I am very glad to see VMRS (Vehicle Maintenance Reporting Standards) gaining more and more acceptance and positioned squarely on the radar of today's maintenance professionals. Without any reservations, the solid foundation of system, assembly, and parts identification coupled with the critique of "reason for repair data clarity" and "work accomplished data codes" presents the most vital underlayment for concise and cost affective fleet management available today. Those of you who use 3rd Party service providers must mandate the exclusive use of accurate VMRS coding of all maintenance repairs and labor. You will definitely reap the benefits.

Although the initial coding and evolvement of this program started over 25 years ago, the expansion of fleets using this standard has become the absolute norm today, rather than the casual exception of years past. Obviously the economic environment that transportation is facing today requires fleet management to be more attuned to cost control and VMRS is the conduit to address standard truck systems in addition to many new and complex static or passive maintenance systems. By complex, I am referring to all types of equipment from fork lifts to Class 8 vehicles and everything in between. There are codes for mounted equipment and specialty components from garbage trucks and packers to utility trucks with booms and derricks. This "universal" language and interpretive data can provide extraordinary discipline among fleet managers and purchasers, driving them directly to the equipment and applicable component specs that is almost perfectly suited for respective venues.

Understanding how management uses VMRS and training your technicians to understand the codes and interpretations properly is probably the biggest challenge you will have, but the results will show benefits right out of the box.

The main comfort aspect is that we have TMC fully managing VMRS new code keys and updates to outdated ones. Under the watchful and experienced eyes of TMC, accuracy and interpretive data analysis will always remain concurrent with the ever-changing technological advances in the maintenance arena.

I strongly suggest that regardless of the size of your fleet that you entertain the strategic use of VMRS. I can almost guarantee you will clearly see your deficiencies, allowing you to alleviate or drive cost from your company.