TESTIMONIALS

Town of Castle Rock

Here is a summary of our process for vehicle replacement and how PROFIT$ has become an integral part of those decisions.

Back in 2018, when attending the GFX Conference in San Diego, I visited a booth that had created vehicle replacement software called PROFIT$. I thought that it looked very robust and attractive. After a demo, I decided to give it a try.

The Town of Castle Rock uses the FMIS from Faster Asset Solutions and it does a great job of tracking everything happening in our fleet. Faster also has a good replacement scoring feature using a 15-point scale based on age, maintenance and mileage or hours. In my meetings with our Town’s departments to discuss their upcoming vehicle replacements, the question of just what that score meant kept coming up. It was a little vague. What if their vehicle had a score of 11-points the year before, would that make it eligible for replacement? I was spending a lot of time in meetings explaining what the score meant and how close to the 15-point max they needed to be before replacement.

After installing PROFIT$ software, the replacement scoring feature that it offers made explaining the replacement score much easier. The extra weighting PROFIT$ uses, like vehicle condition and how hard that vehicle is used, gave us the way to make better decisions.

Two of the features that have helped the most are the reports and the color-coded scale. With all the various PROFIT$ reports now in front of department managers, they now get a better idea where they are in the replacement cycle.

By using PROFIT$ reports, I have also been able to show departments that they needed to push back replacement and also show some that they needed to replace sooner than estimated. With the current pandemic we are experiencing, Town management put a hold on all the remaining vehicle purchases for 2020. We are doing a very comprehensive review of the coming replacements that are due in 2021. I anticipate that the PROFIT$ software will be a tremendous help in making cases to replace and cases to extend.

This software, plus the help from our FMIS, has given us a very good grasp on our vehicle replacement expenditures.

Additionally, the staff at Longobart-Ross has been very helpful and quick to respond to any questions that come up. Having the retired Fleet Manager, Rick Longobart, to help with questions or just pick his brain has been an added bonus.

Cliff L. Pate Fleet Maintenance Superintendent

I am the Fleet Maintenance Superintendent for the City of Inglewood. Prior to this position, I worked with Rick D. Longobart from July 2003 to April 2010. He was the Fleet and Transit Superintendent at that time for the City of Inglewood. During my seven year tenure with Rick, he was very energetic, trustworthy, knowledgeable, and dependable in accomplishing tasks and projects, such as; securing grant funding for the city, installing a Compressed Natural Gas Station, installing a Propane station, installing a carwash to service city vehicles and more. Rick was instrumental in bringing an awareness to global warming and lowering the City’s carbon footprint.

Don Allison

For well over ten years, I have looked to Rick for his assistance and extraordinary insight regarding municipal fleet operations. Rick’s leadership, knowledge and the tremendous assistance he offered to help me meet new contacts was truly the most major asset in my endeavors and success. I am forever grateful and highly recommend Rick for any assistance that may be required.

Dave Cole

I have known Rick Longobart since I started as the City of Glendale Fleet Administrator in1998. Rick is extremely knowledgeable in the field of Fleet Maintenance. Whenever I got in a jam or had something interesting come along, I would network with Rick. Rick is always on the leading edge of fleet solutions from computer software to hands-on training. Working with Rick over the years has been extremely enjoyable. He is not only a very talented individual, but also a genuinely great guy. He is a true professional and I would recommend him to anyone that could use some help with their fleet.

Dave Seavey

Rick Longobart is clearly regarded as one of the top public sector fleet managers in the country. Through his lead-by-example, energy, and innovative leadership style, he has successfully transformed the public fleets he has managed into highly-effective and efficient fleet organizations that others strive to emulate. But, what separates Rick from his peers is his ability to patiently and effectively teach others the business side of fleet management. I know this first hand, because he has given outstanding fleet management presentations to public sector fleet managers at several educational events that my company, Public Fleet Summits, has sponsored. During these two-day summits he is constantly inundated with questions seeking his advice from professional fleet attendees. No one in our industry does this as well as Rick has for the last 25 years.

