FleetDrive 24 - August 2020 | Page 6

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