Business Analysis 2

Smith Transportation

Name of student

Name of institution

Data Analysis

The work that has been done so far includes the following two models. These models have been put in place to see the breakdown of the life cycle costs and to analyze the various factors affecting the costs associated with the maintenance of the vehicles. The study will only throw the light on the findings of various past studies that have taken place. These studies are analyzed in terms of the authors, the factors considered, the components in which the costs are broken, the factor range in terms of the $ per vehicle mile, types of vehicles included and the model used to analyze the data. All this information is provided in the following table

Source

Factor and component item

Factor Range $/ vehicle mile

Vehicle types studied

Model

Cohan et al

Fuel, oil, tires, maintenance

Automobiles0.025-0.039 gal /miles

Large vehicles0.23-0.4 gallon /mile

Others0.095-0.112 gallons /mile

Almost all types of vehicles. Van, car, truck and SUV

AASHTO red book

Zaniewski et al.

Fuel, oil, tires, maintenance, repair, depreciation.

$0.16 (1999)

4 Car types5 truck types

HERS

Zaniewski et al.

Fuel, oil, tires, maintenance, repair, depreciation.

0.18-0.33 (1996)

Car, truck bus

StratBenCost

STRIDE

Electrical and Mechanical

127000/year

3 tonne 4 X 4 trucks

RELEX

Barnes

Fuel, maintenance, tires and depreciation

15.3/mile19.2/mile43.4/Mile

AutomobilePickup/Van/SUVCommercial

Intellichoice

Studied Research

Mileage, fuel, spare parts, tires, battery

3 ton trucks

Regression

Conclusion

The overall process to ascertain the costs associated to the fleet of vehicles is complicated. In order to make some arguments related to the costs calculation, the researchers have to look deeply in the various aspects of the process. They will have to mark out the major factors that have caused the increase in costs of maintenance. After pointing out the major factors, the researcher will be able to calculate the costs of maintaining the vehicles. The repairing costs are subdivided into the cost of spare parts, battery, engine and the labor work. The environment and the external factors also have an important impact on the cost determinants. This study has undertaken a vast review of literature to identify the cost components as well as the factors affecting the maintenance costs. There are certain variables that are more important than others in deciding the costs of maintenance. The important variables identified are fuel consumption, tires, battery and mileage. According to the usage, some variables are different among different kinds of vehicles. The research methods of management sciences, operations management or database management can be used to ascertain the costs. The models can be linear, exponential or power. Some of the software like CPLEX can also be used to find out the costs. The development of the model will serve many purposes for different users. The investors who want to buy vehicles fleet will know the exact amount of the yearly costs that the vehicles would need. Those who are already running some system will benefit by maintaining a proper record of the costs incurred. This will in turn allow these people to compare these costs with those considered best practices. The people who are running the systems will also be able to control the current costs. This study has shown the various studies with respect to the models used, components of costs and key factors in ascertaining the costs of vehicle maintenance. The vehicle cost calculation is not an easy task because the cost has a lot of different components. No single study has been able to describe all the factors that affect the matter. Thus the calculation of costs will require a comprehensive analysis. The fleet consists of various vehicles. Thus the researchers must indicate properly what type of vehicles they are studying.

Recommendations

The studies that have been examined show certain level of consistency. There are certain weaknesses that exist in the ascertainment of the truck maintenance costs. The further improvements in the selection of dependent variable is required. The reason for this is that the change in the dependent variable will give us the opportunity to study the relationships between certain different variables and assess the relative importance of the cost components. Some method should be devised that can be used to consider the impact of the external factors on the scenario. A factor that is of particular importance is the condition o roads on which the vehicle will be driven. The roads in bad condition can reduce the average life of the tires, engine and suspension. There should be enough amount of data and certain amount of time to ascertain the costs associated with the maintenance of vehicles. A more sophisticated database system is required to be developed that can store large pieces of data which will be used for research. Currently no data is available.

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY Deshmukh, G. &. (2006). Maintenance management: literature review and directions. Journal of Quality in maintenance engineering. doi:10.1108/13552510610685075

Fatin Amirah Ahmed Shukri, R. M. (2013). An overview of fleet maintenance and operating cost:Key components and Methods. International journal of Commerce, business and management, 2(6).

Momcilovic, V. &. (2017). Influence of an integrated maintenance managementon the vehicle fleetenergy efficiency. Thermal Science. doi:10.2298/TSCI170209122V