Buy more 3 tonners or sell some?
It is fleet review time. The managing director asks whether to buy more 3 tonne excavators, because the hire desk says they are always short. The depot manager says there are three sitting in the yard. The hire system's utilisation report says one thing; the workshop says half the fleet was off the road for repairs last quarter. Everyone has a number, and none of them agree.
The decision ends up being made on the loudest opinion, and a significant capital purchase goes on a hunch.
Why utilisation is hard to pin down
Utilisation sounds like one number. In practice it depends on what you count and where the data comes from.
| Question | Where the data lives |
|---|---|
| Days on hire | Hire system |
| Days in the workshop | Workshop records or spreadsheet |
| Days in transit or awaiting collection | Transport plan |
| Days available but idle | What's left, if the rest is right |
| Income earned | Hire invoices, after credits |
| Cross-hire to cover shortages | Purchase ledger |
A machine can look well used on days while earning little because it was on a heavily discounted rate. Another can look idle because it spent weeks waiting for parts. Both need to be visible to make good decisions.
What guessing costs
Capital tied up in machines that don't earn. Cross-hire costs in categories where you should own more. Machines kept too long because nobody sees their falling returns and rising repairs. And depots holding the wrong mix because nobody can see demand by location.
There is a rate question too. If a category is fully booked every week, its rates may be lower than the market will bear. If another category only goes out when it is discounted heavily, the fleet may be too big for demand. Without income alongside days, neither shows up.
Utilisation reporting built from all your data
- Hire days and income are read from your hire system, net of credits.
- Workshop days come from workshop records or the callout and service logs.
- Transit and awaiting-collection days come from the transport plan and off-hire log.
- Cross-hire volumes by category come from your purchase records.
- Each machine's days are classified: on hire, in workshop, in transit, idle and available. Time utilisation and income utilisation are shown side by side.
- Reports by category and depot show where demand exceeds supply, where machines sit idle, and which individual machines combine low income with high repair costs.
What to buy, move or sell remains a business decision, and one that also involves finance, age and resale considerations. The report makes sure it starts from consistent facts.
What the fleet review looks like now
The fleet review starts from one set of numbers everyone recognises. Categories with high utilisation and regular cross-hire are candidates for purchase. Idle machines at one depot can be moved to another with demand. Machines with high repair days and low income are obvious candidates for disposal. And the monthly report shows whether changes worked.
Signs you need better utilisation figures
- Different people give different utilisation figures.
- Workshop time isn't counted in utilisation.
- Cross-hire isn't compared with owned fleet by category.
- Fleet purchases are decided on opinion.
- Individual machine returns are never looked at.