Episode 020: Fleet Management Industry Certifications

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All right, welcome back for another episode of the Fleet Success Show. Glad to have you with us. It's been an awesome several weeks as we've, uh, gone and gone out and done a lot of things. Joining me today, I've got Steve Salzgiver. How are you doing?

I'm doing great.

Awesome. Yeah, we're gonna excuse Jeff today. He's out at the McLeod Conference, so I want to, uh, give him a big shout out out there. But, uh, Steve and I are holding down the fort, and we just kind of wanted to give a recap. I know we've been out and about, and, you know, trade shows seem to be picking back up. What, 2 weeks ago we had, uh, We had like the culmination of all the fleet trade shows in one week, it felt like.

Yeah, they all hit in one week of the whole year.

Yeah, I think everybody was just trying to get out and they figured, hey, August 30th, that's the week. That's the week we want to get out and do stuff.

But it was nice to get out. I mean, we've been bottled up with the pandemic and everything, and I think it was just good to get out, even though we chose to go to the NAPA one.

Yeah.

And even though the numbers weren't, you know, up to par as they usually are, but it was great to see colleagues, people that we've seen, known, you know, and frankly, it was— I had a great time. We do two presentations together. I had a great time working with you.

Yeah, the presentations went pretty well. I think I enjoyed doing those. So yeah, so we went to NAAFA. You had that same week Fleet Pros was going on.

Fleet Pros was going on. Yeah. You had the ACT conference in Long Beach.

Yeah. Which is Clean Technologies. It's very heavy in the transportation trucking industry. Uh, it was APWA that week too.

I think it was.

Yeah, I think it was. Like, there was a lot of fleet shows going on all in that one week. So it was unfortunate I couldn't go see them all, but I know next year we're going to try to hit more of those.

Well, we didn't even really have enough people that we could go that quickly and spread them all out, right?

So yeah, so, uh, a little recap, you know, Steve, what were some of your takeaways from our week at NAPA?

You know, I mean, first of all, I enjoyed being with our team that was there. I think we had a really good time. It was good to get together with our extended team and just learn a little bit more about each other. Probably the biggest takeaway for me was just the general networking that you can do at those sessions. I learned a lot from the trade show this year. The trade show wasn't really highly attended, I think because of the attendance, but for those vendors that were there, there was a lot, a lot of emerging technology. I think that that was probably my biggest takeaway is all the new stuff that's coming out that for a fleet organization like ourselves, I mean, that's just— that represents a lot of integrations, a lot of partnerships. Yeah, a lot of things coming down the pipe.

So yeah, it was definitely nice. I mean, the vendors were out in force, that's for sure. Seeing a lot of what they had to offer. You know, there's some notable people that were missing, but I know a lot of it was that same issue is you know, they only have one or two setups and had to pick which show they went to. I had a great time in Pittsburgh with NAFSA. I know for me, I think one of the highlights I had was, you know, you go there and they've got some great keynotes usually. Uh, they had a great keynote about complaining, which I thought was really timely given our episode on no gossip and that culture. So I thought there was a lot of takeaways that I'm like, hey, we talked about that a couple weeks ago. And it's good to hear that that is, you know, being picked up and is getting adopted in fleet. You know, we're not pioneers of this stuff. We don't claim ownership of this. This guy's— the keynote that they had has been doing this for 20-some-odd years, you know, which is longer than I've been at this company.

Yeah, I wrote down quite a few notes in that session. It was a good one.

So you got Paul Long over there doing the fundamism, you know, trying to bring fun back into your work, changing your perspective, which I enjoyed his sessions quite a bit. But I think one of my favorites was watching all the— every year they do this at NAFHA, but they have all the CAFM and CAFS graduates who've gone through, got their certification, and they bring them up on stage and they walk them through like a, like a college graduation, you know, kind of give it some legitimacy, which I really like that they do that.

There's quite a few this year, actually.

There's a lot.

Yeah, I was surprised.

You want to know? Some of it is because they didn't have one last year.

Oh yeah, that's true.

Right. And so—

Could be also with the people with the pandemic, they have more time, right? Sit around.

I don't know if fleet managers had more time. I know they were all pretty busy trying to keep up with things. But I think the fun thing to see was that they did take the time, even with everything going on, that they still took the time to complete it, to put the energy in. We had a friend, you know, that runs a city up in South Jordan. Yeah, up in the Salt Lake area. And we talked to him afterwards because he graduated, and we recognized him coming across the stage. I'm like, hey, I know that guy. A little celebrity moment. But I talked to him, and he crushed it. He completed a CAFM in 2 months.

