Steps Toward a Sustainable Fleet

Georgia Krause, Contributing Editor

Nearly half of construction and engineering managers surveyed in 2021 by SAP and Oxford Economics said sustainability is a major concern for their company. Respondents also said, however, that their companies were more likely to set sustainability goals rather than have taken concrete steps to achieve those goals.

As construction equipment-using organizations move toward sustainability, fleet managers must respond. But first, they must understand what’s being asked of them.

Click here for a list of sustainability resources. Email [email protected] with additional sources.

The challenge is how to bring every stakeholder’s expectation of what sustainability is under the same umbrella. How sustainability is defined is subjective and depends on goals set at each management level. Owners and C-suite managers view sustainability as growing new business and investing for long-term growth. Engineers and project managers look at renewable materials and greener installations. When management hands down its sustainable mission statement, equipment managers understand that working sustainably affects almost every line item they touch. Need a little guidance? Yes, please.

“Sustainability is simply a series of good business and management practices that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and harmful waste stream discharges into the physical environment,” says Mike Brennan, CEM, of CDMB Consultants. “Sustainability is not limited to exhaust emissions; it encompasses the equipment, fuels and lubricants, maintenance facilities, mobility, and all other aspects of equipment operation.”

Making use of sustainable products and practices is a voluntary choice for equipment managers, except for those who support construction projects that are tied to government regulations and standards. That choice will change as more project owners require green initiatives as part of their contract agreements. Sustainability has the potential to become its own industry, complete with certifications, consultants, and regulatory offices. The industry is still in the early days, however, which gives organizations an opportunity to prepare.

Yet sustainability is a quickly evolving initiative that is more visible in certain regions of the country, such as California. Expect the rest of the country to follow not only California’s lead but also Europe’s, resulting in more standards and guidelines. Most heavy-equipment managers are already reducing their facility’s environmental footprint with well-established practices such as renewable fuels, efficient petroleum byproduct disposal, using alternative biofluids when applicable, and applying telematics data to support maintenance scheduling. Coordinating their efforts with operations and purchasing departments is creating more visibility.

Fleet managers are also being asked to extend sustainability efforts to include managing equipment assets efficiently in the short term with an eye toward securing maximum service life in the long term. Dave Bolderoff, CEM, fleet manager for Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, says equipment asset managers are increasingly involved in the organization’s economic planning.

“Extending the service life of a vehicle through proactive maintenance schedules, using telematic data to head off potential downtime, and positioning older equipment for eventual reconditioning or disposal are high priorities for [fleet] managers,” Bolderoff says. “Their opinions about rebuilding versus replacing a piece of equipment are invaluable because they’ve watched that machine work. They know the history.

“It’s a balancing act,” he says. “From the executive’s point of view, total project cost gets balanced with doing the right thing for the community. For the fleet manager, balancing effective maintenance procedures and eco-standards with costs and operations reliability is the challenge.”