The Vehicle Maintenance Reporting Standards (VMRS) have been around since the 1970s. With the emergence of Computerized Maintenance Management Software (CMMS) in the 1990s, VMRS came to serve as a “universal language” for the trucking industry. It allowed different fleet departments to simplify, clarify, and unify the way they shared information.
VMRS was created to serve the entire industry—from maintenance technicians on the shop floor to fleet managers, executives, accountants, OEMs, and industry suppliers. The system has something to offer team members across every fleet department.
What can VMRS do for you?
The reporting standards have become an essential part of how fleets, OEMs, and industry suppliers conduct business. VMRS is the universal language of the trucking industry. Because it plays such a central role in how the industry tracks results and develops plans, you may be taking advantage of it without even realizing it. The more you know about VMRS, the more it can do for you.
Fleet industry experts are well aware of the lengthy checklist involved with even a standard tire change on a commercial vehicle.
- A driver makes a repair order.
- A technician performs the work.
- A maintenance manager tracks the work.
- A parts manager updates the inventory.
On one end of the process, there is fleet management, accounting, and procurement. Then on the other side, some work directly with the consumer to sell tires, including manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers.
For a fairly painless task, that’s a lot of communicating. With information being passed through so many hands, the chances of errors are high, especially considering how often these instances can occur. Even if the information is meticulously documented, it still has to be accurately tracked and reported.
The Vehicle Maintenance Reporting Standards is a coding system that simplifies not only that scenario but any commercial vehicle-related instance. Its purpose is to unify language within the trucking industry to streamline operational processes and eliminate potential misunderstandings. The system bridges the communication gap between maintenance, management, and transporters to improve fleet efficiency.
In addition to enabling fleet employees at all levels to communicate effectively, VMRS also makes sharing information with anyone outside of your organization possible and secure. Whether it be coordinating reports with original equipment manufacturers or industry suppliers, the coding system allows the entire industry to be in sync with each other.
VMRS even provides valuable business insights. These findings encourage you and your team to take more strategic actions when it comes to unit repair, preventive maintenance, inventory control, shop productivity, and warranties.
Useful insights mean better decisions, and better decisions go straight to your bottom line.
How can VMRS benefit you directly?
VMRS manages to connect everyone across a vast and complex industry while simultaneously preventing workflow hiccups specific to each fleet department.
Drivers
A driver’s needs differ depending on the structure and size of their fleet, and VMRS can benefit every type of driver in various ways, even independent owner-operators.
Despite being in the front seat, fleet drivers are often rather removed from the conversation when unit maintenance comes up. As the ones operating the vehicle, drivers should be able to relay maintenance-related issues just as well as anyone else on their team.
Regardless of a fleet’s size, keeping it running means ensuring parts are available, maintenance is properly scheduled, and all records are adequately tracked. As for owner-operators, that’s a lot of work for a smaller operation. With so much to manage, an organization is a necessity for success. VMRS makes sure all your important documents are in one place and easily accessible to you, facilitating your workflow.
Maintenance requests featuring VMRS codes help facilitate communication between drivers and managers, allowing managers to better understand vehicle challenges that drivers face. This insight into driving operations helps management to implement beneficial changes. When your maintenance shop runs more efficiently, you’re less likely to lose money waiting on a repair.
Every driver will have to make decisions when they’re out on the road. Whether it’s locating a roadside repair shop or contacting your fleet manager, drivers may face a lot of stress on the road. With VMRS, keeping everyone on the same page is much easier.
Fleet maintenance staff
Fleet maintenance is neverending, which means that it can be a taxing job that often goes unnoticed. To keep every unit on the road and maintenance costs at a minimum, it’s often a juggling act of weighing the options and calculating potential downtime. Navigating one repair is complicated, let alone a dozen at a time.
When your maintenance shop uses VMRS, work orders come to you in a language that you can understand. Any technician that works on a unit can report their activity in a way that makes sense without taking up too much time conveying complicated notes. By using that information, you can make better decisions and operate more effectively.
VMRS tracks the parts as well as the labor that is required to keep a unit running. This provides valuable insight into shop productivity, inventory, and working hours, which will help you anticipate your vehicle’s needs and plan ahead. An organized log of information helps determine when to schedule maintenance and whether to repair or replace units.
VMRS helps you manage more than just the maintenance department and the work performed. By unifying service matters in a language that executives, accountants, purchasing agents, and suppliers can understand, you’ll save hours when presenting reports. VMRS allows fleets to work smarter, not harder.
Fleet management
Fleet managers steer the ship, making decisions that impact the work of drivers and maintenance technicians. But with great decisions comes great responsibility, and that pressure can be a lot for managers to take on. To confidently make decisions, fleet managers must have access to an assortment of information at a moment’s notice. Understanding and utilizing said information is essential for achieving success.
Whether you are an independent fleet owner wearing multiple hats or solely running a management department, you’ll have to communicate with maintenance technicians. With VMRS, managers can ensure that no information is lost in translation and that the issues are understood by all employees.
Receiving work orders and billing in a unified language that everyone in the fleet industry understands makes a world of difference when it comes to daily managerial operations. For those that work with a third-party repair shop, VMRS makes communication seamless by eliminating confusing data entries that raise questions.
VMRS also makes logging information simple and easy to find at a later date. If you ever feel like evaluating new options, it will be a cinch to compare your current standards with others, thanks to the standardization of VMRS. Managers can map out informed fleet plans based on quality data, but tracking the progress of those strategies is how you evolve as a company. VMRS makes monitoring and reviewing straightforward, ultimately leaving more room for creative management.
VMRS: Is it worth implementing?
Utilizing VMRS codes can help increase efficiency and maximize profits. Having access to a comprehensive history of your fleet and all associated information allows you and your team to establish strong business goals.
At Fleetpal, we’ve been studying the challenges that the trucking industry faces for a while. We’ve spent time thinking about what fleet maintenance software does well and where it needs to improve. We know how vital the VMRS system is to the industry, and we’re working to integrate it even further into the day-to-day operations.
Our cloud-based app helps exchange information between drivers, repair shops, hubs, and headquarters. With VMRS as the universal language of the industry, all of the information that runs through Fleetpal is ready to be distributed, allowing you to concentrate on your fleet’s successful future.
