Five Ways You Can Boost The Efficiency Of Your Forklifts

27th Jul 2020

Any business person out to make profits understands that one of the surest ways to do that is to lower their operational costs while offering customers value. For industrial based businesses this means closely monitoring the use of all their heavy equipment to establish and manage the costs they incur on a daily basis due to inefficiencies.

This is especially true for businesses which employ heavy use of forklifts for construction projects or moving load just within a warehouse. Therefore in this article, we will look at the five different areas you as a business owner can focus on to improve forklift efficiency.

Regular Maintenance of the Forklift

At the end of every business day, your forklift picks up some wear and tear from the heavy use during normal operations. As a result, every following day it will not operate at the same level of efficiency due to this damage and it can also become a major safety risk. Regular servicing is a great way to prevent this as it ensures optimal functioning of the forklift.

As a rule of thumb ensure your personnel carries out pre-start checkups and schedule servicing of the forklifts at least every six months or much more frequently in case of heavy use. It will go a long way in boosting efficiency.

Optimal Warehouse Design

Another way you can ensure that your forklift is operating at maximum efficiency is seeing to it that your warehouse design is friendly to operations that require the use of forklifts. For instance, the traffic flow in the warehouse should be smooth with no obstacles that will inhibit movement of the forklift in the designated pathways.

Pick up and drop areas should also be designed in such a manner that they allow for adequate navigation space for the forklift to save time and fuel. You should also set aside storage areas for the forklifts after use as this will enable ease of retrieval for use and therefore few chances of damage.

Use of Fleet Management Software

Something else you can do to ensure that you are getting maximum efficiency off your forklifts especially if you have several of them is the use of fleet management software. This software will help you find out your equipment’s productive, non-productive and standby times so that you schedule maintenance or just plan operations accordingly.

In most cases, the software can be set such that it limits the operation of the forklifts to certified personnel. This is advantageous because they are knowledgeable about the proper handling of the forklift which will prevent unnecessary damage which usually lowers efficiency.

Use of Certified Personnel as Forklift Operators

It is a standard requirement by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) that only certified personnel handles heavy industrial equipment like forklifts. Ensuring this is adhered to is of great benefit to you for many reasons. Since they are trained on forklift use they know what important checks to perform on a forklift, when to check for them and how to go about it.

Using them will ensure that your forklifts are always in good condition as any developing damage is taken care of using frequent preventive checks. They will also be an asset when it comes to helping you as a business owner in planning operations to see to it that you do the most with minimal effort a factor that will bring down your costs.

Choose the Right Forklift For the Right Job

Sometimes the best way to boost the efficiency of your forklift is to choose the right forklift for a specific job since they come in different shapes and sizes. For instance, if you have a problem of space in your warehouse the best forklift for the job is the Side Loader Forklift as it is designed for this purpose.

When it comes to lifting your loads to much higher spaces then the Telescopic Handler Forklift is your best bet for the job. While if you just need to move loads on the ground space then go for the pallet trucks as they are much convenient.

Conclusion

So make sure you regularly maintain your forklift using qualified personnel and enable smooth operations through optimal warehouse design. Also, ensure you make use of the fleet management software even as you employ only certified personnel to handle your forklifts. Lastly, make sure you choose the right forklift for the specific job that you need to do. If you can consider all this then there is no way you will not enjoy maximum efficiency from your forklift.

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