Yeah, like, should give a shout out to Tom Volt.

Totally should, right? He's a good guy up there. Yeah, it's an awesome job. I've never seen that before. 2 months to sit down and take all those exams.

That's what everybody strives for, but rarely does anybody ever do it.

They give you 3 years on that one, right?

Yeah.

So I thought it would be kind of cool to talk a little bit about, you know, recognition of the CAFM, CAFS graduates. One of the things that I know new fleet managers have questions about or struggle with is what where do I go for answers? Where do I go if I want to go and like get a stamp of approval or get a certification, you know, like I used to when I was a technician or, you know, some of these other professions that they get certifications? What's out there for fleet managers? And we talk a lot about, you know, fleet success and those categories. But certification is definitely one of those elements that I think plays into the pillars of fleet success. So I just want to do a quick— let's run through a bunch of them because I know that's usually the biggest thing is, oh my gosh, why I see all these initials and acronyms and I don't know what any of them mean. Let's do a little education. So two of the probably the most prominent in the industry are from NAFSA, and we've already mentioned them a little bit, is the CAFM and the CAFS. Right. And Steve, what does that stand for? What do those two things stand for?

Well, it's Certified Automotive Fleet Supervisor, Certified Automotive fleet manager. So, and the difference between the two is basically it's a category inside your— like inside your shop. Maybe your shop floor supervisor would only need 4 of the elements of the incomplete CAFM program, like fuel management, maintenance management, things like that that are specifically applicable to his, his role or his job. And then the CAFM would be applicable to the fleet manager. This is the next level up that needs to know, you know, the circumference of everything about fleet management. So they have— NFA also has individual certifications, right? You know, that for different classes, like, you know, alternative fuel vehicles, things like that.

So NFA has, with the CAFM program, they break it down into 8 disciplines, right? Right. And there's 8 categories, 8 exams that you have to pass. And they cover things like business management, financial management, asset management, information management, information management, fuel inventory, maintenance management, and then risk management.

And then they have the personal development.

It's kind of that, that 9th, you know, if you want to get a certification in that.

That's where they have ethics and stuff like that. Oh, business management too. Yeah, yeah, they have business management.

And so they have 8 disciplines. You take all those 8 disciplines, you basically study for them, you take the exams, and you get your CAFM cert. The CAFS is the specialist, and they specialize. You can pick any of those 8, you pick 4 of them. Yeah, you pick the 4 that you want to do or you feel strongest in, and then you can get your CAFS. So, you know, CAFS is kind of half of the CAFM, but it's focused on just the areas that maybe matter to you. And there's nothing, I don't think, that stops you from getting your CAFS first and then going on to a CAFM.

Nope.

But, and I know you've got your CAFS, right?

I do. Life got in the way and I haven't got quite there to the CAFM, but, and I don't know if I will, but we'll see.

You focused on what mattered most, got your CAFS. We talk about that all the time, right? Focus on what matters.

Well, I was working on that at the same time I was getting my master's degree, so something had to give.

One of the two, right? So those are both really industry recognized. They have great education resources, and you know, you go through, you pass the tests, and that's something that you can tout. You know, they do have renewals with that particular cert, so you do have to continue education, go to conferences, trade shows, that kind of thing to show that you're keeping up on your education. But as long as you're doing the continued education, then those keep renewing.

Well, you know, and I saw a study a while back too, where if you're a CAFM, the differential between you as a fleet manager and someone without the CAFM is about 10%.

In salary?

Yeah, in salary. So, you know, I mean, it does have its benefits that way too.

Yeah. I know for us, like, we've gone out and created like a reward program, you know, is that as people earn certifications in their various trades and industries, you know, that we give out bonuses and in raises as well to recognize, you know, the level of effort and hunger that they've shown to go out and receive those.

You know, that kind of leads into intentional culture. You got to be a learning, you know, learning organization.

Right.

You can't stay static, you know, if you're going to continue to grow and continue to progress both as an individual and as a company.

Yeah, you've always got to be pushing back against the status quo, right? Because it's always trying to seep back in. All right. So those are the two from NAFA, CAFS, CAFM. And then they have a bunch of individual certifications if you want to focus on just one area. They do have several of those, but the CAFS, CAFM are the big ones. Another one that we've gone out and seen— Steve, you mentioned this one. This is from AEMP.

