Fleet Services has responded to the Task Force recommendation to develop and implement additional revenue from a strategic review of business activities while leveraging untapped revenue potential through the expansion of the Fleet Services’ Fabrication Workshop. This innovation will enable Fleet Services to increase its revenue beyond the current $9 million per year by designing and manufacturing fabricated items for external parties and municipalities.  

Corporate prioritization and lack of resources often forces Fleet Management to turn away requests from external municipalities and organizations. Fleet Services has completed the hiring of foreman and team lead positions to create a new shift in the Fabrication Workshop and begin onboarding new fabrication requests in Q1 2022. This additional shift in the Fabrication Workshop will enable Fleet Services to start marketing products to external municipalities and organizations, resulting in forecasted revenue of $11 million in 2022. 

The City often uses vehicles and equipment to meet service delivery requirements. Understanding the unique service requirements of customers leads Fleet Services to source the most appropriate solution to enable service delivery. Off-the-shelf solutions are often either not available in the market or require significant modifications to meet customer needs, which drives up costs.

In collaboration with Roads, Fleet Services designed, engineered and fabricated a slip-in asphalt carrier. This innovative piece of equipment, through its slip-in design, increases the utilization of the existing fleet of dump trucks. With the design of slip-in sanders and drip tanks, one dump truck now provides three distinct services:

• snow and ice control in the winter
  
  
• street clean-up in the spring
  
  
• asphalt recycler/carrier in the summer.

All three pieces of equipment are plug-’n-play using the same control system installed on the base dump truck. In less than 30 minutes, one operator can change the equipment and make the unit ready for the next application.

The design and manufacturing of slip-in products provides an innovative cost saving solution not readily available in the market, which has captured interest from external parties and municipalities. The design creates efficiencies in service delivery, reduces fleet expense and increases utilization. Marketing and selling fleet innovations to external organizations creates a new revenue stream for The City while maximizing the use of existing facilities and equipment.