Forklifts often have to be operated on an incline or grades at a facility.  Operating a forklift on a grade improperly can result in serious injury or damages.  It is best that you have your operators develop some best practices when moving up and down ramps with or without products.  This can result in keeping your warehouse safer and more efficient.    Follow these 5 tips to keep the product, operators, and everyone around safer.

CHECK THE MANUAL

Check your Operation and Maintenance Manual (OMM).  Every forklift manufacture provides an OMM with their forklift that each operator should read before getting on the machine.  Make the OMM part of operator training and keep it accessible to anyone who gets on the machine.  Most manufacturers have an area dedicated for the safe storage of the manual.  If you are missing your OMM for your forklift, contact our parts department for a replacement!

TRAVELING ON GRADES

No matter what, you should always drive a loaded forklift with the forks pointed up the grade.  This will ensure that the load is secure and will not slide off the forks.  Also, regardless of the direction, you should always travel with an unloaded forklift with the forks pointed down the grade.  This helps improve traction and braking while traveling the ramp.

SPEEDS WHILE ON GRADES

The key to operating any type of grade is simply maintaining a consistent and slow speed.  This will minimize the risks of tipping.  You should follow this practice whether you are carrying a load or not.

DIRECTIONAL CHANGES ON GRADES

At all cost, directional changes on a slope should be avoided.  Any type of directional change on a grade can result in serious risk or injury.  The sudden change can create an imbalance in the equilibrium of the forklift, which can cause a tip-over.

In order to prevent this, have your operators familiarize themselves with their surroundings.  Plan the route on the straightest path up and down the grade.  Ensure there is nothing in the way of that path and always travel slowly.

KEEP IT BASIC

Remember the basics that you retained from your operator training course.  Keep it slow and maintain a constant speed while descending or ascending grades.  Apply the information you learned from your operator training to keep everyone safe.

Our forklift operator training programs can help keep operators knowledgeable and safe while operating equipment.  For more information about our training programs contact us at 330-633-6000.

Flexibility is essential for any business and renting forklifts can be a different approach to lowering costs on a short-term basis. Understanding a lift truck rental agreement will help maximize the benefits you can gain from using a short-term forklift rental, thus aligning with your business’s particular needs.  

Factors to Consider:

The first factor to consider would be if there will be a demand for more forklift capacity in the future. Depending on the need, the cost to rent a forklift on a short-term basis can save you money if you’re able to secure a low rate. Short-term rentals are ideal for:

• Replacing forklifts that are out for service or repairs.
• Temporary goods demand larger capacities or extended reach.
• Seasonal demand increases.
• Need to maintain productivity until a new forklift works with the budget.
• Testing different models to determine what fits best.

Rentals are Temporary Costs:

Forklift rentals are a temporary expense for decision-makers to have a much greater flexibility when managing the budget. Not every business can go out and spend money on a new or used forklift, especially when other business questions should be answered first, for instance:

• Is there room for in your budgeting for flexibility?
• Will growing the business require more equipment needs?
• Are you providing your own forklift maintenance or leaving it to someone else?  (Local forklift dealer)
• Does your business demand guaranteed uptime? (Full-Maintenance)

Rental Agreements:

If you need to go beyond the short-term rental, consider speaking to one of our local territory managers first to make sure you get the most out of the rental. Talk to us about the type of loads (weights & sizes), height required to lift, operating condition and surface, or any special requirements your facility has.

Once you feel like you have a general idea of your forklift needs, we can talk specifics like:

• Is there a need for additional features, like attachments, alarms, or warning lights?
• If you use an electric forklift, you will need to review the battery charger requirements.  Do you need professional help for installation? Ask us what options we would recommend for your application.
• Establish a general idea of how long you will need the rental. This can help reduce the rates, thus saving you money.

For more information about forklift rentals call our rental department at 330-633-6000 or visit our forklift rental page.

Below are seven tips we learned from some of our customers on how to improve material handling and efficiency. By following some of these tips you will notice an improvement in your workplace’s efficiency, thus saving time and money!

