Business owners managing fleets of heavy goods vehicles should always be looking for new ways to streamline their operations, making work easier for their team and more profitable.

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No company can afford to rest on their laurels and assume there’s nowhere else for their operations to improve. A few small changes can have a significant difference to your finances and turn your business model upside down overnight.

If you want to keep constantly improving and are looking for the next big streamlining tip for your HGV business, look no further than this list.

Plan your routes and ease the strain on your office

There’s more to an HGV business than trucks and cargo. A good boss understands it’s just as important to have your office operating at maximum efficiency.

What goes on behind the scenes affects the efficiency of your drivers on the road and vice versa. One of the most obvious ways to streamline your operations is to plan all your driver’s routes in advance. By ensuring your drivers are taking the most efficient routes (usually dictated by the smallest exposure to heavy traffic, smoothest roads and shortest distance) you’re lowering overall fuel costs and getting the most out of your vehicle.

A particularly good, and efficient, way of doing this is through the use of fuel cards.

Many fuel card brands come with e-route software or an associate app which, on top of giving you competitive discounts on fuel, help your drivers find the quickest way from point A to point B in moments.

Cards like the Applegreen fuel card (here’s some more info on its unique benefits) give you a great starting point to plan your route from and ensures you’re saving cash every step of the way. On top of this, collating all your fuel payments into one central account frees up hours of admin time that would previously have gone into processing receipts for expenses.

Take care of your vehicles

Vehicles are the lifeblood of your business.

They’re also something that can be quite costly to your bottom line if not treated properly. To start streamlining your business you need to make sure its most important element is working to its full potential.

An HGV can’t operate to the best of its abilities if it isn’t being monitored regularly for issues. Regularly scheduled services are the key to getting the most out of your vehicles, ultimately saving you bundles of cash on unexpected, large-scale repairs.

If you’re renting your vehicles in all likelihood you’re getting this regular service included as part of your account. If you own the HGV though, that’s gonna be a more significant cost that can quickly pile up. Not as much as the cost of having one taken off the road because of a severe issue though. It’s money well spent every time.

Regular services allow you to spot problems with your vehicles long before they’re a serious issue. This saves money on the size of the repair and preserves your vehicles for long-distance drives for years to come.

Downsize or upscale

Streamlining a business doesn’t always mean cutting down services, staff or vehicles.

If demand is high and you’re struggling to fulfil orders it might be time to rethink how many trucks you have. Stretching your vehicles too far will lead to early break downs and put a strain on your drivers.

Of course, some businesses will find it beneficial to cut down operations.

In simple terms, it costs a lot of money to buy or rent the number of vehicles you need to a fleet. Then a whole lot more to keep them in working condition.

Just as it makes no sense to constantly leave yourself short of vehicles, it’s nonsensical to keep paying for vehicles you’re not seeing any use out of.

To get around both of these issues you can start by running yearly mile checks on your HGV fleet. If you find they’re not traveling as much as they should be, then you have a pretty good indication you need a more compact fleet. The same goes for a small fleet; if your vehicles are doing way more miles than expected then reach into your pockets and invest in a new one.

There are lots of simple and more complex avenues a HGV operator can take to streamline their business operations. You don’t need to sit back and watch the source of your productivity wear down, but at the same time you shouldn’t needlessly tinker. Let these little lessons be a guide you learn from.

Applegreen

About the Author: John Loughran