Steve Briscall, National Training Manager and Sam Cook, Technical Training Manager, at Rushlift offer a five-point plan for uplifting fleet performance
A vast number of businesses are critically dependent on the smooth running of their forklift truck fleet. And yet, how well planned, maintained and managed is the average fleet? How sophisticated is the analysis of vehicle usage data – is utilisation evenly spread across the fleet? What are the damage trends and causes? And is servicing being regularly carried out?
Monitoring every aspect of the fleet should be an on-going process, controlled and managed by specialists that understand the importance of regular servicing, damage control, compliance issues and cost analysis – here’s a five-point plan for top fleet performance.
Compliance
As a matter of legal compliance, businesses are required to carry out a full service on an industrial vehicle at least once a year under PUWER (Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998). In addition, if the truck lifts a load above 300mm then it must also have a ‘Thorough Examination’ LOLER (Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations) inspection every 12 months, as well. But legal compliance is just the bare minimum requirement.
Enhanced safety
Well maintained trucks are inherently safer, reducing risk of injury and protecting onsite personnel well-being. Diligent maintenance, with regular servicing, is important to the safety culture of the business, following guidelines which help mitigate risk to directors in legal cases relating to industrial accidents and claims of negligence.
Regular chain-wear inspection and maintenance, along with service checks on tyre condition, brakes, axles, fork-wear, wheel bearings and greasing are critically important.
Reliability and performance
With regular maintenance and servicing a vehicle will experience less downtime, making a truck far more productive in its operational life whilst extending the life of the truck, resulting in greater value delivered over the whole life cycle of the vehicle. Regularity in servicing also helps to identify small problems that could become bigger problems if left.
Records and analysis
Keeping a thorough and complete record of service history, parts and replacements, relating to each vehicle in the fleet is an essential asset to the business, not just for charting the performance of the vehicle, but for keeping track of costs and as a record of good service history. A comprehensive service management system capable of scheduling, recording actions, parts used and readily available 24/7 to service engineers, and management, is a valuable tool that may offer detailed analysis on each truck’s performance across the site or sites.
Vital support
Businesses competing on tight delivery windows or critical production schedules will need the reassurance of a reliable service support network. Of course, fast and easy access to parts is a fundamental support function – waiting for parts to arrive from a distant European parts store can cause delay and increase down time.
For further information on Rushlift go to https://www.rushlift.co.uk