City Of Santa Ana

Mr. Longobart has received numerous environmental awards due to early adoption and non-conventional thinking. He has spearheaded and championed various projects that have given him name recognition in the industry as a true leader and pioneer in the operation of Fleets and Facilities.

KC Heidler

Learning the language of the government sector was extremely beneficial in helping us clarify the steps involved in the overall bid process. How to find bids being sent out by municipalities was also a valuable learning experience, in that we were not familiar with the individual platforms available that would enable us to see the bids in one location rather than having to register at each individual municipality. Longobart-Ross also provided consulting that allowed us to restructure our company in a way that would allow us to pursue the government sector. Our executive staff found this to be instrumental in our now focused venture.

Danny Lehman

Dear Mr. Longobart and Ms. Ross Working with LRC to re-develop the Vehicle and Equipment Replacement Criteria and Guidelines for Eastern Municipal Water District has been a pleasure and great benefit. You were very sensitive and responsive to our busy schedules that seem to change daily. Your every concern was driven by our needs and making sure we were happy with the end product. You did not just offer a canned, one size approach. This was very refreshing. I stepped into this position a short time ago and recognized the need to update the replacement criteria of our vehicles and equipment. After discussing this with several other Fleet Managers and reviewing the many systems out there I came to realize there was not a one size fits all replacement system. Many systems called for much more very accurate historical data and resources than we had available. I reviewed a version of your system in the past and recognized it as customizable to available resources while demonstrating the costs involved of deferring replacement. LRC was already familiar with our software systems and already had established relationships with our software vendors. Together we were able to solve the challenges of developing a system far better than the District had previously while leaving room for further development as our other systems are updated. I welcome the opportunity to discuss our experience with other clients as you find the need. Thank you for all of your help.

John Noble

I would like to express my sincere thanks to Longobart-Ross Consulting. The City was in need of a complete overview of it’s fleet operation. I believe the approach made effective use of our time and allowed the final report to be specific to our operation and useful. Rick & Cynthia provided an in depth questionnaire and spent hours on-site to fully understand our operation. The final report was comprehensive and included a prioritization of needs that will be used in addressing immediate and long term needs. I appreciated the candid conversation and difficult questions regarding our strengths and weaknesses. The analysis has validated some of my own assessment as well as revealed aspects that became apparent through our discussions and an outside view from experts in the field. The report will provide a good basis for future action and while some elements will require a more thorough analysis the value of having the comprehensive overview will be useful for years to come. I do not anticipate this will be a report that sits on the shelf collecting dust, in fact, the information was invaluable for City Council presentations, budgeting and staff conversations immediately following completion of the final report. Thanks again, Rick and Cynthia, for your professionalism, insight and follow through during this process. Respectfully,

Greg Mitchell

It was with great pleasure to have meet and worked with both Rick and Cynthia with Longobart-Ross Consulting. They reviewed Colorado Springs Utilities and The City of Colorado Spring’s fleet inventory to determine several fundamental elements which were essential to a Project we are currently working on. Through their fleet analysis process, they reviewed what type of staffing would be needed if Colorado Springs Utilities and the City of Colorado Springs insourced Light Duty Vehicles and Specialty Equipment, along with the outcome of staffing, if it was broken into Administrative, Technician and Parts Personnel. They provided an excellent methodology with details on how they came up with the number of personnel, and the head count structure was described in detail which is vital to our decisions in the Fleet Project. The information will be used to determine further steps in our review of insourcing or outsourcing work in the future. In the assessment process we felt they listen to our requests and provided the necessary advice that our team needs to proceed with our Fleet Project. Colorado Springs Utilities Fleet was satisfied with the results from Rick and Cynthia on the project, and feels that Longobart-Ross Consulting’s skills and knowledge qualifies them to do future analysis and assessments. Both Rick and Cynthia are professional and well qualified in fleet analysis, and I would most definitely recommend them to other organizations. Respectfully,

