Are you looking for ways to reduce costs and slash overhead to optimize much-needed savings? Look no further than your forklift fleet, as those savings can be abundant. Looking to data to maximize output and utilization, re-evaluating contracts and scrutinizing maintenance costs are three key and critical ways you can put much needed money back in the pocket of your business and be used to make investments to drive your enterprise. Here is how:

1. Looking To Data To Maximize Utilization –The old idiom is true: the numbers don’t lie. Looking at data to maximize utilization is a prime way to determine how and where you can increase savings. Many material handling interfaces and applications are instrumental in helping making these determinations. As we have covered in other articles, there are many supply chain platforms that can derive usage of every vehicle in your fleet and further identify which apparatus are being overused, underused or used appropriately. Such information is also essential if you are making future purchases and can be instrumental in determining costs to operate versus output. These algorithms are imperative in deriving whether any vehicle is an asset or liability.

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2. Re-Evaluate Contracts – According to MHL News, there needs to be harmony between finance and operations teams. This is imperative in acquiring the data and information regarding contract hours. Corresponding with a call to assure appropriate and optimal utilization, such initiatives affect contract hours most explicitly of all. Material handling equipment that is underutilized fosters a higher payment on both a monthly and annual basis. Contrarily, when these devices are overutilized this correlates with extensive overtime charges at the end of any given contract. Taking another look at these contracts and how they relate to costs and productivity is a great way to itemize and minimize expenditures.

3. Lower Maintenance Costs – There is a plethora of information available on lowering maintenance costs and this facet can feature its own article in itself. To summarize and briefly elaborate, lowering maintenance costs is a sure-fire method and approach to reduce the overall cost of ownership for any given forklift fleet. A great strategy and tactic to lower maintenance costs is to prevent the need for maintenance in the first place. Ensuring employees and personnel check the forklift prior to each and every use can aid in detecting a problem early and reducing costs long-term with swift action. In addition, a great way to prolong the life and performance of any forklift is to make sure oil changes are conducted on a regular schedule with adherence to the prescribed regimens. Furthermore, ensuring that a battery is appropriately charged and verifying hydraulic fluid levels are two more ways to prevent accidents and any collateral damage that comes as a result of these vital components malfunctioning. These small yet simple steps can ensure the forklift is a quality investment and provides a lot of bang for your buck.