Hi all,
I work in a factory where lots of stuff is moved around by forklift. This results in damage to: buildings, doors and people.
Although the use of powered handtrucks would be a little slower does any have any experience of moving from one to the other and any thoughts?
I'm going to do a few measurements of how much slower things will be; if this will have an impact on materials supply to the lines and also present the cost savings and reduced accident figures.
So what ya got?
Cheers!
Pallet trucks are easily stolen by crooks masquerading as the builders working on your site. Don't ask me how I know this.
Electric pallet trucks can still cause damage and tip over if people are rushing and/or not trained. The cause of damage is not the trucks fault it is the operator and whatever you give them they will wreck something. Better training/refresher courses may be the answer.
How is so much damage being caused?!
Sounds like the money should be spent on a 'how to drive a forklift' course, rather than new machinery.
Many years ago I worked at a small wine importers where we had both a forklift and a manual pallet truck to shift pretty heavy loads.
The fork lift was generally only used for moving pallets on and off racking/vans. For just shifting pallets around at floor level the pallet truck is ample and there's less chance to killing someone as you generally move slower.
Thanks for the responses.
Last year the equivalent of £50k was caused in smashing up doors, pillars and "fences". I've only worked here for 6 months and have almost been run into several times.
My belief is that no matter what training you give someone, after a few weeks they'll be back to normal. So by giving something which is slower and more manoeuvrable I hope we can reduce the damage and also reduce accidents. I'd also expect the same number of electric pallet forks to cost less to run for a year than a fleet of forklifts.
Biggest question mark for me is: Does this exchange sacrifice material availability at the lineside? If not, why wouldn't you do it? The factory only needs fork lifts for loading/unloading a few odd loads a month. Most of the loading is done straight into the back of the trailers from a loading bay and so hand truck would be ideal.
More thoughts/experiences welcomed!
what you need is to install some dog collar perimeter shock kits running around the designated forklift lanes, then provide the operators with their new compulsory collars/underwear. They'll soon learn to drive with due care and attention.
Last year the equivalent of £50k was caused in smashing up doors, pillars and "fences". I've only worked here for 6 months and have almost been run into several times.
that's very wrong.
Most of the loading is done straight into the back of the trailers from a loading bay and so hand truck would be ideal.
Get rid of the gas/diesel forklift and replace it with an electric one, as they are easier to use and move. Only have 2 people who can use it, leaves more responsibility on them, thus they might be more cafeful. Buy some pallet trucks, they are easy to use, not that much slower either, if the distance isn't that great.
EDIT: Put a new rule in, that you can only use the forklift for moving stuff which is on a different level. If its the same level a pallet truck must be used.
£50K of damage... Is that with one forklift!?
Sounds like someone needs to do some analysis on what MHE is needed. If you have a fleet larger than you need that is a lot of capital and cash tied up doing nothing. Rather than say 'hand op, not sit on', start with a clean sheet and see what comes up.
BTW - training backed up with proactive management will change behaviour. There may be a need for some stick as well as carrot, but it can work.
An electric forklift can be tuned to reduce max speed. Also linde trucks are inherently safer imo because of the regenerative braking. Sorry no experience of the powered hand trucks.
Some great points!
TooTall - I am with you on the training+management point. I am working in Sweden and confrontation is socially not allowed. As a result the managers are good at managing, but couldn't lead a team out of a paper bag.
I'll keep this thread rolling as I get more hard data on the damage and also usage of current kit.
As said above, start from scratch and see what is currently the "best" way to handle our materials.
Have a nice weekend!
Cameras, points. Some of the money saved used to reward good drivers.
Do you lease the forklifts?
If so, does the company you get them off also do electric pallet trucks and the like?
Could you get them to loan you one for a week or two to try out?
Or any other supplier you could go to and say you are thinking of making the change to electric pallet trucks and you'd like to try one for a while to see if they suit your requirements?
Years ago I worked at a large food manufacturing plant, as a work placement student. Due to a load of fork lift crashes stopping production & damaging conveyors, one of my first jobs was to put in crash barriers at vulnerable areas of the plant. We had them made ourselves from steel pipes, elbows and flanges so they were pretty cheap. They worked quite well.
What you need is better discipline and control. We have have 2 fork trucks and only designated drivers who have passed an internal test can use them, and these guys are responsible for looking after the trucks and an accident investigation happens when they do damage.
Last year these ran out of capacity so we got 3 powered pallet trucks for all to use, the first week they were out of action as no-one charged them, the 2nd week 2 were out of action as they'd been left on fast charge all weekend and the batteries were fecked. Free for all to use, so no-one took ownership of them.
Only 50k 
our site record was £750,000 but that was mostly a driver crashing through & I mean through a wall into a control room and destroying the main PLC panels!!! What annoys me most is the almost complete denial of any responsibility when I witness damage being caused.
