St. Paul, Minn-based beverage distributor Johnson Brothers has outsourced its fleet maintenance work to Ryder System, Inc., for 517 trucks in 15 states.

Johnson Brothers has been purchasing used vehicles from Ryder for the past seven years, and recently began using an onsite maintenance shop set up by Ryder at its headquarters.

"We’re not diesel mechanics," said David Russ, operations manager for Johnson Brothers. "We sell wine and spirits. That’s what we’re good at. Ryder is the expert at maintaining our equipment."

Johnson Brothers made the decision to outsource maintenance because of Ryder’s expert technician workforce, reliable service, and extensive national network of fuel and service locations, according to Ryder.

Ryder conducted a full analysis of Johnson Brothers’ transportation network, including a Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) assessment. Johnson Brothers used the TCO tool to analyze maintenance costs, labor hours, labor rate, tires, parts, and supplies.

"Critical to Johnson Brothers’ success is vehicle uptime, quick maintenance turn-around, and visibility into their fleet performance," said Dennis Cooke, Ryder's president of global fleet management solutions.

Since 1953, Johnson Brothers has been providing service to customers such as retail outlets, including grocery stores, C-stores, bars, restaurants, and state liquor stores.