Yeah, that's a Certified Equipment Manager. That's specifically for people that do a lot of off-road equipment, you know, like loaders, backhoes. Graders, things like that. I think it goes a little bit beyond that, but I think that's the main focus.

That's the big one. Yeah, focus on some of that yellow iron.

Yep.

Okay, another one that is pretty popular, especially in the government space, from the Public Works Association, APWA, is the CPFP, which is the Certified Public Fleet Professional. Now, I haven't gone through and taken that test. Steve, have you gone through and done that one at all?

I have not. I do know a little bit about it. I know that it's an an open book test.

Okay.

That part I do know. But, and that focuses primarily on municipal and government. And it really talks about aspects that are, you know, specific to that industry. So it's a good one if you're a fleet manager. I think several of our clients that, you know, probably have that certification.

Especially in the municipal space, right? It's very, very focused on those challenges. That you're going to deal with in a public space.

And they have—

versus the CAFM or CAFS.

They have conferences every year, APWA, and you know, there's probably an on— I don't know this for sure, I think there's an ongoing continuation of credits as well.

Yeah, and there's something to mention too at the conferences, like NAFHA I know does this, NAFHA will usually offer boot camps. So if you go to NAFHA, instead of going to the normal sessions, you can go through and get your CAFM cert through the boot camps, which is basically a training, and then they sit you for the exam. And then, you know, if you have to retake it, you can retake it on the end of it.

So, you know, it's— NAFA, it's every bit as intense as taking a semester class. I mean, yeah, one of those modules. I mean, there, there is some credence into that.

They are not easy. Yeah, like there's, there's definitely something that we say when you see somebody and they've got a CAFM or CAFS they put in some time and energy into that.

A lot of respect for those people.

You know, like there's— they give you 3 years to complete that program for a reason, because it takes a lot of time and energy, usually outside and above and beyond what you're doing for your normal job. So CPFP for Public Fleet Professionals, that's from APWA. And, you know, another certification that you can look at. Another one, this is more on the trucking side, but I think it applies for any fleet. We'd like to see more fleets doing this or using VMRS. But there's a certification for the VMRS coding system. Steve, you've gone through this, you've taken it. I know we're looking at taking it right now. So we're studying for it. Talk to us a little bit about the VMRS certification and why it's advantageous.

Yeah, it was actually a little more challenging than I anticipated it to be. I've been doing VMRS, gosh, since 1981. I think that was my first foray into VRMS as a transit fleet manager. But I mean, it gets into VRMS, if you don't know, Vehicle Maintenance Reporting Standards. It is basically the language of fleet management in numbers and alphanumeric, basically. And so the whole purpose of that is, I mean, instead of writing out a huge sentence, you can put a couple of combinations of numbers together, and it really depicts everything that happened on a specific transaction or a specific task. And so it's really advantageous to fleets because you can, you know, you can do a lot of reporting against it, you can do a lot of analytics against it. I think it's, you know, I've been using it, I think it's absolutely essential for fleet managers, and most fleet management systems are set up that way. And a lot of vendors are starting to get into that and setting up now so you can exchange data back and forth. A lot of fleet management, uh, FMCs are getting into it now because their customers are requiring them to do that. So it's just a good system. It's been around since 1970, I believe. You know, it's been around a while.

So I know Grandpa was really big into VMRS and and why it was important. And we talked a little bit at NAFSA about VMRS and using it, but really it is, it's about following a standard. That way your data looks as clean, you can do a very quick analysis on it, benchmark yourself, you know, and hold yourself accountable and measure in an accurate way. But the certification is about getting familiar with that VMRS coding system and implementing it, you know, understanding how to implement it in your own shop.

You know, it standardizes your data too.

Yeah.

Keeps you from having a lot of freeform data that's really hard to interpret. Yeah.

All right, so another one that's out there, the CDME/CSME. These are from NATMI, which is N-A-T-M-I. You know, again, just it's another option that's out there, you know, focuses on the maintenance of equipment again. You know, if you're a certified supervisor of machinery and equipment or a supervisor director, you know, it's another certification that's out there you can go get. And then another one, it's probably really common that you guys have run into quite a bit. Your techs are probably doing it more, but it's one that we recommend a lot of your techs get, which is the ASE certification. Steve, talk to us a little about ASE certification.

