Building a New Facility – Follow Up

October 7, 2018| | in category Strategy Comments Off on Building a New Facility – Follow Up

I spent some time this week talking with Jarit Cornelius, the Vice President of Asset Maintenance and Compliance at Sharp Transport.  One of the topics was my recent articles on site selection and building a new facility.  Jarit is very involved with the Technology & Maintenance Council and currently is the Vice Chairman of the S.5 Study Group (Fleet Maintenance Management). He mentioned that the TMC has developed Recommended Practices for New Facility Development.  This was a result of many consultations among various industry experts and real-world experience.

Some of the relevant Recommended Practices (RP) when looking at a new facility include:

  • RP 510A – New Facility Development offers a great overview of what steps are needed to design a shop either from scratch or renovating an existing one. It offers guidelines on things like layout, energy efficiency, how to calculate or estimate the number of services required and much more.
  • RP 518A – Fuel Station Planning offers similar guidance for developing on site fueling stations.
  • RP 512A – Mechanic Staffing Determination – provides a formula to calculate the number of mechanics required to adequately staff a heavy-vehicle maintenance shop
  • RP 513 – Estimating Number of Service Bays – gives an analytical methodology for estimating the number of service bays required in a facility
  • RP 515 – Maintenance Shop Design Considerations – a listing of critical elements that should be considered in the design
  • RP 517 – Managing Environmental Compliance – guidance on compliance education/training, self audits and record keeping.

These have undergone many updates and amendments over the years as the study group constantly looks at new and upcoming technologies and how to integrate them into individual shops.

Other Recommended Practices offer guidance from the following study groups:

  • 1 – Electrical
  • 2 – Tire & Wheel
  • 3 – Engine
  • 4 – Cab & Controls
  • 6 – Chassis and Brake Systems
  • 7 – Trailers, Bodies and Material Handling
  • 8 – Cost Control Methods
  • 11 – Sustainability and Environmental Technologies
  • 12 – Onboard Vehicle Electronics
  • 14 – Light & Medium Duty and Specialty Trucks
  • 15 – Specialty Trucks
  • 16 – Service Provider
  • 22 – Onboard Data Systems

Copies of the entire Recommended Practices Manual are available at https://www.atabusinesssolutions.com/ATA-Store/ProductDetails/productid/3921373 where you have your choice of hard bound books, CD or PDF formats.  You do not need to be a member to purchase these manuals.

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