By Julia Leach, manager, Wenco International Mining Systems, a division of Hitachi Construction Machinery
In today’s world of unprecedented change, growth, advancement and uncertainty, taking a moment to step back and assess how things are working now and how we can make them better has never been more valuable and important. With so many critical, ultra-complex factors in the mix (personnel, safety, profit, global impact, technology), we need to make the best decisions we can. It’s not so much what we do, but how we think that makes the difference.
In high risk fleets, risk (what we don’t see) is the element that has the most power to negatively impact our operations. The purpose of any fleet management solution is to reduce risk, and as such every piece of data, function or feature can be defined and measured in terms of risk management. The best way to account for risk while simultaneously ensuring your system reaches its maximum potential is a solid infrastructure of people, process and technology that is clear, consistent, replicable and measurable. We call this Operational Methodology. It is the systematic usage of fleet data to empower strategic, measurable decision making at the highest levels, as well as throughout the entire organization.
If your operational methodology is well constructed and universally understood, it provides the greatest risk reduction strategy and also ensures your system can function at an optimal level at all times. It allows for benchmarking and strategic growth, for if you are not just “doing” but thinking and making decisions consistently, then you can accurately measure where you are now and make a clear and measurable plan for getting where you want to be that engages all levels of the fleet organization.
Operational Methodology was recently presented to a large, international customer and is being used to support development of their fleet management policies.