lean to. I think they’ll be a swing back, but I think
it will be to a different world than what we had
before COVID-19.
Daniel: What advice can be offered to fleets
struggling to adapt to this new world of
operations?
Tim: Fleets need to get thinking strategically and
adapt to today’s circumstances. Our strategies
going forward need to plan not only for the
change that we might envisage but also the
potential for another disruption further down
the track, whether that’s another pandemic or
economic shock. We need to be more strategic
in our thinking as fleet managers and less
operational.
Daniel: Are there any other practical
changes that might be difficult to navigate?
Tim: For many fleets their business model was
predicated on the use of their assets with certain
numbers of people and travelling particular
distances – but things have changed. Now, if
they’re unable to put as many people in a vehicle,
for instance, it changes the financial equation.
Now they’ve got two vehicles on the job rather
than one and it affects the running costs and
efficiency. They’re being forced to do more for
less.
Daniel: What safety concerns are all fleet
organisations currently suffering with?
Tim: Fleets are going to have to come to terms
with how they work these changes in terms of
WH&S. Pre COVID-19 a lot of our work and
effort has been around minimising the number
of kilometres of vehicles on the road for safety.
Obviously less exposure to the road means less
risk to individuals. But if we put two vehicles
out there and we’re now doubling the number
of kilometres on the road have we increased
the road safety risk at the cost of reducing the
risk of spreading COVID? It’s a difficult path for
organisations to navigate.
Daniel: Why should fleets continue to rely on
suppliers during this time?
Tim: One of the things that is fairly clear, and
we’ve seen that a couple of times historically, is
that if you disrupt the supply chain, then there are
different consequences from the customer side.
If the supply of equipment and vehicles is limited,
we can see an temporary upside in the market
price for used vehicles or of current inventory
but at some stage there is going be a need to
move past that and back into a regular cycle of
procurement.
Daniel: Do fleets just need to “wait it out” for
a while?
Tim: Like I said, in order to ensure that we’re
able to do that we’ve got to support these
suppliers to the best of our capability. Whether
that be in the consumables area, in the
maintenance area, in supplies, accessories or
in new vehicle franchises. It’s going to be very
difficult, I think, for so many organisations as
elements of that supply chain face delays – but
we need to support one another. It will be hard to
continue to operate the way that they need to but
in time things will settle.
6 ISSUE 24 AUGUST 2020 / WWW.AFMA.ORG.AU