A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT TO DC VELOCITY 3

IT SHOULD COME AS NO SURPRISE that ChuckMoratz is a member of the Industrial TruckAssociation’s (ITA) engineering subcommittee.The National Forklift Safety Day 2020 chair hasbeen immersed in that profession since he wasa teenager. As a West Point cadet, he majoredin mechanical engineering. After graduating fromWest Point, he spent five yearsas an officer in the U.S. Army,specializing in field artillery. Hisassignments included stints atFort Bragg in North Carolina,in South Korea, and finally atthe Aberdeen Proving Groundsin Maryland, where he wasinvolved in testing such criticalfighting equipment as theAbrams tank. He then workedas an engineer in the aerospaceand defense industry, with afocus on quality, reliability, andsafety of products and systemsfor the U.S. military.

His experience withequipment design and quality translated well tothe material handling sector, where Moratz founda home, so to speak. “I joined Clark MaterialHandling USA 25 years ago and have been withClark ever since,” he says.

Today, he is Clark’s senior vice president
of manufacturing and engineering, with
responsibilities in North America and for
Clark globally. In North America, he oversees
engineering and product design and support;
manufacturing, including purchasing, materials
control, and quality; and technical parts and
service. In his global role, he coordinates with his
company’s engineering staff in Germany, South
Korea, Vietnam, and China. He also acts as the
North American engineering representative to
Clark’s regional operating groups.

DC VELOCITY spoke with Moratz about hisbackground and the importanceof forklift safety on NationalForklift Safety Day and everyday. Here’s what he had to say.

Q: IS THERE ANYTHINGYOU ESPECIALLY LIKE ORFIND INTERESTING ABOUTTHE INDUSTRIAL TRUCKINDUSTRY?

A: While it’s difficult for me tosingle out any particular aspectof our industry, since I thinkit’s all fascinating, I’d say thediversity of what we do is veryinteresting. What’s fascinatingto me are all the differentapplications of forklifts and how they’re used.

Every industry uses forklifts in some way, and inmy position, I’m able to visit customers throughoutNorth America to observe firsthand their differentmanufacturing and material handling processesand the various ways they’re using their forklifts.

When Clark develops a new model, we haveto know the main industry that will use it as wellas the peripheral industries where it will haveapplications. For instance, any model has a certainpower type—diesel, propane, or electric—with a