In order to keep up with the evolution of your fleet, it may be time to analyze the layout of your current shop to determine if you need to upgrade the facility or design and build a new facility.

Service bodies, also known as utility beds, mounted onto light- and medium-duty truck chassis provide utility contractors with easy and secure access to their tools, equipment and parts to do their work more efficiently – and profitably.

Ford Motor Co.
The 2013 Ford F-150 is available with several engine choices, each mated to an electronic six-speed automatic transmission with tow/haul mode. Included are:
• 3.7-liter four-valve Ti-VCT V-6, 302 HP at 6,500 rpm, 278 lbs./ft. of torque at 4,000 rpm.
• 5.0-liter four-valve dual-overhead-camshaft Ti-VCT V-8, 360 HP at 5,500 rpm.
• 6.2-liter two-valve single-overhead-camshaft V-8, 411 HP at 5,500 rpm, 434 lbs./ft. of torque at 4,500 rpm.
• 3.5-liter Ti-VCT EcoBoost engine, 365 HP at 5,000 rpm, 420 lbs./ft. of torque at 2,500 rpm.

Wiregrass Electric Cooperative Improves Safety and Efficiency with Telogis
Wiregrass Electric Cooperative provides electric services to 24,000 members across six counties in southeast Alabama. Technicians are responsible for keeping the electricity flowing across the region, each one assigned to cover a specific area or zone. Unfortunately, in order to keep track of where the technicians were during the course of the day, the dispatch team had to constantly communicate with them via two-way radio.

A valuable resource for utility fleet managers, the industry’s providers of rental and leasing services use their understanding of each fleet’s unique needs and objectives to match the most appropriate financing and acquisition strategies to particular operations.

For most fleets, a balance of ownership, rental and leasing is an effective choice. Utility Equipment Leasing Corporation (UELC) points out that understanding the benefits of those options is an effective way to run a fleet. Ownership is the clear choice for fleet managers, but gaps in fleet portfolios are a reality. Rental units maximize the immediate demand necessary to fill current gaps while leasing can be structured for longer-term, fixed and potentially lower payments that preserve capital for investment in a business and may not impact existing lines of credit. Depending on their structure, lease payments may offer a tax advantage and leasing can also avoid the risk of equipment obsolescence that comes with ownership through upgrade, trade-in and return provisions designed to provide flexibility.

During the 2011 Electric Utility Fleet Managers Conference, fleet managers detailed the successful approaches they’re employing for acquisition, maintenance and parts strategies in their operations.

Baltimore Gas & Electric
An affiliate of Constellation Energy, Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE) provides electric and gas service in a territory of about 2,400 square miles surrounding the Baltimore metropolitan area of central Maryland. BGE Fleet Services, with 80 employees, including 46 technicians, manages a fleet of more than 1,500 vehicles and 400 pieces of equipment. The operation has a central shop at its headquarters location where all major repairs, new vehicle preparation and maintenance on local units is performed, as well as seven shops located throughout its service territory.

An important part of any fleet manager’s responsibility is the remarketing of used vehicles. For a growing number of fleets, the highest used values are being realized by turning to auction companies that specialize in the disposal of used utility vehicles and equipment.

In a recent roundtable discussion with Utility Fleet Professional Editor Seth Skydel, representatives of three leading auction companies discussed the trends that are impacting their remarketing choices and success, and the reasons that utility fleet managers should consider auctions as they manage their fleets’ remarketing efforts.

Born out of necessity, the International Construction & Utility Equipment Exposition (ICUEE), also known as The Demo Expo, traces its roots to an Illinois farm in the summer of 1966. To help solve an equipment evaluation and communications problem, Illinois Bell invited 12 trencher manufacturers to demonstrate equipment in the same field, on the same day.

The field demonstration event was such a success that it was repeated in 1969 and 1972 as a three-day utility equipment show. By the late 1970s, what would become a biennial event now held at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville had grown considerably. Today ICUEE is owned and produced by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM).