Lift Truck Tips: A journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single data set

Forklift telematics have helped chart the course to fleet visibility and crossed borders into neighboring systems like labor management (LMS), warehouse management (WMS) and warehouse execution (WES). According to Kevin Paramore, sales and marketing manager of motive power and telematics at Yale Materials Handling Corp., the integration of operational data will continue to grow.

“Over the past three to five years, people have been engaging with telematics, but everything tended to be siloed. WMS, LMS and telematics have been operating in different buckets,” Paramore says. “Now, they’re making it an initiative to bring these data points together, and not just those three. They’re looking at servicing systems, the time clock, how often CNC machines are used, how the lines are moving. It’s a huge picture that’s much bigger than lift trucks, and they want to connect the dots to make sure they’re running as efficiently as they can.”

Most customers are becoming comfortable integrating fleet telemetry, but Paramore says some companies with a Big Data strategy are focused on creating a larger system capable of handling and optimizing all these different metrics. From a fleet perspective, it’s now possible to aggregate common data from all lift truck brands in a facility, even if they each use a different telemetry system.

“Sites with a hodgepodge of trucks and attachments can create a sense of inconsistency, but you can go in with a solution that unifies all the different things coming off the lift truck,” Paramore says, noting that customers often have some very low-hanging fruit. “This truck hasn’t been turned on in a year. This one has the wrong attachment. With the data available, you can find those not-so-hidden expenses.”

Paramore estimates that 5% of fleets are innovators. They’re the most challenging, yet also the most fun, he says, “because they’re pushing people like me to think outside the box.” Another 45% has some telemetry in place and has begun basing decisions on small subsets of data. The remaining half of users are slow to adopt.

“We want customers to stop and think and invest time to be strategic and build the right path forward,” Paramore says. “Operator utilization without telematics is a lot about perception. Managers say all 30 operators are always busy, but the data will show outliers. The system should create a lot of coaching opportunities, but telematics are not a magic wand.”

Operator utilization is useful data, coming directly from the lift truck and the process. It’s one thing to know the operator and the work, but Paramore says the subjective piece is knowing the application. Telemetry has also become popular for its insights into battery usage, fuel consumption and power sources in general.

“We try to make customers aware other things exist, then we guide them to what would be best, then we let the dealers prove it with a demonstration,” Paramore says. “To manage the cultural shift, you have to understand and communicate what you’re after. Efficiencies? Safety? Or, are you just consuming data without insights?”