Development and Application of a Vehicle Procurement Model for Rural Fleet Asset Management

Advanced asset management systems have emerged as important tools in the management, maintenance, and procurement of vehicles for transit fleet operators. Effective design and use of an asset management system can increase productivity, enhance public perception, and provide a consistent basis for decision making and planning. This paper documents the design and application of a vehicle procurement model in an asset management system created for the Alabama Department of Transportation to manage vehicles purchased and operated through the Section 5311 federal grant program. The vehicle procurement model predicts future vehicle serviceability, or condition rating, by using a combination of factors, including service area socioeconomic data and vehicle usage data. Application of the system helps transportation professionals estimate the overall fleet quality, identify vehicles that will need to be replaced each year, aid in the management of vehicles, and provide a basis for predicting future funding and budgetary needs.

Download Full-text

Asset Inspection Management System as a Reliable Inspection/ Monitoring Tool

Materials Evaluation ◽

10.32548/2020.me-04125 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 78 (12) ◽

pp. 1276-1285

Author(s):

Shibu John A

Keyword(s):

Asset Management ◽

Management System ◽

Balance Sheet ◽

Integrity Assessment ◽

Material Evaluation ◽

The People ◽

Physical Assets ◽

Asset Management System ◽

On Time Delivery ◽

Capital Intensive

Enterprise asset management (EAM) systems are used by asset owners and/or operators to manage the maintenance of their physical assets. These assets, including equipment, facilities, vehicles, and infrastructure, need maintenance to sustain their operations. An EAM system provides the means to have less unplanned downtime and extended asset longevity, which offers clear business benefits that improve the profit and loss statement and balance sheet. Particularly for capital-intensive industries, like drilling and exploration, the failure of on-time delivery of critical equipment or processes is disruptive and costs nonproductive time and customer satisfaction. Organizations understand these issues and employ an appropriate asset management system to engineer their asset maintenance and management. An EAM system is needed to manage the people, assets/equipment, and processes. EAMs are used to plan, optimize, execute, and track the needed maintenance activities with associated priorities, skills, materials, tools, and information. Similarly, nondestructive testing (NDT) is used as a tool for integrity assessment of assets in drilling and exploration. The main advantage of using NDT is that the item’s intended use or serviceability is not affected. The selection of a specific technique should be based on knowledge and skills that include design, material processing, and material evaluation. Validating the purpose of this paper, we emphasize the importance of optimizing the asset utilization and serviceability to enhance overall efficiency by integrating EAM software that manages assets, the operation management system (OMS) controlling the processes, and asset inspection management systems (AIMSs).

Download Full-text