The Association of Equipment Management Professionals, an organization for asset management professionals of off-road fleets, recently awarded two industry professionals with the 8^th annual Fleet Masters Award. The winners were recognized at a luncheon ceremony March 21, at AEMP’s 29^th annual Spring Management Conference in Las Vegas. Fleet professionals Mike Munson of Austin Bridge and Road, Irving, Texas, and Guy Gordon, CEM of Insituform Technologies, St. Louis, were the 2011 award recipients.

The Fleet Master Award recognizes equipment professionals who demonstrate excellence in meeting the unique challenges inherent to delivering cost-effective and cutting-edge management of mixed fleets of on-road and off-road equipment. Past award winners have included representatives from both private and public fleets.

Munson is equipment director at Austin Bridge and Road. The company, a division of Austin Industries, is focused on transportation infrastructure, and has completed more than $2 billion in heavy civil projects over the past five years.

Munson and his team manage more than 800 pieces of equipment. To aid in effective fleet management, Munson says he relies heavily on telematics, and has also implemented GPS tracking on nearly 700 pieces of equipment.

Gordon, CEM and 2011 Fleet Masters Award winner, leads the equipment management team at Insituform Techologies, a highly specialized, international construction company. The fleet consists of 1,800 licensed vehicles and 110 off-road units, with many purpose-designed and built machines and components.

As director of asset management, Gordon oversees a team of about 45, including two certified equipment managers. Under his leadership, the equipment group has provided continued improvement in the areas of equipment quality, safety, productivity and cost.

“Our efforts have resulted in very notable improvements over the past four years, including a 42-percent decline in operation costs, a decline of fleet average-age, and increases in both uptime and PM compliance,” Gordon said. “We’re extremely proud of these achievements. And I’m incredibly honored by this recognition, as it represents the work of our entire group.”

AEMP represents fleet professionals working in construction, government, utilities, energy, mining and more.

Guy Gordon accepts his Fleet Masters Award from outgoing AEMP national president, Daryl Crear. At left is Rod Sutton, editor of Construction Equipment magazine.

Mike Munson speaks about the Austin Way Initiative after accepting his Fleet Masters Award.