Have We Reached the Point Where We Need a New Fleet of Forklifts

Every business has its own set of recognized realities. The obvious solutions are those that everyone already knows. The trouble is that what was true yesterday may be outdated today, and what seems to be common sense at first glance may turn out to be far more complex than you thought. There is nothing wrong with looking at both options when it comes to making a big investment like the purchase and maintenance of your forklift fleet. There are new realities in business, and old ones need to be re-examined because of this. It is also possible that the straightforward answers may no longer be the best alternatives for your situation.

The Illusion of a Single Manufacturer

Toyota, Hyster, and Crown are among the most popular new truck manufacturers for large-scale forklift fleets (for pneumatic or cushion trucks). In terms of purchasing or leasing, it is easier to deal with a single organization, but it is not the key issue. The most pressing concern is the cost of upkeep.

Maintenance charges are meant to be included in full-service leases. Ideally, they enable you to set maintenance schedules and expenses and then forget about them for the term of the lease. This is the ideal situation. This lovely image has two flaws. Parts that have failed outside of the warranty period or wear items like brakes are not often covered by full service leases. It's impossible to know exactly how much it will cost to maintain your vehicle.

When it comes to choosing a single supplier, this seems to be an extra benefit since you will only need to store one set of components and educate your employees on one piece of equipment (or at least, machines from a single manufacturer). At first glance, this may seem like a good idea, but at what price?

Not every forklift manufacturer excels at every task a forklift is required to do in your business. It's impossible to keep track of everything. Limited in range, electrics are silent, affordable and non-polluting. Turning radius is an important issue in certain short-aisle warehouse operations. Turret trucks may be necessary in the most severe situations.

Determine the features and qualities that are most important to the task at hand and purchase the appropriate number of trucks from a company that produces those features and characteristics—and then repeat this procedure for every job in your organization. It's not uncommon for a multi-location operation to have four or five distinct lift truck models. Is this the beginning of the end of a nightmare for maintenance? The answer is no.

As long as you only use one brand of fork lift to accomplish a certain activity, your maintenance costs will be lower since you have chosen the model with the greatest performance for that purpose. The service intervals are the same, but if the vehicle is better suited to the task at hand, component failure is less likely to occur.

It may be more expensive in the beginning to have a greater stock of components, but doing so shouldn't add up to much in the long run. If you want to specialize in training, you may be able to. A simple and low-cost alternative would be to train two employees on the maintenance of many different brands, rather than two people on one specific brand.

Refurbished vs. Brand New

Refurbished forklift trucks, although less costly than new ones, are less dependable and hence not a wise investment. However, this may no longer be the case.

Refurbishing old lift trucks has now become a huge industry due to the rising cost of capital equipment. As recently as five or six years ago, it wasn't financially feasible to build a manufacturing line for refurbished forklifts since the market was too small to justify the cost of such an operation.

Refurbished has many connotations depending on who uses it. This is an option you should only consider after you have thoroughly dismantled the device, cleaned it with sand and paint, and then reassembled it. When it comes to overhauling and refinishing an old vehicle, nothing should be overlooked, not even the engines. Used forklifts might be unsafe, but reconditioned ones don't have to be.

For a long time, third parties have been renovating trucks for tiny customers who couldn't afford new ones. To ensure quality, they had to perform the work themselves since there were very few excellent restored vehicles available. As of now, that's not the case. Because of the growing demand for factory-refurbished forklifts, they are currently available for a third of the price of new ones. In addition, they may be purchased in large numbers, which should be of interest to fleet owners.

In terms of quantity and pricing, buying a reconditioned forklift truck is a good deal. But what exactly are you getting? Is this where you may end up with a nightmare of maintenance? That's not always the case.

Refurbished automobiles have been driven for a short period of time to work out any kinks, and then the weak parts are swapped out. As a consequence, the device has improved in terms of reliability. Refurbished trucks are obviously less dependable than new ones, but imagine the following situation: A third of the price of a new one may be saved by purchasing a reconditioned one. During the run-in period, substantial maintenance costs are to be expected, but you've already avoided them. In order to avoid the last stage of heavy maintenance as the unit nears the end of its life, you maintain it routinely and retire it a year sooner than you would a new unit. When it comes to capital expenditures, you've saved a significant amount of money, and your maintenance expenses may really decrease as well.

Brands With a Well Known Reputation

Last but not least, I'd want to talk about the debate over using name-brand or off-brand components when it comes to maintaining a fleet of forklift trucks. Keeping replacement parts from the same manufacturer as your forklifts is the safest option, even if they cost a bit more. It's good to know that's not always the case.

Many of my colleagues and clients in the manufacturing industry are alarmed by China's recent rise to prominence as a formidable competitor. Forklift customers, on the other hand, might benefit from their anger with China as a competitor. To compete with the major brands, factories in China that have long supplied components to them are now selling their products directly to consumers in the United States.

Keep in mind that many of them are the same guys that created the components for well-known brands. They aren't less costly because of a lower level of craftsmanship. Because of the distribution approach, they are less costly than they would otherwise be. There's no middleman getting a cut of the action. Spare parts are not used as a profit center by any forklift manufacturer to cut new truck pricing or to secure brand loyalty.

Forklift fleets with multi-manufacturer and/or remanufactured components are less likely to have greater maintenance expenses because of these reduced prices for spare parts. When it comes to selecting a forklift fleet, the most important questions to ask are: What do forklifts truly accomplish in your business, and which forklifts (new or reconditioned) can most efficiently and inexpensively execute the job(s)?