Looking Ahead to Material Handling Equipment in 2016

By Keith Trumbull

From understanding material handling equipment costs to help strengthen strategy and leasing versus buying to forklift classifications and deciding when to repair or replace equipment, this column explored a range of topics related to material handling. Now we’re looking ahead to 2016.

How are you preparing your material handling fleet to meet the challenges of 2016? It’s a given that competition in your business will increase not lessen and that you’ll be asked to do more with less.

Here’s a look at what we’re pondering as we move into another new year.

Are the right number of properly trained operators in place?
Proper training not only insures employees are capable of operating equipment, but that they do so in a safe manner. This helps avoid product damage as well as accidents that may break the lift truck and incur costly repairs (or other equipment in the operating environment) or worse, cause physical injuries.

Are systems in place to understand the total cost of running the equipment?
Are you making decisions for the future based on real data from your operating environment? Not truly understanding costs and where that spend is being applied makes your department “overhead”. In 2016, strive to position your department as an “asset”, improving your competitiveness.

Do you make informed decisions about when to replace your assets?
Having the proper data and then partnering with your finance organization to determine the proper replacement cycle provides not only cost savings but helps insure management understands the critical role of your team.

Is there a maintenance plan for your assets?
Fixing equipment only when it breaks down is not only expensive but disruptive to operations. Having a plan and a system to monitor the plan helps minimize your maintenance spend and make better data driven decisions for the future.

Do you have plans to update your material handling asset management in the New Year? Leave a comment or send us a tweet, @ElementFleet .

Each month Fleet Management Weekly features material handling equipment guidance from Keith Trumbull, vice president of material handling equipment at Element Fleet Management.

The post Looking Ahead to Material Handling Equipment in 2016 appeared first on Fleet Management Weekly.

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