Crown Equipment Corporation is continuing its efforts to help the industry navigate the potential of new technologies with a three-part white paper series focused on forklift connectivity. Forklift connectivity provides the visibility to manage fleets for greater safety and productivity and is a key building block of the connected warehouse of the future.
The three-part white paper series, “Changing Metrics – and Mindsets – in the Warehouse,” captures the technology adoption best practices Crown’s team has observed and implemented in diverse material handling applications. The purpose of the series is to help accelerate forklift fleet management adoption and prepare the industry for more complex technology initiatives. All three papers can be downloaded now on crown.com.
The first paper, “Five Goals the Connected Warehouse Can Help You Achieve,” focuses on the five most common goals material handling organizations are establishing to achieve a fast return on their investment in forklift fleet management technology: reducing impacts, increasing utilization, streamlining compliance, enhancing productivity and lowering service costs.
The next paper, “Optimizing the ROI of Forklift Fleet Management Through Phased Implementation,” reviews various approaches that can be taken to minimize concerns about implementation costs and complexity. Core sections include understanding the investment, reducing fleet service costs, adding wireless communications, controlling forklift access and using real-time data.
The final paper in the series discusses “Four Keys to Unlocking Value from Forklift Connectivity.” Crown shares the importance of establishing clear goals, basing decisions on relevant and timely data, obtaining consistent management commitment, and preparing the facility (personnel and infrastructure) to use the technology.
According to Jim Gaskell, director of global technology business development, forklift connectivity and fleet management technology is being underutilized by the industry because of concerns over cost and complexity. He noted, “There is now sufficient experience with forklift connectivity to ensure that implementation issues can be resolved relatively quickly and that significant value can be realized if the organization sets clear goals. Organizations that address these issues directly today will realize the benefits of forklift connectivity in the short term while positioning themselves to build on the technology foundation it provides in the long term.”
