The Material Handling Blog

Even after you've chosen, ordered and taken delivery of your new forklift truck, your relationship with the supplier isn't necessarily over. If you want that new truck to keep performing optimally throughout its lifetime, you're going to need regular service and maintenance.

But what makes good service and maintenance? It's an important question, since forklifts are the backbone of any material handling operation.

Cold stores are some of the most challenging environments that forklifts can operate in — temperatures as cold as -35°C are not unusual in these facilities, which are an absolutely vital part of the modern supply chain.

In these sub-zero conditions, steel can become more brittle, condensation can cause problems for a truck's mechanics, and operators must either wear insulating clothing or be protected inside heated cabins for their safety.

One of the biggest issues, however, is the cost involved with keeping the large area of the store colder than the North Pole. A lot of power can be needed to maintain the low temperature, and that's why it's important to maximise storage space as much as possible. This allows you to store more unit loads in a smaller space, and reduces the amount of energy needed to keep the store at these very low temperatures.

But what type of storage system allows for the densest storage?

Forklifts have existed for over 100 years — but it's only in more recent decades that ergonomic design has become a important question for manufacturers to answer.

That's unsurprising when you consider that today, the biggest cost you'll have to pay over your truck's lifetime isn't the service, or the financing costs — it's the cost of the driver. Therefore, making sure that they can do their jobs safely and efficiently is essential if you want to stay financially competitive.

But what does a truly ergonomic truck look like? Plenty of forklifts on the market claim to be ergonomically designed, but features such as these examples really make sense from an ergonomic perspective.

When your product can mean life or death for your customers, a solid forklift fleet and reliable logistics operation is an absolute must. Johnson Controls, a manfacturer of fire safety products, is one of these companies. The international firm not only makes fire detection and alarm systems, but also fire supressions solutions as well. These are important products, and the company needs to get them to the customer as smoothly and quickly as possible.

When you've spent money on new equipment, and invested time and even more budget in safety training and education, damage to forklifts can be a major headache that can increase downtime and endanger staff.

But aside from training, maintaining a safe warehouse environment, and choosing ergonomic trucks with good visibility and handling, how can you reduce accidents? Especially those kinds of accidents that never seem to have been caused by anyone.

The answer may be in technology — specifically, in fleet management systems that can allow you to keep an eye on every truck in your fleet, all the time.

As you know, forklift drivers come in all shapes and sizes, and a cabin that feels good and fits perfectly for one operator may be completely wrong for another.

It’s obvious that comfort plays a huge part in ensuring safety and keeping productivity high. So why shouldn’t you treat this as a priority? Especially when you consider that the driver takes up the majority of a truck’s total cost of operation.

Loading and unloading goods as they come into the warehouse can be one of the more expensive and potentially problematic processes in the materials handling process.

To make life more difficult, a range of different trucks can be used at this stage - pallet trucks, stackers and counterbalances all have their benefits and drawbacks in different situations. 

There’s many reasons why forklift owners are moving towards electric trucks more and more - high fuel prices (which don’t show signs of falling), greater ecological awareness and improved technologies have made electric trucks an obvious choice for many.

A high-quality electric truck can last years, but downtime can occur if the battery is not properly maintained. Optimised battery life is always a good thing, and it’s essential if you want to quickly recover the initial investment you made when procuring the forklift, whether it’s new or used.

Most people in this industry will have heard of the 80/20 rule, or Pareto Principle, as it's sometimes known. It's a basic theory that claims that around 20 per cent of any process is responsible for 80 per cent of the results of that process.

In manufacturing, for example, it is said that around 20 per cent of the defects in a product are responsible for around 80 per cent of the problems. The rule can apply to sales as well — in this case, 80 per cent of sales often come from 20 per cent of customers. 

Densely-packed, high-bay warehouses are excellent at using floor space efficiently. However, they’re not necessarily easy to work in – lifting 1000kg+ weights to heights of well over 10 metres is a challenge, and places high demands on both drivers and forklifts.

But it is possible – and some companies haven’t just made this system work, they’ve seen major benefits.