“Properly managing and maintaining a lubricant program can be one of the biggest challenges for fleet managers,” says John Walters, global fleet sector marketing manager for Shell Lubricants. “Only a minority of fleets truly understand how their fleet lube programs impact their bottom line. We are partnering to educate and be a part of the solution and fix problems that lead to unplanned downtime.”
Shell ProAcademy offers five training modules that are accessible on both desktop and mobile platforms. Core module topics include maintenance, lubrication products and applications, safety, fuel economy and management. Shell customers and distributors who register get immediate access to all five modules, and non-customers get access to two modules and can talk to a Shell representative to unlock the others.
“At its heart, [Shell ProAcademy] is about changing behaviors that contribute to a technician being able to improve skills and performance and lower the total cost of operation for the fleet,” says Walters.
According to a recent Shell survey of its customers, fleets who reported having more lubricant-related training also reported less downtime than the rest of the survey participants. Overall, 89 percent of respondents reported unexpected downtime, and more than half said lubrication misuse or misapplication was a contributing factor, and 75 percent of respondents didn’t know the extent of contaminants’ effects on maintenance costs.
