Cetaris’s program, called Fleet Assistant, is no neatly packaged Excel spreadsheet. It is demanding software with six modules that can help you collect and share information about any vehicle in your fleet, whether it’s on jacks in a service bay or barreling down the highway. Walk into a shop where Fleet Assistant is in use and the most common tool on the floor is a handheld computer running on a wireless network. What you won’t find is an abundance of paper: PM schedules, repair order histories, warranty claim prompts--instead, reports like these reside on the company server, available at any hour to anyone with access. I spoke with Cetaris president Ric Bedard recently about the changing nature of technology in the shop.

TT: Five years ago, when I’d talk to fleets about maintenance management software, the No. 1 concern was how to extract data from the vehicle and get it into their computers. Is that still true today?

Bedard: To some extent it is. When we launched our product, technicians manually entered data on the shop floor. Now it’s captured electronically in real time, or close to it through meter readings or scanning bar codes. That’s a big change for two reasons: data entry is 1) quick and 2) more accurate. As a result, people who fix trucks can concentrate on doing that, rather than wasting time looking for a part that’s not in inventory or a truck that’s not on the lot.

TT: You want mechanics to be productive. Bedard: For obvious reasons, but also because guess what: when they’re productive, they feel better about their world. They’re learning more, they’re understanding more, they’re executing better.

TT: Capturing data is one thing. You have to analyze it, though. Bedard: Sure. When you ask what differentiates a successful fleet from those that fail or just plod along, it’s the ability to take data and turn it into information they can use to run a profitable business.

TT: Give me an example. Bedard: When revenues erode, fleets naturally look for a better handle on their costs, because most fleet managers know deep down they can improve in that area. So consider this: If you’re a trucking company, how valuable would it be for you to know not just your cost per mile, but your cost per mile per customer?

TT: Certainly it would help me when I go to set my rates… Bedard: Right. That’s an example of how information you get out of your maintenance program can help your operations and sales people. You wouldn’t want a customer who costs you more than you’re making. Yet lots of fleets do because they don’t track their costs well enough and if they do, they’re not using that information to make a good business decision. When I say our software “creates knowledge,” that’s what I’m talking about. There are smart people managing trucking companies, who are good at spotting trends and anticipating events, but sometimes the information they need never flows to them.

TT: Why? Bedard: In some cases, the data isn’t collected, so the maintenance supervisor is missing the information he needs to make decisions about parts quantities, or PM scheduling, for example. Or the software on the maintenance side isn’t integrated with other important applications at the business, or it doesn’t generate meaningful reports. And then sometimes there’s a fear that having a fleet maintenance system will expose weaknesses in the way the department is managed. I don’t mean that as criticism, because people in a lot of industries get that way when “management” software is introduced.

TT: What sort of reports turn their cranks? Bedard: To one person, it’s being able to see all his units on a PM schedule electronically and to have those PMs triggered electronically, so he’s not walking around afraid that a PM is not triggering, that a safety inspection is not getting done, etc. For others, it’s the system showing what the fleet or individual trucks look like from a cost-per-mile standpoint--operating costs, standing costs, and incidental costs. And for the guy paying for it all, it’s a report that shows return on investment. Everyone has different priorities, which is to say that good maintenance software shouldn’t appeal to just maintenance guys. It should appeal to everyone who wants the company to turn a profit, and for a traditional cost-centre--the shop--to be a big part of that effort.