Page 13 - Logistics News - June/July 2021

FO RKLIFT S
Three things to look for in

a forklift service provider

By Craig Bruns, Crown Equipment Corp, courtesy SupplyChainBrain

These three data points are an ideal way to introduce data analytics to your forklift maintenance
decisions and help you recognise when your service and maintenance programme is not on track.

aying a good service and maintenance programme not be performing it often enough. Be sure to track if the work
is important to the health of your forklift fleet is orders are operator error/abuse or normal planned maintenance
Slike saying a good supply chain is vital to keep products or breakdown. This will help you identify additional areas where
moving. Every fleet manager knows this. The issue is not you can save your company money.
understanding the importance of service and maintenance, but
rather having the focus, data and understanding that can help 2. Average cost per model
you determine and ensure that you have an effective service and As your forklifts age, the value they provide to your operations
maintenance programme. depreciates. The average cost per model will help you determine
the ideal age limit for your forklifts. The formula compares
Data analytics has introduced a powerful new tool to help the annual cost of the maintenance and repairs needed to the
fleet managers better understand how their fleet and service number of hours the forklift is used within the year. This gives
and maintenance programmes are performing. As connectivity you the cost per hour to operate that truck. Your forklift provider
within the supply chain increases, there is a growing amount of should be able to give you industry averages or specific numbers
forklift data that can be collected and analysed to help you gain for their makes and models. This will allow you to regularly
a better understanding of how your forklifts are being used and benchmark against your numbers as your fleet ages and changes.
maintained. The big questions quickly become: where do I start
and how do I use this data for making informed decisions? Note that a high cost per model doesn’t automatically
mean that the forklift needs to be replaced. There might be
Here are three numbers that can help determine if your other factors in play, such as how the forklifts are being used
service and maintenance programme is performing in the ways and the frequency of planned maintenance. Numbers that
that you need. are consistently higher than those your forklift manufacturer
provided might point to needed adjustments with your service
1. Planned maintenance (PM) to breakdown ratio maintenance programme.
Establishing and closely monitoring your PM to breakdown ratio
is a good indicator of how your programme is performing. It’s as 3. Plan replacement formula
simple as tracking all invoices or work orders for your forklifts As your forklifts age, performance levels inevitably drop. At some
annually. Comparing year-to-year numbers will give you an point, it no longer makes sense to perform maintenance on a
average. Data shows the average number of forklift service work piece of equipment, and it may be time to replace it. But when
orders is between five to nine work orders per year, depending is the right time? That’s where having a good plan replacement
on the type of equipment and application. formula can help. A good formula should take into account
factors such as the age of the forklift, how many operational
For instance, if you have seven invoices for the year, with hours you get from the truck annually and your maintenance
four representing planned maintenance and three being threshold percentage. This maintenance threshold number is
breakdowns, then that is within an acceptable range. Now, if five when you deem it is no longer viable to maintain the truck.
of those are breakdowns and two are planned maintenance, then
you have a problem. Identify a plan replacement formula that is right for your
fleet and operations. Your forklift provider can be a great
Once you identify a ratio that best works for your operation, resource in helping you determine what that is. Once you have L O GI S T I CS NEWS
try to adhere to it. The key is to establish and follow a ratio. the formula, you can put in place a process whereby you are
If your ratio rises above this number, it could mean you are alerted when a certain truck has reached the point where it is
performing PM too often. If your ratio goes lower, you may time to replace. •

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