MIPS Project Detail:
Company
Company Description:
FleetPro is a vehicle maintenance company that services a wide range of fleet vehicles in the Mid-Atlantic area. The company currently services approximately 14,000 vehicles and over 300 fleets.
Fleetpro’s current customers range from commercial/industrial fleets to municipal, local, state and federal government vehicles. These customers maintain a variety of equipment, including both on and off-road vehicles that run on everything from traditional fuels to more eco-friendly sources.
Fleetpro offers a variety of vehicle services on-site and off-hours, including Preventative Maintenance and Inspection (PMI), Full Maintenance and Fleet Audits. The company’s main goal is to provide customers with top-notch service and information with as little interruption to the customer’s schedule as possible.
MIPS Project
Training for Vehicle Inspection
Project #
1411.26
|
MIPS Round
16
|
Starting Date:
Aug 1995
MIPS Project Challenge:
In order to service the wide range of vehicles mechanics maintain, Fleetpro’s management realized that they would need a training program to provide reliable and efficient vehicle inspections that also complied with state and federal regulations. Once the company began looking for the ideal training program, they realized nothing commercially available fit their needs. To fix this problem, the management team decided they would develop and implement a new, complete set of regulatory, inspection-based training programs. After researching the training program market, Fleetpro realized that the task was more complex than initially thought, and sought help from outside professional educational program developers.
Project Scope:
FleetPro’s first MIPS project created a training program with the help of a Towson University professor in the late 1980’s that covered basic preventative maintenance and company policy and procedures.
The second MIPS project, in 1994, paired the company with multiple Instructional System Design experts (ISD) from the University of Maryland University College (UMUC) to create a more inclusive program. This multi-phase project lasted multiple years and concluded with the successful creation of five, paper-based, self-guided training programs and certification exams.
Results:
Since completing the MIPS projects, FleetPro has increased its revenue by 900 percent, from around $1 million in revenue at the start of the project, to $9 million today. To date, Fleetpro has successfully trained and certified over 400 people.
The five-part training series covers the following vehicle inspection related federal and state regulations and standards:
• Federal Highway Administrations (FHWA) Appendix“G,” Minimum Periodic Inspection Standards,
• State of Maryland, Code of Maryland RegulationsCOMAR 11.22, Preventative Maintenance Program,
• Federal Highway 393, Parts and AccessoriesNecessary for Safe Operation,
• Federal Highway 396.17, Inspection Repair andMaintenance,
• Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance and Out ofService Recommendation Criteria Part II.
The availability of these training programs has dramatically improved how fleet owners maintain and inspect vehicles to ensure they are meeting all state and federal regulations. The training series was updated by FleetPro between 2007-2010 to reflect new industry and regulatory changes, and is still being used to train technicians today.
Principal Investigator:
Eugene
Rubin
Project Manager:
Tom
Farcosky
President
Technologies:
Environmental Technology / Science
Other
