Of all the investments a company could make to modernize warehouse operations, fleet management is the most unique. Unlike automation, infrastructure or software, lift truck usage has a huge behavioral component that makes measuring and defining success more difficult. Few other elements of materials handling equipment are mobile anywhere between eight and 24 hours a day, and few interact so frequently with as many stakeholders inside and outside the organization—from operators to managers to service providers.
When the futuristic concept of “fleet management” emerged a few years ago, it promised to leverage the Internet of Things, real-time data, and other buzzwords to bring all the pieces together to cut costs, streamline operations, improve safety and more. The sky was the limit, and the humble warehouse workhorse would finally get the treatment it deserved as such a fundamental component to productivity and profitability.
“We’re done with the hype,” says John Rosenberger, product manager for iWarehouse Gateway and global telematics for The Raymond Corp. “Everyone now accepts that there’s an advantage to fleet management, but it’s like a gym membership. If you don’t go, what value are you getting out of it?”
Like a gym, the umbrella of fleet management includes a lot of options, and few people need them all. Sure, January 1 could be the first day of your quest to become an Olympian, but it’s best to set more modest goals. The industry has spent the last few years learning this lesson—often the hard way—and the approach to forklift telematics and fleet optimization programs has adapted accordingly.
“OEMs and third parties that provide fleet management have all rushed to be able to offer everything,” says Greg Simmons, business development manager for Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift America’s national account fleet services team. “As we get a couple years into it and customers have tried some things, they’ve taken a half step back to return to the fundamentals. One size does not fit all, so we see a trend to apply small pieces of the fleet management solution set to one area that helps move the needle for one customer. That’s what matters most.”
Finding the needle in the payback
By some estimates, less than 30% of lift trucks are equipped with telematics, according to Steven LaFevers, director of aftermarket solutions for Yale Materials Handling Corp. The rest haven’t bought into fleet management solutions because they haven’t found one with the right balance between cost and immediate concerns.
Instead of a large initial investment in a base telematics solution followed by the added modules and functionality, LaFevers predicts more focused solutions that handle only battery management, or just operator checklists, or just technologies that target operator behavior. Although they might strike the balance of price and impact, all of these elements will require the same consistency of discipline as any fleet management solution.
Leave a reply