We had 6 new Toyota fork trucks 18 months ago and within a week they mostly looked like they had taken a couple of anti-tank rounds each. Amongst my engineering team we have saying "Gently caressed by a fork trucks" this usually means it’s had 7 shades of shite knocked out of it.
All our drivers have a 3 yearly re-test but as someone else said within a few days they revert to spinning the wheels & cornering on two wheels.
And as for crash barriers, your having a laugh. apart from 18" pipes filled with concrete sunk into the ground everything else is just mangled, top quality Armco fixed in with chemical bolts either ripped out or mangled & bent so far it crushed a load of cables on a nearbuy wall
Use to use both many moons ago although I couldn't drive the fork lift personally. There was constantly damage from the fork lifts and only occasional damage from pump trucks. I think that was mainly due to three os us racing around the factory riding them and the tail ends sliding!!
I have carried out Forklift training for company which had a problem with fork sized holes appearing in the walls quite regularly.
Recently they have been bought out by an american company who installed Knock sensors on to all their C/B trucks, All the operators have their own transponder key, if any collision is detected the truck is instantly immobilised and an alarm sounds on the computer in the office stating which truck and which operator was using it. Problem solved.
It's a shame that some companies are unable to achieve honesty in the workplace and have to resort to measures like this.
Sounds like some of you lot are working with complete numptys that shouldn't be let loose on a forklift.
Sounds like some of you lot are working with complete numptys that shouldn't be let loose on a forklift.
Sounds like some people aren't monitoring their staff correctly and are not taking the appropriate action in regards to their procedures.
I work for a training provider specialising in f/lift, and we recommend these steps to company owners
Ensure your drivers complete a daily log sheet for the vehicle. Regularly inspect the trucks (preferably at the end of every shift) for damage. Train your staff (HSE dictates they don't need an official license & if they're working within your premises, they only need an in-house certificate. It's deemed best practice to give them an annual refresher). If funds allow, reduce the speed of your trucks. Ultimately, get rid of anyone that doesn't adhere to your procedures, damages equipment or generally drives like a loon. These people could have you standing up in court.
We put a lot of folk through training on a weekly basis. There are a load of individuals out there with certificates/licenses looking for work.
We do very little pallet truck training (mainly due to companies approach regarding official training). If you can, try reducing the f/lift speeds similar to pallet truck speed and measure the impact on production compared to the current situation. It'll give you the answers you are looking for in your 2nd post.
Either that or sell your trucks and put everyone on a manual handling course and tell them to put their backs into it!
Good luck
Pallet trucks FTW. You can get up to a decent speed when riding them like a skate board! Need to stop? Spin the pump handle 90 degrees and watch it skit to a halt.
Oh the fun we had in the warehouse on saturday afternoons. 
Thanks Strackbaz!
Great input. Step one is definitely to reduce forklift speed. Let's see what that does.
Cheers again!
Pallet trucks FTW. You can get up to a decent speed when riding them like a skate board! Need to stop? Spin the pump handle 90 degrees and watch it skit to a halt.
Oh the fun we had in the warehouse on saturday afternoons.
Or you hit a small obstacle and end up face planting like I've seen a few times, anyone caught doing it gets a warning at ours.
Teacake certainly look at space also. If things are being banged into on a regular occasion is there enough room for where the trucks are working? Are they counterbalance or would a reach truck be a more suitable option?
If people are intentionally misusing company property then you do need to look at enforcing disciplinary procedures.
I do the FLT contracts for my company.
IF you are not lifting at height (ie need to offload from curtain siders or put away in racking) then pallet trucks are better.
Three main types.
Hand pallet trucks are about £230 each and can be had from Atlet, Toyota, Linde, Jungeheinrich and others.
Powered pallet trucks are great and can be had in different guises.
If moving any distance you can get ones with a platform for the user to stand on. At the simple level there are cheap ones that use a smaller battery and you just walk along with them.
Most of the models have engineer settings that can restrict speed. Some have pin number access and impact sensors built in so you can log who has crashed them!
Our drivers are supposed to fill check sheets in, big joke & TBH now the trucks look like they have been attacked by the Taliban any further damage is hard to spot and as during a day 9 different operators could use any one of 6 trucks its always been an area of controversy.
Its not my department and the manager who is will believe their excuses but sadly their actions cause mine a lot of work, IMO the sensor thing probably is the only answer at the moment.
I could post up some fantastic scenes of destruction caused by them but its against company policy, so I won’t.
Recently they have been bought out by an american company who installed Knock sensors on to all their C/B trucks, All the operators have their own transponder key, if any collision is detected the truck is instantly immobilised and an alarm sounds on the computer in the office stating which truck and which operator was using it. Problem solved.
Good idea, a bit like how at one business we connected the sales 'hotline' up to the Night-Bell - if it wasn't answered in 3 rings the Night-Bell rang and the whole office knew. Only happened once 
Also simple web-cams sound like a good idea.
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