PHARMACEUTICAL giant Johnson & Johnson has taken part in a major benchmarking exercise in an attempt to make savings on its 8,000-strong pan-European company car fleet, writes FNN sister title Fleet News Europe.

The company, which has 70 operating companies in 20 European countries, has joined forces with German-based FLeeTS International and Hackett Benchmarking and Research to measure its fleet strategy and performance against other European fleets.

'We took part so we could see how we stacked up against our competitors. Is our supplier approach similar? Do they use local contracts where we do not, and vice versa,' said Jennifer Irvin, Johnson & Johnson supply manager. 'We also looked at our total costs of a vehicle compared to other companies. The exercise also allowed us to identify areas where we were doing well and that means we can motivate staff and have an internal benchmark.'

'We did not set out to reinvent the wheel. The information we gained showed us what is going on in the market and where we could make changes.'

Both FLeeTS International and Hackett Benchmarking are now encouraging other multi-national companies to join their benchmarking exercise.

Daniel Froehlich, managing director of FLeeTS International said: 'Our role as an independent fleet specialist is to support senior management to put a concept for managing large fleets of vehicles into operation. The main objective is to reduce fleet costs and to find an optimal balance between costs, mobility and driver satisfaction.'

Johnson & Johnson started a major European fleet programme six years ago, and since then has reduced the number of its European leasing suppliers from 50 down to three primary and two secondary lessors, and rationalised the number of manufacturers that supply its fleet.

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