1. LEAVE IT TO THE PRO’S FOR PUT-AWAY

• Don’t assign new employees to put-away duties.  An experienced driver in receiving will know the products and understand where things go.
• Have the new employee start by filling orders.  This will help them learn and understand the products, customers, and paperwork system.

2. KNOW THE TRUCK ARRIVAL SCHEDULE

• Don’t waste valuable time waiting in the yard and unwanted pressure on receivers and shippers.
• If your truck arrival schedule is efficient, the fewer dock doors you will need to operate.  This will save you money on utilities.

3. ASSIGN DIFFERENT SHIFTS FOR SHIPPING & RECEIVING

• With an assigned shift to one task, you can reduce the staging area requirements by receiving goods during one shift and shipping during another.

4. SET A PACE FOR UNLOADING

• Trucks sitting around only cause congestion in the warehouse.
• Measure how fast your team unloads a truck.  Is there any room for improvement or anything that can be done differently to shave off time?

5. KEEP THE WAREHOUSE CLEAN

• Don’t let pieces of debris on the floor reduce your productivity.  This will slow down operators in the workflow.
• Check for cracks or uneven floor sections.  These can cause serious damages to trucks and expensive down-times.
• Floor defects can also lead to loads tipping and causing serious injury or damage to the product.

6. IMPROVE PACKING

• Get packers complete orders so they don’t waste time looking for missing items.
• Do they have enough space?  Observe them at work and make sure they’re not bumping into each other or tripping over boxes.
• Keep the workflow consistent so packing doesn’t change between dead periods and rush hour activity.  If there is a change, this could mean that the order picking process is not operating as effectively and needs further attention.

7. WHAT DO THE OPERATORS SAY?

• Keep your operators up to date on new process improvements across the warehouse for improved efficiency
• Ask your operators their opinion on how to improve a certain task that they perform around the warehouse.
• Watch your best forklift operators to discover tricks they currently do.  Use that operator to teach others on how to be efficient.

For more tips and tricks on how to improve your warehouse contact us at 330-633-6000 to speak to a warehouse specialist!

Due to an amendment made to the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, OSHA fines will increase for the first time in over 25 years. With this change being made OSHA is in the final processes to initiate the ruling starting in 2016. It is projected that the rates will go up 70 -80% from where they currently are set. This law compensates for the stoppage of penalty increases that had been in place for the last quarter century.

OSHA was originally created back in 1971 as a way to make the work place a safer environment for all employees and guests. As this change takes effect it is more vital than ever to have your employees properly trained and certified on forklift safety. The price of proper training will far out weigh the price of these increased OSHA fines that could occur.

To learn more about OSHA and Forklift training contact Fallsway today!

As the winter months are quickly approaching, many are beginning to get their businesses ready for the changing weather conditions. Taking care of priorities such as snow removal, salting parking lots and making sure all heaters are cleaned and ready to go. But many forget one very important item that needs to be ready for winter as well, and that is prepping the forklifts and all other material handling machines.

Taking care of your material handling machines before the frigid temperature arrive is a must. Often times, preparing your forklift for the winter months is not on your first to-do list, more of an afterthought after something goes wrong.

There are many issues that can arise by not properly getting your forklift cold-weather ready, such as leaks in tubing, dead batteries and cracked radiators. It is also important to note that in the winter months; it is easier for your forklift to overheat than in the summer weather. Checking the freezing point of your antifreeze to ensure it is not too low is a great place to start before the harsh weather hits, but it is not always enough to protect your machines. With the winterizing services that Fallsway Equipment can provide, most of these issues are preventable.

To help make these non-issues, we are able to include all of these adjustments in our regularly scheduled planned maintenance programs. In our planned maintenance program, the certified technicians that come to you, will give your forklift a full servicing every 500 hours to make sure that your machines are continuing to run at its peak performance. As mentioned above, it is during these planned maintenance times that adjustments can be made for the winter months as well. Preventative maintenance such as this will help keep your operating costs low and prevent downtime due to larger repairs such as damaged radiators or cracked tubing caused from the changing weather conditions.

Call Fallsway Equipment today to ask more about winterizing your forklift and getting set up on a planned maintenance program.

Fallsway Equipment
(330) 633-6000
Fallsway.com