BY PETER BRADLEY, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
LIFT TRUCKS
equipment&applications
lean
fleets
If your lift truck
fleet is typical, you probably
have too many vehicles and bigger
trucks than you really need, say the experts. A
fleet audit can help you find ways to trim the fat.
WITH PEAK SEASON AROUND THE CORNER, A SUPERVISOR PUTS IN A CALL FOR SEVeral lift truck rentals. The trucks arrive and are immediately put to use. After the busy season, the
supervisor leaves the company for another job. But the rented trucks stay in the fleet for weeks,
maybe months, and the rents continue to mount. No one in the operation seems aware that the
rented vehicles are not part of the regular mix of leased and owned vehicles. Supervisors authorize payments for maintenance. And accounts payable routinely sends a check to the rental company and never bothers to ask why the DC still has the equipment.
Sound far-fetched? Fleet management specialists say stories like that are more common than
you might think. With DC managers focused first on moving product, fleet productivity and efficiency can easily become secondary issues.
But with the current intense pressure to reduce costs in a poor economy, now may be a good
time to take a close look at the lift truck fleet to determine if you have the right equipment in the
right place at the right price. And, indeed, fleet management specialists say they’ve seen renewed
interest in fleet optimization from customers.
“More so than ever,” says Scot Aitcheson, vice president of sales and marketing for Yale Materials
Handling Corp. “Customers were not necessarily focused on fleet management a year or two ago.
Now, if there is a possibility to save a penny, they are looking for that.”
“Capital expenditures are pretty tight right now, so businesses are going to focus on keeping
their trucks going as long as possible,” adds Joe LaFergola, manager of fleet operations for
Raymond Corp. “It is important to have a sound model for understanding whether it is [more cost
effective] to keep a truck or replace it.”
Details, details
Implementing a fleet management program can provide savings in any financial environment, says
Mike McKean, manager of fleet management sales and marketing for Toyota Material Handling,
U.S.A. But potential cost-savings come into much sharper focus in a slow economy. The question
is how to find those opportunities.
