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Emerging Trends in 2023

By FLEET e-news posted 11-04-2023
By Marc Sibbald – Director IPWEA FLEET Emerging Trends in 2023 We’re well and truly into 2023 now with the first quarter over. The end of March is also the end of the FBT year so it’s a good time to review how the FBT exemption announced last year for EVs and PHEVs will impact your Fleet Asset Management Plan, and operational fleet budgets over the next 12 months. Last month, IPWEA Fleet held the annual Fleet Conference in Brisbane. I would like to thank the delegates, speakers, sponsors and exhibitors for making it a successful event. I received great feedback from many delegates who felt inspired and excited to take new ideas and information back ...
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IPWEA Australasian Fleet Conference 2023 a Huge Success!

By FLEET e-news posted 11-04-2023
IPWEA Australasian Fleet Conference 2023 a Huge Success! The IPWEA Australasian Fleet Conference 2023 has concluded for another year and delivered an abundance of practical information based on its theme ‘The Shifting Tides of Fleet Management’. The 3-day event, held in Brisbane at the state-of-the-art Royal International Convention Centre, was well-received by attending delegates that saw an impressive speaker line-up led by Master of Ceremonies, Rob Wilson, and Director IPWEA Fleet, Marc Sibbald. There were a number of key highlights on Day 1.  Opening speaker, Ben Selwyn, Director at ACA Research, gave a comprehensive talk on big picture ...
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Exciting new Benchmarking Project on essential Fleet Performance Metrics

By FLEET e-news posted 11-04-2023
Exciting new Benchmarking Project on essential Fleet Performance Metrics by Ken Goldberg, IPWEA Fleet Consultant You may be aware that IPWEA Fleet is presently conducting its first ever FLEET BENCHMAKING PROJECT. The aim of the project is to provide IPWEA subscribers with benchmarking data on some of the most important key performance indicators as recommended by the IPWEA Plant and Vehicle Management Manual ed.4. The target KPI for the initial benchmarking exercise is UTILISATION. The KPI selection was evidence-based – stemming from a survey of 42 participants at the annual Fleet Management Workshops in October and November last year. Participants ...
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IPWEA FLEET Plant and Vehicle Management Professional Development Opportunities

By FLEET e-news posted 11-04-2023
IPWEA FLEET Plant and Vehicle Management Professional Development Opportunities Upcoming Webinars . Join IPWEA for our Chain of Responsibility webinar on “Practical tips for managing CoR in your organisation”. This is a topic that every organisation with mobile fleet assets needs to understand to avoid financial penalties and reputational damage. Presented online by IPWEA Fleet Consultant, Anne-Maree Coyne, on Wednesday 10 May at 11 am AEST.  Click here for more information or to register. Fleet Management Training Days . The IPWEA Fleet Management Training Days are an opportunity for fleet practitioners, coordinators, and ...
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In case you missed it, here's a recent post in the Ask Your Mates Forum

By FLEET e-news posted 11-04-2023
In case you missed it, here's a recent post in the Ask Your Mates Forum Topic: Proxy Switches on tipper tail gates : Lee: As a result of more than one incident, Workplace Health and Safety have asked us to look into the installation of tailgate proximity switches to alert the driver if the tailgate is still open after the material dump/load Yes, absolutely the driver should be manually checking, however, in the interests of consistency between organisations I have to reach out and see if this is an avenue other fleet managers are exploring as an additional control. Thanks in advance for any advice/information ...
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The Workshop Transition

By FLEET e-news posted 11-04-2023
The Workshop Transition By: Anonymous Fleet Manager Oh boy! Here we go. Another change for the workshops. I keep hearing about this EV transition. No matter what I read or what people are telling me it’s always the same question. How many electric vehicles do organisations have in their fleet now? If I were to guess across the industry…umm…probably less than 5 on average per organisation. Maybe less than 3 on average. Well, it seems that most at least have their token EV with branding showing that they’ve gone green. Wonderful! But there’s a storm coming beyond the acquisition. Traditional workshops that are planning to service these high-voltage-computers-on-wheels ...
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New IPWEA FLEET Webinar Schedule for 2023

By FLEET e-news posted 15-02-2023
New IPWEA FLEET Webinar Schedule for 2023 by Ken Goldberg, Consultant, IPWEA Fleet IPWEA FLEET’s webinar series is changing format for 2023 to make it more accessible for fleet practitioners over the entire calendar year. The format has changed so that current fleet topics will be dealt with every couple of months rather than having all webinars condensed into a themed series during the winter months. Webinars will also be free to all IPWEA FLEET subscribers. The first webinar for 2023 will be an “Information session on the FBT Exemption for EVs and PHEVs” to be held on Thursday, 23 February 2023 at 11 AM AEDT. Marc Sibbald, Director – IPWEA ...
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What’s all this AI about?

