Each month, Fleet Management Weekly will feature material handling equipment guidance from Keith Trumbull, Vice President of Material Handling Equipment at Element Fleet Management.

As fleet managers, each day you work to ensure your fleet is cost effective and efficient. You likely have a plan in place to manage your cars and trucks. But do you have a similar strategy for other assets in your organization, such as forklifts, pickers, pallet jacks and other material handling equipment?

Often overlooked, these items are just as important to manage as your fleet of vehicles. Whether you’re just stepping into the fleet manager role or have years of experience, here are the top three questions to consider regarding asset management, not just vehicle management.

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By Matthew Betz, Vice President Business Development, Fleet at Motus, LLC

“I follow three rules: Do the right thing, do the best you can, and always show people you care.” — Lou Holtz

Most people recognize Lou Holtz for his long and distinguished football career, but as it turns out, he has a life philosophy that we can all use in our personal and professional lives. Whether you are a mobile employee, or a fleet professional, Lou’s philosophy fits the need for IRS compliance particularly well. All drivers should do the right thing by keeping an IRS-compliant mileage log, fleet managers can do their best to help drivers understand the rules and to be compliant, and we can show drivers that we care by showing them how to avoid IRS audits.

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Launching Volvo’s Vision 2020 project, head of R&D Peter Mertens had a few choice words for self-driving automobiles. Actually he had one choice word on the idea that there will be self-driving cars on roads within two years: “Bull**it”.

In response to a picture of a woman reading a newspaper while her car drove her to her destination, he said: “If you look at the picture of having a person sitting behind a steering wheel, and doing emails and reading whatever, that kind of stuff is not what we want to see in a car.

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How is your fleet going to address cost containment concerns going into 2015? Some of the top cost containment challenges predicted for fleets in the new year include fleet safety costs, new vehicle acquisitions, and fuel costs. GPS Insight can help to solve these challenges and more so your fleet can have the most profitable 2015 possible.

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According to Kelley Blue Book, the typical new vehicle tends to retain just 39.7 percent of its original value after five years, which means an average car that sells for $50,000 today would be worth around $19,850 at the end of 2019. By comparison, an otherwise comparable model that’s expected to retain an additional five percent of its original value after 60 months will put an extra $1,600 back into an owner’s pocket.

While a given model’s actual selling price on the used-car market will ultimately vary depending on its mechanical and cosmetic condition and the number of miles on the odometer, some cars and trucks are predicted to hold their value more tenaciously than others.

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Where are the Hummers when we need them? With gas prices expected to drop as low as $2 per gallon in some parts of the U.S., the market seems primed for a Costco (COST)-ready tank. The last Hummer rolled off GM’s (GM) assembly line in May 2010, with gas at an inflation-adjusted $3.04 per gallon. Gasoline sells for just $2.77 today, a 15 percent drop from a year ago.

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The best drivers can reduce total operating costs by more than 12% but the worst drivers can easily drive up costs by more than 13%.

The impact of good and bad driving can mean a 25% variance on whole life vehicle costs, says Chevin Fleet Solutions.

The company says that according to figures compiled from its customer base, the best drivers can reduce total operating costs by more than 12% but the worst drivers can easily drive up costs by more than 13%.

Senior Vice President of North American Sales, Ron Katz, said: “There’s a growing awareness among fleets about the level of impact that driver behavior can have on overall operating costs and these figures underline their concern.

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An “integrated marketing plan” sounds like the natural result of a sound business process. Why wouldn’t a fleet provider’s marketing plan integrate all of the tactics in support of one set of goals?

Specifically, it makes sense that a company should use more than one medium to distribute a singular marketing message. A plan comprising different promotional methods ought to be designed so that each method reinforces the others. And, when there are multiple messages, distributed through multiple channels, they should relate to each other in support of an over-arching strategy.

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Researchers have moved one step closer to turning water and sunlight into sustainable fuel by successfully replicating a crucial step in photosynthesis.

“Water is abundant and so is sunlight. It is an exciting prospect to use them to create hydrogen, and do it cheaply and safely,” said Dr. Kastoori Hingorani, from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis in the Australian National University Research School of Biology.

Hydrogen offers potential as a zero-carbon replacement for petroleum products, and is already used for launching space craft.

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The vast majority of American motorists are aware that a new generation of autonomous vehicles will soon take to the highways. While they like the idea of being able to lay back and relax, less than one in three drivers say they actually would want to own a self-driving car.

“Consumers are divided on autonomous driving, just as they are on many other issues facing society,” explained George Peterson, president of AutoPacific. “For some, this technology can’t come soon enough. Others appear to dread it.”

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