In 2015, Governor Doug Ducey introduced the Arizona Management System to Arizona state government. As an early adopter, ADOT applied the Governor’s AMS principles to all of our operations, including our fleet management and services. The AMS system revolutionized ADOT’s fleet management to the point where we are now responsible for servicing and maintaining the entire state government’s vehicle fleet of cars, trucks, vans, etc., while improving service to customers. 

Arizona’s fleet consists of 10,000 state vehicles, heavy equipment and emergency response units. ADOT has the largest share, with more than 4,000 vehicles and heavy off-road equipment, and more than 20 Equipment Shops around the state. Through approved legislation signed by Governor Ducey, the fleet has now been transferred from the Arizona Department of Administration to ADOT.  We now support more than 60 state agencies. With this consolidation, the state fleet operations follow the same uniform guidelines for ADOT’s fleet operations, including purchasing and preventative maintenance.

ADOT also chairs the State Fleet Council, which is responsible for introducing standardized fleet best management practices, reducing duplication, cutting costs and improving processes -- AMS principles in action. The Council follows continuous improvement tools to improve efficiency and eliminate waste. 

I am happy to report the Council has already had success under the fleet consolidation effort:

• Reduced underutilized assets including sedans, minivans, half-ton pickups and SUVs, saving more than $6 million.
• Implemented a 10-point fleet vehicle replacement system.
• Expanded the surplus customer base with an online fleet auction process which provides world wide coverage.
• Moved preventative maintenance schedules from 6,000 miles to 8,000 miles while following manufacturer’s guidelines.
• Implemented a cost-savings statewide fleet tire policy.
• Sold more than 1,000 vehicles for other agencies since March 2020. 
• Working to maximize the state’s order size when replacing vehicles, by grouping most state agencies together for deeper discounts.
• Implemented a statewide GPS contract, having installed more than 2,500 units to monitor, track and maximize vehicle use, and to safeguard employees by monitoring seatbelt use.

The fleet consolidation effort is a win-win for taxpayers and the state. We are already witnessing savings by reducing the size of the state’s fleet, ordering in bulk and selling vehicles online. We are creating uniform guidelines and processes that will maximize resources and provide improved service to customers. This is what Governor Ducey envisioned for Arizona state government and what AMS is all about!

It’s not often that the subject of livestock comes up here at the ol’ ADOT Ranch. In fact, the ol’ ADOT Ranch is really more of an office building, but let’s not ruin the magic, okay? 

Be that as it may, the issue of cattle, sheep and other animal forms in nature’s wonderama has actually been the subject of some attention among us “ranchers,” and well, the real ranchers who are so vital to making Arizona great.  

If you’ve ever driven one of the many rural highways we have in our state you may have noticed the fencing located a few feet on either side of  the road. That’s pretty important stuff because it helps to keep critters off the roadway. As you can imagine, that’s a good thing since livestock and vehicles definitely do not mix.

Cattle and other animals have a serious disadvantage inasmuch as they cannot read, therefore can’t get a driver license and do not understand that a road is no place for them to be. Hence when they manage to get on a road because a fence is broken, a gate is left open or there was a suspiciously well-organized cattle escape plan, that’s trouble for everyone.

One kind of trouble is, who to call to round up the miscreant livestock? There are lots of ranchers and landowners in our very big and sometimes wide-open state and this has meant a lot of delays figuring out who owns what and where. Meanwhile the cattle, and perhaps even buffalo, roam. 

What to do? Well, Traffic Operations Dispatch Supervisor Vince Irwin, hatched a plan. He conducted research with various state, county and private entities and compiled a comprehensive resource list of about 100 ranchers and their contact information and areas of responsibility and ownership. He also noted their unique brand identifiers and gate access codes. 

Now, when our team hears about a problem, they can get hold of people much more quickly and get things back in order. 

That will never solve the inherent problem of livestock hitting the road, so to speak, but it will make getting them back where they belong much simpler and faster. That will help keep those critters and, most importantly, motorists like you, much safer.

What’s a “pokey picker upper,” you ask? This uniquely named idea implemented by Timothy Mitchell, highway operations supervisor for the Quartzsite Maintenance Unit, has allowed his team to spend less time transporting equipment to the shop and is creating savings in repair costs. 

“When we were doing regular spot litter removal, the number of flat tires we were getting was so high, we needed to come up with a way to reduce that waste,” Mitchell said.

That push for a countermeasure became the idea of the pokey picker upper. 

Because so many pieces of metal were causing the damage, a magnet seemed the best way to tackle the problem. The real quandary, however, was how to find a way to use the magnet to grab the metal before it could puncture any tires. Mitchell brainstormed an idea and quickly welded together a prototype. A 3-foot bar was affixed to the front of the truck and the magnetic bar hung from that, hovering just above the ground. That's what you see in this photo to the right. He also made it interchangeable so it is easily moved to either the passenger or driver side of the vehicle, depending on where it is needed. 

Crews began using the new tool in August. The maintenance unit discovered it worked well and since then their welder has improved upon the prototype. The upgraded version will be reproduced for other vehicles across the agency doing similar duties with potential for tire damage.

They are still compiling data for the number of hours and costs related to the flat tires. But Mitchell said before they were trekking to the shop two to four times a week for repairs, and now it's only once or twice a month, which is a substantial improvement. 

And what about the very scientific name? Mitchell said “It kind of just came to me.”

Spoken like a true inventor!

This device is an example of how ADOT employees are committed to solving problems and eliminating wasteful processes by using Governor Doug Ducey's Arizona Management System.