Landscape and construction management company uses Fleetio to streamline its entire fleet management process.
Company Objectives:
- Centralize all fleet data and control expenses
- Prevent downtime while promoting safety
- Implement a preventive approach to maintenance
Cherrylake is a family-owned and operated landscape maintenance and construction company that has grown trees, palms and shrubs since 1985. With over 1,800 acres of plant material, it supplies plant materials across the Southeast United States while focusing on landscape, irrigation and construction projects within Central Florida.
Cultivation Through Fleet Dedication
A portion of the company’s regional clientele includes high-impact and large scale landscape needs from various businesses, resorts and theme parks. Cherrylake’s mobile fleet is the lifeblood of its business and assets must be reliable yet cost-effective.
With over 300 assets, it was difficult to manage them all without the help of modern technology. Before Fleetio, the solutions in place made it difficult to keep pace with the needs of the team, and there was a lack of continuity across the fleet’s operation.
It needed a software solution capable of housing all of its fleet data while providing the essential features to promote efficiency. That’s when the company sought out Fleetio.
"Fleet management impacts so many different levels of the organization. From cap-ex to budgeting, accounting, safety and insurance. Bringing in a tool that brings all the data into one centralized location to make informed decisions and help guide our business was critical.”
-Chloe Gentry, Co-owner at Cherrylake
A Proactive Approach to Mobile Asset Maintenance
Cherrylake’s expanding variety of assets emphasized its maintenance needs. Prior to Fleetio, it tried to manage maintenance with Google Docs. This proved to be difficult, creating bottlenecks and compromising the ability to conduct timely preventive asset maintenance.
The company needed a solution to avoid costly downtime and remain lean. This not only ensured the team would have the necessary resources and assets to conduct their job, but it allowed them to do so safely and efficiently.
“Being preventive instead of reactive helps keep things going, reduce downtime and the guys aren’t out in the field waiting for someone to repair the equipment.”
-Herman VanDenBogaert, Fleet Manager at Cherrylake
Vehicle and equipment inspections play a vital role in the maintenance process. Equally important is the ability to expedite the flow of information. For Cherrylake, this presented a unique opportunity to troubleshoot.
Using the Fleetio Go app, operators can report an issue from their mobile device from anywhere in the field and a notification is immediately sent to the appropriate stakeholders to address. The immediacy streamlines the maintenance process, allowing the company to quickly resolve issues.
“When an inspection fails, I get an email for it and I can address the issue and have it fixed by the end of the day. Fleetio to me is almost as real-time as you can get compared to the other programs I’ve used.
-John Clayton Druder “aka” Matchstick, Lead Mechanic at Cherrylake
Integrations and Automations to Improve Efficiency
Having a fully integrated system to keep track of vital fleet information is important to Cherrylake. A large base of Cherrylake’s projects are offsite, and it needed insight into the status of its mobile assets.
With Fleetio, the company can manage various fleet needs regardless of the location of an asset or if maintenance is conducted in-house or outsourced. Cherrylake manages its outsourced maintenance through Fleetio’s Maintenance Shop Integration.
The integration enables the company to approve maintenance requests digitally, view status updates, track expenses and consolidate billing. Approvals go through project managers, who provide insight from their interaction with the asset and drivers to determine appropriate service. The entire process keeps management informed and makes it easier to track preventive maintenance history and expenses.
“It’s really been helpful having Fleetio manage the maintenance side of things and costs. It gives us insight into where our money is being spent.”
-James Dyer, Project Manager at Cherrylake
It was also very important for Cherrylake to use a fleet management system that was easy to use. This included drivers, fleet and project managers, maintenance technicians and ownership.
Fleetio bridged communication gaps and eliminated the need for manual data entry while increasing efficiencies, ultimately improving team productivity.
“Fleetio saves me a lot of time where I can focus on other areas and other departments. It’s freed up time where I’d be putting data in and now it’s almost all automated.”
-Herman VanDenBogaert, Fleet Manager at Cherrylake
