Generate fuel savings by applying consumption benchmarks

Why when fuel constitutes 40 – 60% of a vehicles operating costs is there insufficient focus on eliminating wastage and abuse:- Wastage from inefficient vehicles, poor route planning and driver training; Abuse from drivers and filling stations.

The expression goes that you can’t manage what you can’t measure, and I am of the opinion that the application of fuel consumption benchmarks is the foundation for measuring performance.

There are of course procedures that have to be applied to achieve this.

• Implement consumption benchmarks per vehicle
• Fill the vehicle to the top at each fill
• Have accurate fill details, specifically Kms readings, for each transaction
• Calculate consumption for each fill
• Calculate the cost of consumption in excess of the benchmark
• Aggregate the costs of excess consumption by vehicle on a monthly basis.

The above process facilitates management intervention on single variances, and trend analysis and comparison of expenditure by vehicle, driver, cost centre and company. Detailed analysis and reporting is proven to result in a reduction of fuel expenditure. Having numerical values facilitates their incorporation into KPIs and performance reviews. Daily analysis eliminates the deficiencies of monthly averaging and highlights specific areas where wastage and abuse are taking place.