An investigation of the maintenance process of commercial vehicles in the Department of Defence
Abstract
The purpose of this investigation was the development of a holistic solution to
problems of high cost and long tum around times in the maintenance process
of D-vehicles (commercial vehicles) in the Department of Defence (DOD).
The investigation was focussed on the technical functions of the process, but
also explored direct interfaces with the process, namely the financial,
procurement and transport sections. During the research phase,
benchmarking was done at various Government Departments to enquire
about best maintenance practices in a similar environment.
As a result of this investigation, an improved process has been designed
based on modem maintenance practices. Results have shown that the
implementation of the proposed solution would lead to a substantial
improvement in the present state of affairs.
A representative group of Defence Force units were visited during the
investigation. The DOD managed approximately 17 500 D-vehicles at the time
of the investigation. Problems relating to the maintenance process started
surfacing during the last few years after the change of policy, in that non-core
functions in the DOD should be outsourced. These vehicles were
subsequently not considered to be a core function.
The importance of this investigation was underlined by the enormous financial
impact that the maintenance of this large commodity has on the Defence
Force budget, and more importantly, the capability of ensuring a high ratio of
availability of these vehicles as essential support equipment.
The completed report is currently being scrutinised by the responsible DOD
authorities. A decision whether the recommendations of this study will be
implemented or not, has unfortunately not yet been reached.
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