Tips for better lift truck fleet management

TIPS FOR BETTER LIFT TRUCK FLEET MANAGEMENT.

Don't make the mistake of equating cost cutting with good fleet management. These six tips look beyond short-term cost savings to the real issues.

Doing a good job of managing a lift truck fleet always involves a balancing act. These six steps will help you identify and rank the competing needs that your fleet is facing.

1 Start with an issue that is sometimes viewed as an afterthought: plant safety. Lift truck operator training and plant safety are inseparably connected. In addition to the human costs involved, lift truck-related accidents can put a big dent in your company's bottom line. OSHA regulations require that every lift truck operator-even part-time employees, temps, and seasonal workers-be properly trained.
2 Effective fleet management really comes down to being able to guarantee lift truck uptime. The only way to guarantee uptime is to maintain your trucks in top condition. A solid preventive maintenance program is absolutely essential, as are inspections by the operators at the start of every shift. A lift truck's operating condition should never be taken for granted.
3 A really successful preventive maintenance program is easier to talk about than to implement. Taking care of the maintenance needs of your lift trucks is a never-ending job that takes a lot of time, energy, and commitment.
4 When adding new lift trucks to a fleet, bear in mind that the fuel efficiencies of different lift truck engines vary considerably. Check fuel consumption rates with companies that are already using the models that you are considering.
5 Don't use the wrong industrial truck for the application. Conventional counterbalanced lift trucks are the general-purpose workhorses. But there are applications that call out for function-specific trucks. Using a regular counterbalanced truck to carry long unwieldy loads may be asking for trouble: these kinds of loads will obstruct the operator's field of vision and unbalance the truck. A sideloader would handle the job more efficiently and more safely.
6 The human engineering of truck design has a substantial impact on operator performance. Select trucks designed to enhance operator productivity. One of the best methods is to ask operators to test-drive various models of lift trucks and then rate them in a performance grid.

FORKLIFT OPERATION AND SERVICE.

BE SURE TO VISIT THE HOME PAGE FOR INFORMATION ON LIFT TRUCKS REPAIR, SERVICE, TROUBLESHOOTING, AND EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT FORKLIFTS AND THEIR USE.