Investing in forklifts and maintaining them will cost your business money. Therefore, you want to be sure your fleet runs as efficiently and effectively as possible to ensure a return on investment.
For this to happen, your business should invest in forklift telematics. In this article, we will explain what forklift telematics is and run through the different ways it can benefit your fleet.
What is telematics in a materials handling context?
In materials handling, telematics is the underlying technology that facilitates fleet management systems, such as Toyota’s I_Site. By connecting onboard sensors and a telematics device to each truck, data is communicated back to a fleet management system powered by an ERP.
The onboard sensors and telematics device can be applied to any fleet, controlling anything from one vehicle to a fleet of thousands of trucks.
Data generated from each of your trucks can be monitored up close or from a distance — ultimately giving you greater control when managing the performance of your fleet.
This data is easily accessible through a web portal or mobile app, which is ideal for when you are on the move or even remote from the facility.
Now, we will look at other ways forklift telematics can benefit you and your fleet.
Cost improvements.
Telematics provides you with increased visibility in areas like shock recording to quickly pick up technical issues.
By having rich data at your disposal, you can take preventive action when needed to avoid spending additional costs on maintaining a truck in the future. With Toyota’s smart trucks, a forklift issue can be reported immediately via the I_Site app and fixed by a Toyota service technician as soon as possible.
This will result in fewer service visits and minimised downtime, ultimately ensuring you can control costs effectively across your operation. As well as helping you cut maintenance costs, forklift telematics can also bring down operational costs.
When you track the utilisation of your connected smart truck fleet, you can determine your ideal fleet size, streamline processes and ensure your operators are working at maximum efficiency.
Improved productivity.
Forklift telematics allows you to keep close tabs on your entire fleet’s performance to maximise productivity across multiple sites.
In the past, keeping tabs on your fleet’s utilisation could be tricky. But that does not have to be the case anymore. By making use of data, you can seamlessly track and optimise the utilisation of each truck during any stage of an operation.
This data also enables you to accurately map performance benchmarks. By measuring your truck fleet across different sites, you can identify performance gaps and work with individual operators to ensure they are working most efficiently.
Build a greener operation.
Sustainability has become necessary in the automatic material handling industry and implementing forklift telematics is one of the most effective ways to achieve your green warehouse goals.
Connecting your fleet with telematics allows you to automatically monitor battery charging cycles to optimise truck performance and reduce energy usage.
Making your batteries last longer will also minimise the need for services, which is another way to reduce your carbon footprint. In addition, installing telematics devices in your vehicles enables you to detect when a truck is stopped with its engine running and for how long.
This information can inform and educate operators so everyone can work together to reduce waste consumption.
Stay on top of health and safety.
If forklifts are not operated and monitored correctly, they can become a danger in the workplace. There are several ways you can ensure forklift safety on your fleet — and telematics is one of them.
Forklift telematics allows you to control access to your equipment, avoid costly damage and improve your proactive risk management. Speed is a common factor when forklift accidents occur. Using solutions like I_Site, you can control the operational speed of your trucks and gain better insight into why collisions and other accidents occur.
Telematics also makes it easier to track which drivers are allowed to drive certain types of forklifts. This ensures you are never at risk of failing to remain compliant.
To further prevent accidents and be confident your connected smart trucks are in perfect shape, telematic solutions can ask authorised employees to run a pre-operational check and a safety procedure before starting the truck.
Building a safe environment for your employees to work in can offer many benefits in itself. These include improved morale, leading to a more focused and productive workforce.
So, there you have it — a roundup of some of the key benefits of investing in a forklift telematics solution such as I_Site. However, to make the most of the solution, you must invest in the correct type of forklift. Our trucks offer this solution as standard and are known to be the safest on the market.
Find out more about our forklifts and how they can help you achieve your health and safety goals.
All you need to do is get in touch with our team. We will take the time to find out more about your goals and match up a solution to meet your needs. Speak to our team via the link below.
