In the December issue of FLEET intouch we shared an insight into what it is like to manage a large and diverse fleet in the Philippines.

FLEET intouch had spent some time with Toribio NoelIlao(Noel), Director, Bureau of Equipment with the Philippines Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). Noel has a fascinating story to tell about how he and his team are transforming the management of a fleet of some 9000 assets across a country comprising 7100 islands.

In this second and final part of the interview, Noel talks about his management approach and some of the improvements this is delivering.

You can read part one here. 

FLEET intouch: What is your greatest challenge now?

Noel: During the last decade, the Philippines, together with China, the United States, Indonesia and India constitute the top five countries that are most frequently hit by natural disasters. This country is also one of the most vulnerable. In the 2016 Climate Change Vulnerability Index (CCVI) released by risk analysis company Verisk Maplecroft, our country was ranked 13th most climate-vulnerable country. However, this is an improvement from the 2015 Index in which we were at eighth place.

Given the increasing national road length and our vulnerability to natural disasters, this means increased complexity in the highway maintenance load and resource requirements, including the existing equipment fleet size. To address this DPWH, the Bureau of Equipment, developed the Five-Year Basic Highway Maintenance Equipment (BHME) Re-Fleeting Program. The rationalisation of the DPWH Fleet is based on this medium-term plan, and its approval is a result of a five-year fleet size and performance forecast.

Aside from this, the Department’s fleet size is driven by actual demand, utilisation and availability in each of the field offices. To date, BHME fleet has been reduced from 3010 assets in 2012 to 2360 as of June 2016. Based on our calendar year 2015 Performance Governance Scorecard, the Bureau has so far achieved the set goals in our re-fleeting program.

FLEET intouch: What do you consider the most significant improvement to date in your fleet operation?

Noel: I would say the most significant change is the people in all the DPWH Equipment Offices embracing a journey towards excellence. They accepted and allowed themselves to be part of a major change in the organisation, where physical asset management became the vehicle for the people to “metamorphose” and transform an office once planned to be abolished, to make strides to become a world class organisation.

FLEET intouch: Can you give me some examples of how this has impacted the fleet?

Noel: One example to cite is the DPWH central office motor pool, once upon a time, this was a workshop where most end-users did not want to have their vehicles serviced and maintained. But that was five years ago. Now the central office motor pool is the benchmark for the whole organisation and even to other government agencies here in the Philippines.

Another example is preventive maintenance (PM). From calendar year 2014 to calendar year 2015, frequency of PM decreased due to further strengthening and institutionalisation of our Strategic PM Program, this means based on reliability principles, required PM is maintained and the rest eliminated. In the revitalised PM Program in this period, three (3) critical points were observed:

·       Number of units being maintained increased

·       Increased PM Expenditure

·       Decreased Fuel Consumption

FLEET intouch: How long have you been in the fleet role and how had your background prepared you for your current role?

Noel: I am a mining engineer by profession and worked in various industries; mining, government, environment and consulting. I have been involved in asset management for 15 years now, including maintenance and operational risk management. I have been also into project management for over 19 years now. I am also a lecturer on reliability centred maintenance (RCM) for nine years now at the National Engineering Centre of the University of the Philippines in Diliman.

In 2011, I was hired by DPWH as Physical Asset Management Advisor, until in April 2014, I was appointed as Director III of the Bureau of Equipment, and in December 2014, I was promoted to Director IV of the same office.

FLEET intouch would like to thank Noel for being part of this interview, and we hope to update you on Noel’s progress in the future.