Who’s Minding the Shop?

Frank Morris, director of safety and maintenance at Toronto-based Thomson Terminals, offered some common-sense advice on using third-party shops. Morris, who manages a fleet of 150 tractors and 200 trailers, was speaking at the Canadian Fleet Maintenance Seminar in Toronto in April:

There are many good things you give up when outsourcing trailer maintenance: you have no buildings to pay for and heat, and no good, reliable people to find, hire, and train. That’s someone else’s problem.

What you also give up, however, is some control. You get some of that control back by working closely with your third-party shops, demanding good service, and making them accountable for the work they do.

One way is with a paper trail. For example, we have an agreement with our shops that small or routine trailer work can be done at PM-time without calling us, but repairs beyond that must be approved by us first, in writing. We have to review the estimate, agree to the repair and the cost, and have provided a P.O. number before work can go ahead. When the invoice comes in and it matches the estimate, it’s automatically approved.

We get good results by having one shop perform one maintenance function only. When you have three shops doing the same type of work, mistakes are always “the other guy’s fault.” From time to time, we’ll send a unit someplace else for a safety or PM just to see how the invoice comes in. Is it high? If so, why? Maybe the extra cost is worth it because the service is superior.

What’s difficult is making sure the shop knows your expectations. Mine are simple: I want the guy doing my PMs to find everything that’s going to go wrong with that trailer in the coming 90 days. I want him acting like a fleet mechanic: anticipating problems, not just fixing what’s broken. You may be sending the work somewhere else, but the responsibility for safe equipment is yours. Look after your equipment, even if you’re not the one turning the wrench.