Drive Efficiencies and Cut Costs Within Your Materials Handling Fleet

Business Insights
25/01/2017

Colin Ingram from Impact Handling, the UK’s Leading Materials Handling Supplier, gives us his top tips on how to drive efficiencies and cut costs within your materials handling operations:

People may not know it but Materials Handling Equipment (MHE) is arguably the most important part of the supply chain; it’s the glue of British industry.

Certainly, the factories producing the goods, the trucks transporting the goods, and the staff selling the goods all have their place, but nothing in that chain would get from A to B without the assistance of forklifts, pallet trucks, reach-stackers and tow tractors.

In the last decade MHE industry has witnessed a technological revolution in connectivity, power and efficiency unlike anything before. However, even as MHE technology has continued its relentless evolution, two concerns remain the same up and down the country: keeping costs down, and cutting the environmental impact of operations.

1. Efficiency through evaluation

Efficiency in materials handling means an improved profit margin, reduced expenditure, streamlined day-to-day operations and a lessened environmental impact – namely, it means success!

In our experience, uncovering the potential efficiency improvements in a fleet starts with analysis. Many operators find themselves looking to an MHE fleet as a fixed entity – rather than an evolving resource that can change to match the company’s requirements.

The first step is an honest, in-depth analysis and audit of a company’s fleet. Indeed, it’s surprising how many companies are running inappropriate or over-specified equipment, or are simply unaware of the alternative options waiting to be utilised – all of which can lead to increased costs in terms of higher maintenance requirements, downtime, or equipment redundancy.

Following an audit of this type, companies can identify any issues and move to correct them – a process that typically begins with specifying more appropriate trucks for the job and retiring older or unused assets, and ends with the creation of a proactive maintenance programme, to ensure maximum uptime.

2. Proactive maintenance

When it comes to maintenance, the best engineer is the one you never see, which is why a focus should be placed on proactive maintenance – the second step towards reducing an MHE fleet’s costs and carbon footprint.

Regular check-ups on equipment should also become a key tenet of a company’s operations, allowing engineers to spot concerns before they develop into issues, and help keep that smaller, streamlined MHE fleet working at peak efficiency – cutting costs through reduced downtime.

Such a programme also eliminates a requirement for ‘spare’ trucks – usually older models stored in a dusty corner – that merely take up space, and add nothing to operational efficiency. Sometimes a company may be operating simply too many trucks, when fewer trucks with increased abilities would do the job better.

However, no matter how proactive the maintenance regime, it’s a fact that all fleets will suffer downtime. Therefore, companies should work with an MHE supplier that maintains a network of local depots and mobile engineers, as well as offering a parts supply line that can get a vital component to their door rapidly.

3. Adaptive agreements

Many materials handling suppliers believe their relationship with industry revolves entirely around selling trucks and that the day’s work ends at sales statistics and month-end statements.

However, we know that the fleet supplied at the start of a contract may not be suitable as the months pass – and companies should consider if their supplier can meet these evolving circumstances.

If, for example, your company secures a big-ticket deal, and needs to vastly increase its MHE fleet at short notice, does your supplier have the ability to meet that shortfall from its own short-term hire fleet?

Or can your supplier provide a suite of trucks the next day, to assist with an unexpectedly large delivery?

Companies should talk to their current supplier – and should do so now, when there is still time to take action if you find the answers aren’t what you are looking for.

Ask them also about their approach to equipment diversity. Many companies tend to ‘stick’ to one brand of MHE, usually from a long history of operation, and a desire not to add additional complications. However, we firmly believe a multi-brand approach to materials handling unlocks additional opportunities for cost savings.

These considerations should be key once a company is operating a streamlined, smaller, more efficient fleet, backed up with a supportive and responsive proactive maintenance programme - all of which adds up to cost savings over time.

W: http://impact-handling.com/