Fleets constitute the most important production mean in the transportation industry. Their appropriate management is crucial for the whole branch. The paper is the first one from the series of three papers that the Authors dedicate to the freight fleet management topic. The paper presents the essence and the scope of the freight fleet management.
The topic is discussed against a broader background of the general management theory and the situation of freight vehicles in Poland over the last years. The changes to the freight fleet structure that occurred within the years 2004-2011 are presented and carefully discussed. Moreover, the general management and the fleet management especially, including their levels and areas, are defined. The literature review on fleet management is presented as well. And finally, Authors’ own research defining the scope of the fleet management is presented based on the survey of real-life posts and attributed to them tasks. As a result the list of typical fleet management decision problems broken down into management levels and areas has been developed. The paper will be continued in two further papers dedicated to fleet management methods and fleet management case studies.
