Infection rates are decreasing, vaccines are becoming available to more of the population, and even the weather (in many parts of the country) is doing its part to lift people’s spirits. The end of the COVID-19 pandemic seems to be in sight, but what does that mean for your fleet’s maintenance operation?
There were a lot of changes to most businesses starting about a year ago. Some of the processes and operations everyone was used to were suddenly deemed unsafe. At many shops, technicians were split into multiple shifts; they had to sign up to use shared equipment and technology; they could no longer interact directly with drivers; even the sanctity of the break room was disrupted by capacity restrictions.
These changes were designed to keep all fleet employees and their families safer from the virus, and after putting them into practice for awhile, they eventually began to feel somewhat normal. Now that there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel, the new question is: Can we go back to the old ways? And, perhaps more importantly: Do we want to?
Most technicians are likely itching to get back to the way things were, and that will probably be possible soon in many cases. But there may also be processes and habits we picked up during the pandemic that would be helpful to continue practicing.
Many of the government mandates may be viewed by technicians as annoyances or even hardships, such as unfavorable shift changes or having to wear a face covering. Hopefully, most of those will soon go away.
As the mandates begin to relax, for example, more people will be allowed to be in the same room at the same time, so shifts should be able to normalize. Likewise, as vaccines roll out to the general population, mask wearing should no longer be mandated. Anthony Fauci, M.D., director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and chief medical advisor to the president, has said Americans may need to wear masks through the end of the year. However, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have published updated guidelines stating that those who have been fully vaccinated may come in contact with others who are fully vaccinated indoors and without masks.
There were positive changes that came with the pandemic, however, and some of those might stick around to become standard practice. Using technologies to advance touchless communication with drivers or other technicians working on the same vehicle, for instance, may have proven useful in the bay. Where before communication may have relied on computers, phone calls, and physical sheets of paper being passed from person to person, many fleet operations have upgraded to utilizing mobile devices and having minimal physical interaction. This evolution to upgraded technology and more touchless communication offers the added benefits of streamlining the process altogether.
Likewise, fleets that previously had a limited number of shared tools or pieces of shop equipment may have purchased more so that each technician on a shift would have their own to use. This likely helps reduce downtime since technicians no longer have to wait to use the tool or equipment in question.
It is worth taking stock of some of the changes made in your fleet’s maintenance department. Determine whether or not each change improved efficiency, uptime, and employee morale. If the change is determined to be worse than the process before, the choice is easy: Go back to the old way as soon as safely possible. If the change is deemed an improvement, keep the practice in place and make it standard moving forward.
It will take some time, but eventually we will reach a middle ground – a combination of the old normal and the COVID-era normal, something like a new normal. When we get there, we may just find that it is even better than the old normal.
What are some COVID-era processes you are excited to bid farewell, and what are some you would like to keep?
