How to Achieve Great Fleet Efficiency After Dispatch Training
The busy and varied nature of the transportation industry means that to truly get the absolute best out of your fleet, you need to go above and beyond. It’s not just about sticking to a tried-and-tested routine, but about using your training to search for new solutions and approaches to finding even better ways of getting all tasks completed.
For those who want a challenge, there’s a lot of reward to be found in a career as a dispatcher. What are some of the ways that you could improve efficiency even more at your future place of work? Here are some useful tricks for boosting fleet efficiency even further.
Grads of Dispatch Training Know That Data Is a Good Tool to Use
The collection of data is now largely automated in many modern trucking operations. And with the arrival of ELD (Electronic Logging Device) mandates, the individual performance and stats of each truck’s journey will be more easily recorded, transmitted, and stored.
However, making sound operational changes based on this data is more challenging, with the sheer amount of information that can be recorded sometimes muddying the waters. To boost efficiency, professionals can seek bottom line metrics like fuel consumption and hours of service, and then search for patterns in the data that indicate paths to positive change.
Smart Incentives Where Possible Can Help Pros With Dispatch Training Boost Efficiency
Incentives, or providing bonuses when employee expectations are fully met or exceeded, are commonly employed in many industries. However, the special conditions that truck drivers must operate under, with tiredness and dangerous road conditions a steady factor, means pushing for greater performances can sometimes represent a dangerous game, especially if it instills a sense of competition among drivers that leads to unhealthy behaviour.
Those who have completed dispatch training know that it may be better to incentivize safety, which can in turn prevent costly accidents, delays, and more. One canny trucking company introduced a program of sending grocery certificates to the families of drivers who racked up long periods with no disruptive accidents. This can result in steady encouragement for safer driving, in turn boosting efficiency in a sustainable and healthy manner.
Guide Newcomers by Leveraging Everyone’s Knowledge
As you’ll learn over your career in transportation operations, the best fleets are the ones where everyone has each other’s backs. This includes those that are open to helping newcomers and inexperienced drivers adapt to life in the seat with that fleet.
Every fleet does things differently, so it will help overall performance considerably to help new drivers or dispatchers adapt to the ways things are done. Providing as complete an on-boarding process as possible is an ideal way to get on-the-job wisdom circulating quickly, and getting new recruits performing at their best.
Grads of Dispatch Training Should Put the Fleet First
As an effective and trained dispatcher, you will be able to make a serious contribution to the day-to-day success of your company. However, the skills and abilities you possess can sometimes end up becoming a company crutch, with drivers and management relying heavily on you when it comes to crunch time. While this can be a nice ego boost, it’s not necessarily good for productivity, especially if you call in sick or want to enjoy a well-deserved vacation.
As you rack up years of professional experience, you should try to effectively disperse responsibilities and a “how-to” attitude across your team, ultimately strengthening the organization by making everyone an expert ready to step in when needed. In this way, your company will be sure to stay efficient no matter what circumstances it encounters.
Do you want to build a rewarding career in the transportation industry?
Contact CATI to learn how easy it is to get enrolled in training courses across Canada, including dispatch school in Cambridge.