By FLEET e-news posted 15-02-2023
What’s all this AI about? By: Anonymous Fleet Manager I keep hearing all this bull dust about AI-powered this and that. It’s going to reduce our operational costs, decrease our fuel and maintenance expenses, and decrease insurance premiums. What??? I had a look at ChatGPT and OpenAI. Here’s a mouthful folks…Chat Generative Pre-training Transformer. Nice double-talk! AI might be great for generating marketing content, but it seems pretty much trial and error for anything else at the moment. I mean it’s only as accurate as the data and algorithms it’s based on and there’s lots of potential across the Internet for the chatbot to provide inaccurate ...
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In case you missed it, here's a recent post in the Ask Your Mates Forum

By FLEET e-news posted 15-02-2023
In case you missed it, here's a recent post in the Ask Your Mates Forum Topic: Comparative analysis - Owning versus Leasing for mixed Government Fleet : David: I manage a Fleet of 74 vehicles and plant at the Australian Institute of Sport Campus in Canberra and have been asked to develop and submit a comparative analysis of the current operating model of buying our Fleet Assets outright versus a leasing model. I am sure this has been done a million times and I don't want to reinvent the wheel. Has anyone undertaken this exercise before for a similar sized Fleet, what were the Terms of Reference you used along with ...
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IPWEA FLEET Plant and Vehicle Management Professional Development Opportunities

By FLEET e-news posted 15-02-2023
IPWEA FLEET Plant and Vehicle Management Professional Development Opportunities IPWEA Australasian Fleet Conference . Save the dates! 27-29 March 2023. Join the 2023 IPWEA Australasian Fleet Conference to build the skills and mindset required to lead your Fleet into the future. Rethink how you move employees and goods to connect with customers and stakeholders. Engage more broadly with different stakeholders to find innovative solutions which have a smaller environmental footprint. The Conference will equip you to lead the changes that businesses and key industry stakeholders are making in the face of shifting tides. With over 180 attendees, ...
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Registration is open!

By FLEET e-news posted 14-02-2023
Registration is open! IPWEA’s premier event for the Fleet industry with an impressive range of practicing fleet professionals and industry leaders presenting on issues relevant to you today is now open. You don’t want to miss this action-packed 3-day event from Monday 27th to Wednesday 29th March 2023. The conference will cover a range of topics including: Big picture trends and future developments Car prices and KPIs for Fleet Managers Fleet practitioner’s asset management pathway towards more opportunity IPWEA Fleet Certificate awards presentation Sponsor Hino reception canapes/drinks and networking – first night Transitioning to ...
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IPWEA Fleet Director's Column

By FLEET e-news posted 14-02-2023
By Marc Sibbald – Director IPWEA FLEET Reviewing your Fleet Business Plan Welcome to 2023! If you haven’t done it yet, it’s time to review your annual Fleet Business Plan and Fleet Asset Management Plan. Get your team together and review how your fleet performed in 2022 and what you’ll focus on in 2023. Discussing fleet strategy might be an abstract thought for most practitioners deep in the operational detail of managing the demands of multiple stakeholders. But it’s one of the most important tasks to schedule into your diary several times a year. If your fleet is a tool to provide services to the community, or generate revenue for the business, ...
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What’s it going to take to stop doing the bare minimum?

