Fleet Advantage has long been about
equipment lifecycle management, and to that end, the company has added a
predictive modeling tool to its ATLAAS platform (Advanced Truck Lifecycle Administrative Analytics
Software).
“Our new
LMS [Lifecycle Management Software] predictive modeling is the next evolution
of our superior consultative approach and allows us to more closely forecast
the profit and loss statement for the entire fleet as well as individual
vehicles,” said Jim Griffin, chief operating officer and chief technical officer
of Fleet Advantage. “With the new LMS module, we can better identify when
trucks should be replaced, equipping fleet managers with their total cost of
ownership metrics in advance to help set their budget and be more proactive as
opposed to reactionary.”
LMS will
help customers predict the optimum replacement cycles and operational cost
savings on older trucks, he said.
While
fleets have been able to use Fleet Advantage data to do some of the same
calculations that LMS will do, it’s the ability to easily slice and dice the
parameters, alter the inputs, and more accurately predict the outcome that LMS
has simplified.
“It takes a few more variables in, and it lets you take a point in time so you can see the exact [cost],” Griffin told FreightWaves. “If we wanted to look into the future, [before] we had to do that manually.”
The idea,
Griffin said, is to be more “budget proactive rather than budget reactive.”
LMS
leverages ATLAAS data to accomplish this, adding a bit of machine learning
along the way. “The more data you get, the smarter it gets,” Griffin said.
ATLAAS is a
business intelligence resource for fleets. The software platform provides data
analytics and visualizations on a vehicle or entire fleet. The software
notifies fleets months in advance of when an individual truck or group of
trucks will reach what Fleet Advantage calls the “TippingPoint,” the point at
which a truck reaches economic obsolescence and costs more to operate than to
replace with newer equipment.
“With
ATLAAS, we’ve shown a distinct commitment to preserving the bottom line for our
transportation fleet clients through innovation and business intelligence
resulting in smarter and more profitable decision-making,” said Brian Holland,
president and CFO of Fleet Advantage.
LMS
utilizes ATLAAS data points selected at specific points in the future and
analyzes those points to make predictions on a truck’s TipppingPoint.
Griffin
said that LMS is sortable by vehicle location, make, whether it is a Fleet
Advantage vehicle or not, miles, timeframe (the default is a 51-month trade
cycle), and day cabs versus sleeper models. It uses fuel price, fuel
degradation, maintenance and repair costs, minimum and maximum miles per
gallon, and more to create its calculation. These values are customizable.
Once the
calculations are complete, LMS will suggest how many vehicles in the fleet
should be replaced and the levels of the savings at various points in time
(one, two and three years) replacement will net fleets. Users can dig further
into each vehicle or set of vehicles to obtain specific numbers for each unit.
A save
function allows users to compare savings based on various attributes, including
by make or model and facility locations.
“We took
the knowledge that the analysts had and wrote algorithms,” Griffin said,
pointing out that the data provides statistical evidence for fleet managers
making the case for equipment purchases.
