Follow these best practices and save money in your warehouse expenses. 
Forklifts, material handling equipment, and warehousing costs can quickly erode business profits if not managed properly. The following best practices can help any business maximize equipment utilization, forklift and equipment uptime and minimize operating expenses and downtime.
1. Operator Training – Proper training of your forklift operators is an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulation and helps reduce product and equipment damage as a result of operator error.
2. Planned Maintenance Schedule – Planned maintenance helps eliminate unexpected downtime, minimize the risk of major repairs and prolongs the life of your material handling equipment.
3. Maintain Good Warehouse Floor Conditions – Damaged concrete creates unnecessary vibration that can damage bushings, bearings, steer axles and cause premature tire wear.
4. Dock Plates – Proper use of dock plates helps minimize product and material equipment damage during loading and unloading of trailers.
5. Maintain Good Housekeeping – Keeping warehouse floors clear of debris reduces the potential of damaging materials affecting forklift performance.
6. Awareness Enhancement and Forklift Safety Options – Using awareness enhancement options, such as strobes, mirrors, and travel alarms on material handling equipment, makes for a safer work environment.
7. Material Handling Fleet Survey – A thorough fleet survey of your material handling equipment ensures that the proper forklifts is used for all required tasks and verifies that work environment conditions match equipment specifications to the application.
8. Alternative Procurement – Considering alternative procurement methods, such as long-term forklift rental or forklift lease, can offer cost savings and flexibility not otherwise available through a cash purchase.
9. Vendor Collaboration – Partnering with experienced material handling professionals, such as Ring Power Lift Trucks, will help overcome any supply chain obstacles that you may encounter. The responsibility has now been placed upon your supplier to help reduce your costs and increase uptime, while you focus on core competencies.
10. Technology – Utilizing updated and modern material handling equipment with emerging technologies have made operators more productive, comfortable and safe and can often be used to streamline supply chain management through the use of onboard scales, terminals and Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) readers.
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Ring Power Lift Trucks is the material handling division of Ring Power Corporation, headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. Additional offices service Pompano Beach, Miami, Daytona Beach, Orlando, Tampa, Ocala and Tallahassee. Ring Power Lift Truck represents: Caterpillar® Lift Trucks, Mitsubishi Forklifts, Linde forklifts, Kalmar Industrial Forklifts, Princeton and Navigator piggybacks, rough terrain forklifts by Noble, and specialized products by Bendi and productive Cascade Attachments.