Jeffery Hart

I would like to take a moment and extend my deepest gratitude to Rick and Cynthia of Longobart-Ross Consulting. Finding a fleet professional with the passion that Rick possesses is rare … but also finding it in his partner Cynthia is a gift. As a Public Sector Fleet Manager your processes and procedures are always under the microscope, whether it be from public officials, city management or the citizens we represent. Being able to successfully run a maintenance operation depends on the tools and skills you have learned over the years. By using their uniquely designed fleet analysis worksheet, Rick and Cynthia were able to take an already nationally recognized operation and provide a specific road map for additional cost savings, improved efficiencies and a long-term energy plan that will exceed government requirements for years to come. If taking your operation to the next level of excellence is important to you I highly recommend Longobart-Ross Consulting. Their Full Fleet Solution Analysis will provide you with the tools you will need to meet the challenges of the future. None of us can do it alone, and a highly trained team IS the key to success … you would do well to welcome Rick and Cynthia to your team as I have. 4927 OCEANSIDE BLVD OCEANSIDE, CA 92056 TELEPHONE (760) 435-5137 • FAX (760) 639-0907.

Michael Renshaw

The Barrow County Board of Commissioners made the decision to partner with Longobart-Ross Consulting in the purchase and implementation of the PROFIT$ fleet replacement management software package. This decision was based upon the need for an objective, data-driven management tool that would enable senior management staff and the Board of Commissioners to more confidently and accurately project the capital investment costs associated with replacing the County’s aging vehicle fleet inventory. Of paramount importance was the ability to monitor, in real time, the condition rating of each of the 278 assets and more importantly to have the ability to track associated maintenance costs as they relate to both current and at ­life replacement costs. The PROFIT$ software has proven to be the perfect solution for providing these critical analyses.

Steve Dorsey

I would like to take this opportunity to express my deep and complete satisfaction with my recent experience with Longobart-Ross Full Fleet Solutions. Rick and Cynthia spent several hours at my location reviewing my responses to their multi-page questionnaire regarding virtually every aspect of my operation through their Fleet Analysis process, then spent several more hours reviewing with me their solutions to the issues that the questionnaire uncovered. I will be retiring this year, and I sought a guide for the future that could be presented to my superiors in my department, and serve as a road map for the benefit of my successor. The work Rick and Cynthia accomplished, and the short-term, intermediate and long-term solutions they proposed, will be extremely useful for my successor to understand the current situation in this fleet, and to present many options for facing the challenges that are inherent in managing a modern governmental fleet. They proposed some specific solutions to some issues that I believe have merit and deserve serious consideration for implementation, particularly their vehicle replacement program tool. I can unequivocally recommend the services offered by Longobart-Ross Full Fleet Solutions with confidence that the needs of governmental fleet managers will be met. You may call me at 619-397-6079 if you would like any further information on the process from my perspective.

John Dunn

I am writing this letter to express my satisfaction with the services provided by Longobart Ross Full Fleet Solutions.

The City of Everett Washington had a need for a full spectrum analysis of our fueling infrastructure. We hired Longobart Ross to perform this specialized need. Longobart Ross did a professional and thorough job. They completed all aspects of the job on time and within the agreed upon budget.

The final report documentation they produced was thorough, and user friendly. It painted a story of the status of our fueling infrastructure. The documents they provided gave us several options to consider when deciding how to proceed. They delivered what they promised, I would recommend them to other organizations looking for fleet related solutions.

Montana Slack

Have you ever invested in software and then had difficulty in getting support later? Or, have you ever needed reports customized, but the costs were prohibitive? Not with Longobart-Ross Profit$. I’ve found them to be exceptionally easy to work with and ready and willing to help with customizations at a reasonable cost. I rarely endorse a product or company, but I can recommend this one.