By FLEET e-news posted 12-12-2022
What’s it going to take to stop doing the bare minimum? By: Anonymous Fleet Manager I ask a few simple questions of my team. All I want to know is that we’ve got a handle on our operations and we’re doing the right things. How hard can that be, right? Apparently very hard! Now Finance is asking me about vehicle availability so we can get the budget and costings right on replacement and overheads. But I can’t even tell them my downtime costs. Even though we’re heads down bums up, they’re starting to think we may have too much idle staff. I know we’ve got vehicle assets that aren’t available due to damage, safety issues and a few other faults. But ...
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In case you missed it, here’s a recent post in the Fleet & Plant Management Community Forum

By FLEET e-news posted 12-12-2022
In case you missed it, here's a recent post in the Ask Your Mates Forum 1. Blue Mountains City Council is using a robot to mow lawns : Council's purchase of a new robotic mower will increase safety and productivity across its mowing operations and assist in the maintenance of its waste management facilities. Council's Open Space and Recreation service successfully developed a business case for the robotic mower, following safety concerns with operating mowers on steep slopes and embankments. The Agria 9600 is a leading remote-controlled, self-propelled mower designed for the maintenance of these steep areas. "We're constantly ...
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IPWEA FLEET Plant and Vehicle Management Professional Development Opportunities

By FLEET e-news posted 12-12-2022
IPWEA FLEET Plant and Vehicle Management Professional Development Opportunities Fleet Management Certificate . The IPWEA Fleet Management Certificate is a recognised industry qualification addressing key principles and practices to effectively and efficiently manage a fleet. If you are involved in the management, maintenance, procurement and end use of plant, equipment, and fleet vehicles, then this self-study course may provide great value to you and your organisation. The next course will commence 2 February 2023. View here the key course details, module dates, fees, and delivery information or register to attend. Online Fleet Management Training ...
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IPWEA FLEET Director's Column

By FLEET e-news posted 12-12-2022
By Marc Sibbald – Director IPWEA FLEET Time of reflection Well, it’s that time of the year. A time when our thoughts turn to holidays and fun in the sun. A time to spend with family and reflect on our achievements over the last 12 months. As Fleet Managers, you should a draw line at the end of 2022 to reset your expectations and fleet strategy because 2023 will mark the new phase of an electrified post-COVID world. This does not mean your fleet will become electric in 2023. That reality is still several years away though the seeds have been planted and many green shoots are starting to appear in terms of charging infrastructure, government financial support, ...
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Fleet KPIs and Benchmarking

By FLEET e-news posted 12-12-2022
Fleet KPIs and Benchmarking At the recent Plant and Fleet Management Workshops, attendees were asked to complete a survey on the Top 10 KPIs listed in the IPWEA Fleet Plant and Vehicle Management Manual (PVMM) . Performance measures are so important that the first section of the (PVMM) provides the Top 10 Key Performance Indicators for Plant and Vehicle Management. Measuring and reporting on these 10 KPIs is considered best practice fleet management and form the basis of developing a Fleet Asset Management Plan (FAMP) which is outlined in Chapter 1 of the PVMM. Chapter 13 of the PVMM outlines the reason for creating KPIs for your fleet and quotes ...
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IPWEA Fleet Workshops - Here's what you missed!

By FLEET e-news posted 12-12-2022
IPWEA Fleet Workshops - Here's what you missed! During October and November, IPWEA Fleet ran the annual Plant and Vehicle Management Workshops in Dubbo, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. There were presentations from IPWEA Fleet Subscribers sharing the projects they are working on and updates from the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) and other government agencies. Each workshop had local presenters with safety, telematics and electric vehicles being common themes. On the east coast, electric vehicles were the hot topic with many fleets are getting ready with infrastructure planning and fleet reviews. In Adelaide and Perth, most ...
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What do you have to do to ensure everything is planned?

By FLEET e-news posted 06-10-2022
What do you have to do to ensure everything is planned? By: Anonymous Fleet Manager I ask for new requirements and replacement details for plant and equipment four months prior to the new financial year to ensure all requests are considered and funding is directed appropriately. I will even personally contact those I know will be a problem child. Somehow, they still can’t remember this! Even with all this communication the system still fails. Come the new financial year and I’m ready to spend, I get comments back to me like “That’s not what we want now. We want two of this make and model together with this body set up”. It’s only another $38,000 (each)! ...
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In case you missed it, here's a recent post in the Ask Your Mates Forum

By FLEET e-news posted 06-10-2022
In case you missed it, here's a recent post in the Ask Your Mates Forum 1. Visit to Shell Harbour Council : It was a sunny spring day when I visited Shell Harbour Council located one hour south of Sydney. I caught up with John Maslanka and Justin Hazelwood. They have supported many different areas of the council operations including a waste depot, marina, golf course and airport. I noticed the vehicles in the car park were all reversed into their spots (like at Parramatta). John explained that it was a safety initiative and the number of accidents had dropped significantly since implementing this simple requirement. Amanda, ...
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