DC Velocity - IdeaBook 2014

communication with upper management about strategic plans—information that could affect DC operations but often isn’t shared until late in the game. “Too often, higher-ups will start some strategic initiative, and they assume the engineers and the warehouse managers will come up with a solution to make it work,” he says. “If they had known about it in advance, they could have planned for it.” (For more about choosing lift trucks for a planned facility, see sidebar.)

WHAT DO THE DATA TELL YOU?

Once the data are in hand, it’s time to evaluate the information. Who should be involved? “A misapplied piece of equipment can be costly in many ways, and the key to making the right decision is having the team members involved in the process who have a vested interest in the equipment’s productivity,” Pfleger says.

That could include the plant or warehouse manager, shift supervisors, the maintenance manager, service technicians, the safety manager, and the lift truck operators who will be performing the activities in question. In addition, says Komatsu’s Allmandinger, the company controller and “green” project managers increasingly are involved. Finally, the consulting engineer and prospective lift truck suppliers can provide insight into what the data mean and how they translate into a truck choice.

Why so many players? Because each one will have a different focus, explains Andy Smith, senior marketing product manager at Crown Equipment Corp. Shift supervisors will focus on inefficiencies, while warehouse managers might think about business cycles; they may also be aware of a contract that’s about to expire or a new one that could influence the type of truck required. Technicians, fleet managers, and forklift operators will know what detracts from the current fleet’s performance. The local forklift provider can help to consolidate and prioritize their concerns, and then put together a proposal based on that input, he explains.

The team will consider what tasks (for instance,
picking, putaway, and loading/unloading trailers)
and activities (such as lifting and horizontal travel)
the lift trucks are currently doing, what they should
be doing, and what will be expected of them in the
future. It will also examine the physical demands
and constraints on trucks and operators, plus their
efficiency and cost performance. The aim is to
uncover inefficiencies, safety issues, and excessive
costs—all signs of a possible mismatch between
a truck and a particular application, or that the
truck you plan to buy won’t be a good fit. Just a
few examples of what the analysis might turn up:

x Trucks that move into a rack should be lifting 25 percent of the time, says Comfort. If they’re being used more for horizontal transport, then it could be more cost-effective and efficient to position those trucks near the racks and use a different type of vehicle to shuttle loads to and from the racks.

x Lift trucks that may be at home elsewhere in the warehouse may be totally inappropriate for loading and unloading trailers. A standard two-rail mast that’s designed to provide maximum visibility will puncture the roof of the trailer before the load reaches the necessary height for travel and must not be used for loading and unloading, says Simpson of Clark. Designs that allow for simultaneous movement of load and rails have a similar problem, he says.

x It sounds simple: For low lifts and horizontal transport, a sit-down counterbalanced truck is the obvious choice; if you have to go higher, then some type of reach truck usually is best. But even when the former is the case, if the aisle width and the turning space at intersections are too tight for the bigger forklift to maneuver efficiently, it will slow throughput and create a safety hazard. “You have to understand all of the tradeoffs, such as aisle size versus productivity,” Smith says.

x If workers have to wait for a forklift driver to pick up assembled pallets and deliver them to another location nearby, you’re wasting time and money while creating a safety hazard, says Pedriana of Big Joe. It might be better to substitute a walkie stacker: Workers can use the smaller vehicle as a lift table and then deliver the finished pallet themselves to the next location, rather than have an operator drive heavy equipment where people are working.