T wo years ago, DC VELOCITY published an article titled “Could a lift truck become the ‘brain’ of your DC operation?” In it, Crown Equipment
Corp.’s Jim Gaskell, who oversees the forklift maker’s
fleet optimization products, posited that lift trucks
would one day function as mobile data hubs, connecting
to systems and devices beyond warehouse management
systems (WMS). It could soon be possible, he said, to
use the resulting data to better manage the warehouse
as a whole.
That day has arrived.
Lift truck telematics—the transmission of data to and
from industrial trucks—and the technologies used for
collecting, sharing, and analyzing lift truck-related data
have made great strides since that article was published.
These developments have enabled the once-humble
forklift to become a full-fledged member of the Internet
of Things (IoT), which the McKinsey Global Institute
defines as devices that can “monitor their environment,
report their status, receive instructions, and even take
action based on the information they receive.”
With the right technology on board, lift trucks can do
all that and more, opening the way for them to function
as the data hubs envisioned several years ago. But it
doesn’t end there. Engineers and software developers are
thinking up additional ways to apply lift truck telematics
and data technologies. If their ideas become reality, then
the forklift of the future could be more akin to some-
thing from “Star Trek” or “The Jetsons” than to the basic
material handling tool of the past.
SO WHAT'S NEW?
Communication terminals that integrate with a truck’s
on-board electronics to collect and wirelessly send and
receive data have been available for some time now
from both lift truck makers and independent providers.
These systems handle information about almost any
lift truck “experience” you can think of: impacts, utilization, maintenance and repair, vehicle inspections,
and operator productivity, among others. Depending
on the product, they may track a lift truck’s location
or remotely control its activities, by regulating speed or
preventing unauthorized users from starting the engine,
for example.
Fleet managers must be able to analyze and act on all
that data, of course. For that reason, telematics systems
typically include or integrate with fleet management
software. Via a management dashboard, users can view
current and historical data and generate reports about
performance, utilization, safety, costs, and productivity
for an entire fleet or for individual trucks and operators.
The systems also send out alerts via text, e-mail, or the
dashboard. All these features allow fleet managers to see
trends as they develop and be proactive rather than simply address problems after the fact.
Recent developments have made lift truck telematics
and associated technologies even more advantageous.
For example, some systems now use cellular networks
and devices to transmit data. That makes telematics
available to many fleets that couldn’t take advantage
of it before, says Dick Sorenson, product director at
New developments in wireless communication and data collection will
soon allow industrial fleets to go where no forklift has gone before.
BY TOBY GOOLEY
Lift truck data:
The next frontier