Yeah, they have several different disciplines. They'll have disciplines on air conditioning, disciplines on brakes, on engine. They have a heavy-duty module that you can take. They just, you know, you take your vehicles, you just break them into different modules, similar almost to the VRMS except for you're, you know, you're just getting certified and they say electronics or brakes or those things. Last count, there was between 8 and 10 of those, but there could be a lot more now since I've been doing it. But, and it's just a good way for you to make sure your mechanics are up to speed. 'Cause nowadays with all the complexity and everything in the engines and the peripheral devices, it takes a lot of work for those mechanics. There's also some other independent certifications, you know, from some of the OEMs. They will train you generally for free, so you can get some of those classes as well. But I think overall, you know, we talked a lot about certifications, but ultimately you couldn't do your job if you didn't have some of these.

Yeah, and it's not so much about the certification and having the letters behind your name because I think there's some stigma. There's obviously a good stigma that you get from that. You look at that and say, oh, you know, that's an awesome achievement and you can, you know, hang your hat on that. But I have heard, you know, I don't really want to go get the cert, like I don't need to be, you know, like there's an anti-ego play to it, you know, that, well, if I just want to put those initials by my name, you know, like a lawyer or a doctor, It's not about that. It's more for me, whenever I see certs and whenever I tackle a cert, you know, when I have to get into it, I like learning, but a cert makes me learn a certain way and it makes me learn completely. You know, it's not enough just to like skim into it and dive in and say, oh, okay, like I'm, I'm now educated on this, but how educated am I really? And it's a way to test your knowledge. It's a way to kind of prove yourself and make sure you complete the study, which— and it gives you something to work for, gives you closure that, all right, I've got to go through and I take this test. And, you know, it's not just study and test, study and test, study and test, but it's, it's the culmination of all that, which is what I enjoy about it.

So, well, it keeps your mind, you know, active, you know. I mean, something as I've gotten older certainly needs to happen. You need to keep your mind active to stay stay kind of younger and refreshed. And I love to read, I love to learn. So, you know, that just kind of leads into all these certifications for me.

Yeah, it just gives you the focus, right, as you're reading and learning, you know, what are you reading and learning about and what do you have to show for it at the end of the day?

Yeah. And I mean, other methods, I mean, that are kind of related to certification. I mean, I'm an Audible junkie.

Yep.

You know, and so I do a lot of Audible. Listening to, you know. I mean, I make that drive from Salt Lake to Phoenix occasionally, every other— every quarter, I guess. I can listen to a couple of books, you know, and those kind of things really help you as well. I've always said to, you know, somebody always asked me what's the most important thing, you know, being a fleet manager, and I've always said dedicate 5 to 15 minutes a day just to read, you know. Just go into your office, sit down, read 5 minutes a day at the minimum, you know, because there's so many things out there. This is an evolving industry. Yeah, you know, and, and, you know, you might read something and think, oh man, I gotta get more information on that. Now it's time to be certified in that, right? So it's just something to really think about as you're moving through this fleet industry.

Yeah, definitely don't stand still. Don't let it pass you by. Stay up to date on it, you know. Keep certified, go get educated and just keep yourself informed. I think that's the way that you make sure that, you know, that your fleet doesn't become stagnant, that you keep going. We're talking about Fleet 100, right? One of the big things there, they're always talking about initiative. You know, what are the things that you're doing to change and to keep improving? And I think that's the deal is if you're stagnant, then, you know, the world passes you by or processes start to decay. I think there's a natural bureaucratic decay that happens in organizations. And education is a great way to combat that and fight that. It's like antifungal medication.

And I've always felt like, you know, as a professional, you really owe that to your organization to be the top, on top of your game. Yeah. I mean, that's what they're paying you to be. I mean, no one in, you know, in every fleet that I've managed, no one was the expert but me, you know? And if you don't take time to become the best expert you can be, you're really doing a disservice to your organization.

Yeah.

So.

All right. Well, that's going to wrap it up for us today. Thank you again for joining us and for listening to our podcast and show. We enjoy putting it on. Hopefully you guys are enjoying listening to it. As always, if you have any comments or questions or a topic you'd like to see us address, throw it our way at podcast@rtafleet.com. Again, that's podcast@rtafleet.com. And we will see you next week. Thanks for listening.

Thank you.

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