Large-scale construction sites seem to be in a continuous uproar at all times. Regardless of the time of the day, the deafening drilling sounds, excavation activities, truck loading and unloading, bellowing cranes, and roaming bulldozers never seem to rest. However, did you ever wonder how construction contractors manage the usage of all these heavy equipment?
Thus far, we have only described a single construction site. But construction companies often have numerous construction projects ongoing concurrently in various locations. Imagine the number of machines and trucks being utilised in such projects. How do you think companies keep track of all of them?
The formal name for the monitoring and control of construction assets is construction fleet management. However, the latter is not simply about chaining cranes when they are not needed or placing machinery in safe storage areas after work. In fact, fleet management encompasses far more than what meets the eye. Like any other operation on a construction site, fleet management is full of challenges and requires neverending tenacity and attentiveness.
If you own a construction project, you will agree that the aforementioned heavy equipment costs a fortune and replacing them in the event of a theft can be quite painful. Hence, you, as a construction contractor, are better off letting a competent company like Taurus handle your construction fleet management.
The latter will allow you to focus on meeting essential deadlines while we work hand in hand with a devoted construction fleet manager and his steadfast team.
To help you make an informed decision, we shall use this blog to unveil the importance of professional construction management for your projects.
The Importance Of Professional Construction Fleet Management
Gone are the days when keeping a paper record of equipment and vehicles dispersed to each construction site would suffice. Today, construction projects have become increasingly complex due to the fast-paced environment we live in. We need to prepare for the future even before the realities of the present dawn upon us.
Explicitly speaking, we mean proper asset forecasting has become a crucial aspect of construction sites. In short, we need to prepare beforehand regarding upcoming equipment replacements, repairs, etc, to avoid any project delays.
The latter is precisely what construction fleet management seeks to do:
Improved Forecasting
In the current era, companies use special fleet management software to handle each aspect of their operations. From the purchase of a specific asset to its depreciation, usage, monitoring, and ultimate scraping or disposal, everything is done through software. This software is designed to minimise errors and diligently convert raw data entered into the system into fruitful information.
Over time, the software becomes more efficient in developing highly insightful trends based on historical information. The latter allows for more reliable and accurate forecasting of assets and their related cash flows over longer periods.
Informed Decision Making
The benefits mentioned above significantly discard guesswork and uncertainties from construction operations. Hence, management is able to make more informed strategic, tactical, and operational decisions regarding the fleet. Thanks to the remarkable software, numerous daily, weekly, monthly and so forth reports are produced automatically to assist decision-making processes.
Real-Time Tracking Of Construction Fleet
As we mentioned earlier, the biggest concern for a construction contractor is the fact that he/she is unable to oversee the usage of construction sites simultaneously on various sites. The latter makes delivery scheduling extremely difficult.
Let us take your truck fleet as an example. For appropriate tracking, you need to have a clear idea of where each truck is at a particular time. How many of your vehicles are on the road, and how many are being used on sites. Only then will you be able to manage your arrival and departure times effectively.
In this regard, professional fleet tracking systems use GPS to furnish you with the location of each vehicle on a single map in real-time. To further improve operations, the related software generates automatic reports regarding speed, stop and start times, late deliveries, etc.
Better Dispatch Of Construction Equipment
If you are working on ten different projects with up to twenty different sites, you wouldn’t buy a separate crane for each site now would you? You will most probably be left bankrupt if you do. Well, the latter demonstrates the need for a proper dispatch schedule of equipment to various construction sites.
Due to the real-time tracking of equipment, it becomes easier for one to predict when certain equipment will be available for work on other sites and schedule their dispatch accordingly.
Timely Recovery Of Stolen Equipment
Lastly, the equipment tracking system used by professional fleet management service providers will also save you the pain of replacing stolen equipment.
About Taurus Projects
Apart from handling numerous large-scale projects, Taurus is also well-versed in providing personalised fleet and material management services as well. Contact us to learn more.