It is true that the operating costs of a fleet of forklifts, whether large or small, are not easily monitored: most often the support and maintenance is done by an external partner technician whose charges are based based on the time spent on-site service and the spare parts used (as long as this external partner procures them). Some of the spare parts or consumables may be purchased by the company and from various suppliers. The tyres, on the other hand, are purchased from another supplier, while the rims need a vulcanizer workshop. Electricals require an electrician etc It is generally difficult to  manage the expenses under such circumstences. However, there are some simple steps one can take to reduce maintenance costs:

• To train someone/some of the staff to perform light maintenance (filters, wheels if it is electric vehicles, etc.)
• To train forklift operators to drive the vehicles in a composed manner in order to protect the vehicles, themselves and their colleagues, and the infrastructure (building, racks etc.) from accidents
• To train the operators to perform regular checks on their vehicles before use so that on the one hand accidents are avoided and faults are detected in time and before they cause a sudden detention/stopping of the vehicle (something particularly painful during peak working hours)
• Spend time on market research to identify the ideal supplier. The ideal supplier is the one that has a variety of products, at competitive prices, in stock and that generally serves his/her customers with fast and correct identification of spare parts, fast deliveries and optimal quality/price ratio.

Obviously, this has to do with the budget that someone can and intends to support. But first of all, she/he should make a detailed  analysis of what kind of vehicles the business needs (what application they will be used to, whether they will be used in an indoor or outdoor environment or both, the lifting capacity needed, the number of shifts etc.). This analysis can also be done by the forklift supplier who will recommend the vehicles. In general though, new vehicles will take longer to develop problems but are more expensive, while used vehicles may have a lower purchase price but will likely develop a problem sooner. But there is something else in favour of used ones which are obviously older models as well: the newer the model of the forklift the more electronic parts have been integrated into it and therefore the more difficult it is to identify a problem and the parts that will be needed by an external partner-technician.

Leasing is a good solution to controling budget easily. To start with, its cost is specific and includes all maintenance and repair that may occur it is very easy for an accounting department to control support/maintenance costs, especially when it comes to large companies with a large fleet of forklifts. And moreover, not many suppliers are involved in the support of the forklifts but only one. Certainly the cost of leasing is much higher than if a company were to outsource the fleet support either with a maintenance contract or with case-by-case calls (when a problem occurs), but with leasing you save time and the costs are easily controllable.

Certainly being an independent company in terms of fleet support sounds ideal. But it’s really a matter of cost. Because in the case that the company’s fleet is small (1-2 or up to 5 vehicles max) it is certainly more costly for the company to have technical staff only for forklifts. In this case it would be better to see toan external partner. However, if the fleet is large, it is worth investigating the possibility of having a technical department. In this case, the comparison can be made with the cost of lease, but also from the extent to which the company can monitor maintenance costs. An ideal case would be if the company is a transport or distribution companyand already keeps a technical department for the maintenance of its trucks and cars, so it could include the maintenance of forklifts in the existing technical department, since the technicians already there and can respond to the new needs with a proper training. Or even if the business is an industry with a technical department to support its engineering facilities.

Certainly, it would be good to have such a stock so that there is a quick replacement of the parts whenever a problem turns up. Provided, of course, that there is a trained employee who can make the replacements. Such items can be filters (air, fuel, oil), wheels (for electric forklifts-pallet trucks), and of course lubricants, grease, etc.

The problem with forklifts is that they are used in environments that are accessible to both forklifts and pedestrians (warehouses, yards etc). Particularly, when these environments are closed spaces, the forklift-pedestrian combination tends to be extremely dangerous. But operating a forklift itself also hides risks for the operators themselves.

For example, the operator may, due to haste, take a turn at speed and overturn the vehicle with the risk of being crushed by it. He can also, wanting to help a colleague, accept to lift him (the colleague) with the forks on a high shelf to get a product: the colleague who is at risk to lose his balance. In principle, safety when using forklifts is part of a more general safety plan in the workplace.

But especially for forklifts, the first and foremost thing that one must do is the training of the operators (you can also see question 7). Obviously, the required equipment should be purchased, namely the equipment required by law, but we as Interklark encourage investment in systems that may not be so well known at the moment, but are broadly used abroad. We are referring to systems based on online platforms that control each vehicle separately (who is driving it and if he/she has the authorization for it, the speed of the forklift, whether there are pedestrians in a close range, they even inactivate the vehicle in case of danger, etc.).

Some companies, with good intentions, make the mistake of overloading their forklifts with safety devices (i.e. apart from a strobe light and a reverse movement alarm) such as blue and red spot lights, side lights demarcating the mandatory distance from the vehicle, etc. but it is generally accepted that the many safety accessories can confuse operators or even lead to the exact opposite effect, i.e. complete familiarity with (visual or sound) alerts ends up to ultimate indifference instead of acute attention.

Definitely, there are many benefits:

• Operators learn to drive carefully and safely resulting in fewer -or no- accidents that generally cause injuries as well as damage to infrastructure. For example, they learn that they should not overload the forks, causing them to bend and wear easily and sooner than expected, and affect the center of gravity of the vehicle during movement, which often causes accidents.
• Operators learn to control their vehicle so that any issues are caught early and resolved before they become a cause of forklift downtime (which delays warehouse operations, delays shipping orders and potentially increases overtime).
• Correct handling limits damage to the forklift.
• Operators learn to maintain their vehicle. For example, if it is an electric vehicle, they learn to fill the battery with – deionized (in this you need to be careful not to use simple tap water which destroys the battery) – water to avoid sulphation which dramatically reduces the life of the battery.
• Generallyspeaking, trainingreducesaccidents, damagesanddowntime.

Basically, the choice also depends on the geographical location of the business. That is, the smaller the place you are, the harder it is to find a specialized partner.

Usually in rural areas there is a repair shop that deals with every type of vehicle: it mainly serves trucks or tractors but also offers services for forklifts and other commercial vehicles. In such a case there is no margin of choice. Generally, the larger the location where the business is headquartered (based on the village-town-city-metropolis scale), the more options there are.

Obviously, the criteria of selecting partners are standard regardless of the sector or case: does  he/she  master the subject?  is she/he specialized?  how fast does he/she respond to a call? how fast does he/she completes the repair? is the chemistry  developed between  the technician and the customer  satisfactory? and of course how high is the cost both of her/his services and  the spare parts she/he offers (in case that the agreement dictates that the spare parts will be supplied by him and not purchased by the customer)?