The National Private Truck Council (NPTC), Optima Associates and Schneider National, Inc. have joined to form the Private Fleet Assessment Program. The effort creates a Web-based management resource designed to improve the performance of private fleets. It represents an extension of NPTC's annual benchmarking study, according to president and chief executive officer Gary Petty. That report has been used by private-fleet managers to gauge the cost effectiveness and operational quality of their programs. Optima Associates is a consulting firm specializing in continuous-improvement efforts for private fleets. Schneider is the nation's largest truckload carrier. Along with NPTC, they have devised a single, Web-based tool to provide fleet managers with new self-assessment capabilities. The program evaluates fleet performance and identifies opportunities for improvement through eight "pillars" of scoring: safety and fleet organization, network planning, customer management, fleet management, information management, driver management, continuous improvement and financial management. Fleets using the program visit the Optima website, enter their operating information and assess their performance against some 40 attributes. Fleet performance is scored against world-class standards derived from hundreds of industry benchmarks and subject-matter experts, the partners said. The model can also provide a sliding scale of the impact of proposed changes, via a series of "what-if" scenarios.
National Private Truck Council