The Association of Equipment Management Professionals, an organization for asset management professionals of off-road fleets, will present three sessions for developers, construction industry professionals, and off-road fleet managers at the ConExpo-Con/Agg show in Las Vegas in March. Mike Vorster, a recognized industry expert and professor emeritus of Construction Engineering at Virginia Tech, will share his expertise on current business issues. All three sessions will be held on Wednesday, March 23, at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
The first session will take place from 9:30-11:00 a.m. Titled Organization Structures for Fleet Management, the discussion will focus on two organizational structures, centralization and decentralization, and the advantages and disadvantages of each. Methods for developing a business format that fits the history, personalities and work performed by a particular company will also be covered.
From 1:00-2:30 p.m., Vorster will host a session called Know Your Costs or Fly Blind. This discussion will cover the role equipment costs play in various aspects of construction company management, and how competitiveness at the bid table, job costing and fleet management can be influenced by these costs. The styles of managing by “horizontal slices” according to equipment category and “vertical columns” according to principal cost types will be assessed. Discussions will also include the need to manage costs by category, class and type in order to set and regulate internal cost recovery rates for each type of equipment.
The third session will be held from 3:00-4:30 p.m. The discussion, titled Delaying Capital Expenditure – There is No Such Thing as a Free Lunch, will focus on the belief that companies must be competitive in today’s market, and in order to do so, need to manage capital expenditures. Vorster will cover the two critical fleet management principles: maintaining fleet average age at a point close to the minimum average annual cost, and the need to implement a well planned repair-rebuild-replace program. Quantitative tools and case studies based on field data will be used to support these standards.
Vorster is the David H Burrows professor emeritus of Construction Engineering at Virginia Tech, where he has taught since 1986. His teaching and research interests focus on construction equipment, contract administration, and contract dispute resolution.
Formed in 1980, the Association of Equipment Management Professionals represents fleet professionals working in construction, government, utilities, energy, mining and more. For more information, visit www.aemp.org.
