Schedule a 15-Minute Consultation with our Fleet Experts
Skip to content

University of Wyoming's Fleet Services

Shawn Fletcher is the Fleet Services Manager for the University of Wyoming, in Laramie WY. The university has a diverse fleet of 827 vehicles, with more than 200 of them being shared in a motor pool. Shawn has always been involved in the transportation industry, whether it was hauling freight, turning wrenches or just washing a car. His roots run deep in transportation. He then had the opportunity to join the University of Wyoming’s fleet organization where he has worked for nearly 6 years.

Q: Tell us about the types of vehicles you have in your fleet and the folks that use them.

A:  The University of Wyoming has 827 vehicles, 203 of which are shared in our rental fleet. We have everything from research vehicles (field work, support vehicles for aircraft), to farm and ranch vehicles, and campus rental vehicles. We even have vehicles abroad. Like the diverse group of vehicles, this also brings a very diverse group of folks who use them. We are lucky to have them at our campus.

Q:  How long has your fleet been sharing vehicles and had an automated system for preventative maintenance and fuel management?

A: We first moved toward sharing vehicles back in 2007. Automating maintenance reminders started in 2016. Our fleet was a decentralized fleet. Since then, we launched a 200+ vehicle automated motor pool and manage preventative maintenance and fuel via the system. 

Q:  How has having the ability to communicate and enforce policy via the system helped your fleet management?

A:  The FleetCommander system has given us the ability to have users acknowledge any new policies as they interact with the system, as well as to acknowledge the policies annually. It automatically records policy acceptance in their profiles, so it is a great way to keep user data up-to-date and frees up management to focus on other aspects of fleet operations.

Q:   How does using data from reports help you make fleet management decisions and achieve right-sizing?

A:  Using the robust reporting features within the FleetCommander system, our fleet management team can make informed decisions. We are currently working towards the goal of right-sizing. For example, one opportunity for right sizing we identified with the data was in the vehicles we use for university field research. We found that a large majority of our field vehicles were pushing the 15-20-year age group. With the aid of the reports, we made the decision to remove 15-20 old field vehicles and replace them with newer, lower mileage vehicles that are being retired from our motor pool. We see this as an efficient way of re-purposing vehicles. The reporting also enables us to provide a high-level fleet reports to upper management.

Q:   How does the automated maintenance aspect of our system contribute to the efficiency of your fleet management and safety of your fleet?

A:  Maintenance emails are key to our preventative maintenance (PM) program. The ability for fleet to track and email departments to remind them of upcoming services or repairs has resulted in a decrease in roadside calls along with an uptick in on-time preventative maintenance. Preventative is core to our PM success.

Q:   How does the automated billing make your lives easier?

A:  The ability to export data has helped our billing department be more efficient and successful. Also, the users are able to view their charges in their profile which adds transparency to the system.

Q:   Tell us about the customer feedback report and how it shapes how you manage the fleet.

A:  The value of the feedback report and our subsequent interaction with users is an aspect of the system that can’t be underestimated! The users will certainly praise you when you have provided great service, however they will definitely let you know when it was unsatisfactory. I feel this tool has had the most impact on how we change our customer service operations, how we shape the services we offer, and helps us understand how we are viewed by the users. It is a great tool!