage a Fleet During an Equipment Shortage
00:38 - Equipment Acquisition Strategy During a Shortage
01:12 - Has the Equipment Shortage Forced You to Try New Brands?
02:32 - The Importance of Communication
03:05 - How the Current Used Equipment Market Impacts Fleet Management
04:20 - How to Make Your Equipment Last Longer
06:07 - How to Manage Your Fleet While Also Growing Your Business
08:51 - How to Use Telematics to Manage Your Fleet
11:15 - How to Network With Other Equipment Managers
12:02 - Final Thoughts
Video Transcript:
Bryan Furnace:
Hi, everybody. Welcome back to Equipment World. You're watching The Dirt. I'm your host Bryan, and today we're here to talk about fleet management. As we all know, the lead time on new equipment from the factory combined with the fact that used equipment prices are through the roof has had to make us get creative as contractors on how we manage our fleets.
Here to talk with us today, is Ernie Stephens and he's going to break down how he handles it at the large scale so that we can take some of his knowledge and maybe apply it to some of our small to mid-size companies. With a lot of the OEMs still one to two years out on their backlog, what impact has that had for you guys on your strategy when it comes to acquiring equipment?
Ernie Stephens:
Sure. The days of looking at annual capex just isn't enough. You have to have that three to five-year plan. Once you get your plan in place, you have to immediately get your partners in place, the OEMs. Then you have to see what they can provide and get those timelines written down. Then you have to go to the third-party vendors, the rental houses, and you have to supplement, more so than we've ever done as well.
Bryan Furnace:
I'm sure, like most companies, you have one, two, maybe even three preferred manufacturers that you like to keep your inventory with. Has this forced you to go outside of that, or are you just retooling from a timing standpoint?
Ernie Stephens:
There was definitely a 12- or 18-month period, people were grabbing any color, brand, even the size didn't matter. Looking for a mid-level excavator and all they have is a large, we will take it. I think we're on the decline of that and trying to get back to our favorites, but I think it was a great opportunity for everyone to get their brands out there and for us to try it. I think a lot of people were going to be surprised with how well a lot of that equipment that they didn't normally run, performed. So excited to see how those trends will continue moving forward.
Bryan Furnace:
I will say that's been huge because you've traditionally had a handful of players at the top that everyone considered, "Well, if you're a professional in the industry, this is who you go with." Due to the equipment shortage, I think a lot of people have had to get outside of their comfort zone, and they're starting to discover that in order to compete in the equipment market in general, you can't put just garbage out on the market. There's a lot of good machines on the market that are very competitive with the big, well-known brands if you will.
Ernie Stephens:
For sure. I think it always dials back to communication. You can't even estimate the job unless you're going to have the equipment for that job. If you are going to go in with the estimate and hope to win it, you better be talking to your partners right away and which is something that we've been doing for the last, probably three to four years. Any large projects that we have, we'll go to the OEMs right away, "Hey, we're looking to bid this type of project in this region, just forewarning you. Even if we don't win it, someone's going to win it and need that equipment." So I think having those partnerships and relying on each other, it's helped us a lot.
Bryan Furnace:
So another interesting dynamic that's come out of this is the used equipment market. Prices have skyrocketed on that equipment, and so...
23 июл 2024
