June 2020 - 46

GUEST EDITORIAL
»Having ready-to-install parts on hand to
service LMD vehicles will be paramount to
facilitate service productivity, decrease costly
downtime, and improve shop profitability.
Image courtesy of Dana Aftermarket

Marketability and
serviceability of lastmile delivery vehicles
Fleet managers and repair shops
must be proactive and have
a plan to meet the potential
service demands necessitated
by the increase of last-mile
delivery vehicles on the road.
More and more companies are shifting away
from single trucks delivering large shipments
to a central location to delivering packages
directly to the end-users with vans and smaller
trucks. This final step in the delivery process
is called last-mile delivery (LMD) and refers to
the short route to the final delivery destination.
With a dramatic rise in recent months of
last-mile deliveries due to social distancing
and stay-at-home orders, downtime is almost
inevitable for these LMD delivery vehicles due
to the increased stress placed on all vehicle
systems by stop-and-go driving, higher mileage, and extended idling periods of in-town

By Beth Grime-Mooney

SENIOR MARKETING MANAGER, DANA AFTERMARKET
DANA INCORPORATED
Leading with purpose, Beth is known for building marketing capability through program design and influence
through customer-centric activation. Beth has been
studying customer needs throughout her career tenure at
ITW, Sherwin-Williams, Honeywell Bendix, Eaton, Tenneco,
and Dana, as well as overseas at Opel Automobile GmbH
in Frankfurt, Germany.

46 Fleet Maintenance | June 2020

delivery service. Downtime of LMD vehicles
costs owners more than just the price of the
repair, so getting these vehicles back on the
road quickly with quality parts is essential.
If repair facilities are not already experiencing an influx of LMD vehicles that will need
service and repair, they likely will. This will
not be a short-term situation as evidenced by
the dramatic increase in the number of LMD
vehicles on the road, such as the Mercedes
Sprinter, Ford Transit, and Nissan NV. In 2019,
there were over one million of these vehicles
in operation, growing five-fold from roughly
200,000 in 2014.
Fleet managers and repair shops need to be
prepared for what promises to be a substantial increase in service and repair opportunities related to these vehicles. Being proactive
and having a plan to meet potential service
demands will be imperative if shops want to
keep these much-needed vehicles in proper
working condition.
Since last-mile delivery vehicles can experience added wear and tear due to extended use
in stop-and-go and severe driving conditions, it
is always important to inspect the driveline at
every service interval. Identifying components
that have begun to fail can be done through
routine inspections for items like the driveshaft
end play and worn u-joints.
In order to reduce downtime and get these
delivery vehicles back on the road quickly, it
is vital to have access to quality replacement
parts and accessories that are easy to install
and have the fit, performance, reliability, and
durability of original equipment.
One way fleet managers and repair shops
can help decrease downtime is by installing

If repair facilities
are not already
experiencing an influx
of LMD vehicles that
will need service and
repair, they likely will.
parts that are virtually maintenance-free and
offer a one-for-one replacement. An example
that can help lessen the stay-in-the-bay for a
Mercedes or RAM Sprinter van is the Spicer
three-piece driveshaft. Because Dana pre-balances its Spicer driveshafts, a technician can
perform a driveshaft replacement quickly and
efficiently without the need for a balancing
machine. The ability to swap out the driveshaft improves shop profitability by saving
valuable service time and significantly reducing vehicle downtime.
In addition, if the Sprinter van driveshaft
needs servicing down the road, the u-joints are
serviceable, not staked. Driveshafts for Sprinter
vans like those from Spicer minimize assembly
time and meet global aftermarket driveshaft
requirements, providing an optimal replacement solution, particularly for service shops
with immediate uptime service programs.
Gaskets are also critical for fleet managers
to have on hand to address a failure immediately, reduce downtime, and prevent further
damage to vehicle systems. When rebuilding an engine, it is important to have every
component required to make the repair on
hand, eliminating the need to research each
different part and source them across a variety
of manufacturers.
A valuable solution for fleet managers
seeking fast and efficient service options are
complete gasket sets, like those from Victor
Reinz, with coverage available for a range of
Class 1, 2, 3, and 4 vehicles and offerings that
include conversion gasket sets, cylinder head
gasket sets, and turbocharger mounting kits for
vehicles like the Sprinter van. With complete
gasket kits, repair facilities will have all of the
components in one box so they can perform
repairs quickly and efficiently.
Fleet managers may find a shift within their
fleet mix that places more emphasis on these
versatile vehicle platforms, resulting in different service component purchasing patterns.
Having the ready-to-install parts on hand to
service LMD vehicles will be paramount to
facilitate service productivity, decrease costly
downtime, and improve shop profitability.

June 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of June 2020