Web Extra: A look at Ameriscape’s fleet recovery vehicle

In the April cover story, we heard from Tony Canorro, who is all about eliminating wasted time. In his role as fleet manager at Ameriscape Services in Thonotosassa, Fla., his goal is to keep the operations team up and running with as little downtime as possible.

Mechanic Shane Bloodman conducts an on-site repair from the fleet recovery vehicle.

“We don’t want to be the reason someone’s losing time on a job,” says Canorro, who joined the company late last year. “We want to have an aggressive operational mentality applied to the logistics side of our business, just like we’re a crew.”

With this mindset and inspiration from equipment manufacturers like JCB and John Deere who send their technicians out to service equipment in a vehicle fully stocked with parts and tools, Canorro decided to implement a fleet recovery vehicle for the team at Ameriscape.

The company cycles through its vehicles every few years. Once trucks reach a certain mileage, they get sold at auction. Canorro asked if he could keep a pickup that was rotating out of service and transform it into a mobile recovery vehicle. Management agreed it was a good use of resources, so Canorro’s team got to work fixing it up and getting it ready to help repair equipment in the field.

When there is a problem with equipment on a job site, Canorro dispatches a mechanic in the recovery vehicle to repair it on-site or swap in a working piece of equipment.

“Now, we’re out there responding to deficiencies quicker,” Canorro says. “The mechanics can do their jobs better.”

Photo: Ameriscape Services