(Courtesy: U.S. Department of Defense at flickr.com)
So far we have discussed identifying and measuring waste in the battery room, how proper battery rotation can help to reduce waste, and properly watering batteries. In this article we will discuss right sizing of the battery room.
When we refer to “right sizing of the battery room,” we are not referring to the actual size of the room. We are talking about having the proper number of batteries in the battery room to service a warehouse’s forklift fleet. You want to avoid having more batteries than you need or fewer batteries then you need to service your fleet.
A battery room management system will assist you in determining the proper number of batteries to have in the battery room to ensure efficient productivity.
What you want to measure is battery availability at any given time. This include when there are more batteries than needed, when the battery room is running out of available batteries, the length of cool down time, and battery cycles per week.
Many management systems that use the cloud automatically report the state of charge data. Appropriate people in the warehouse can get reports via the Internet.
Some management system includes a subscription to a web-based service that stores these reports. These reports can verify that there is a proper number of batteries to service a warehouse’s forklift fleet.
The system can also result in faster and less frequent battery changes, longer battery run times, increased battery life and increased productivity. Using a battery room management system can save warehouses as much as $100,000 or more a year.
While you’re at exploring more ways to save on warehouse operations, you should also consider the forklift. For example, there are forklift fleet optimization systems (FOS) that provide such data as the basic status of batteries and forklift maintenance. Knowing this information can help a warehouse save even more.
However, before exploring on ways one can save on the proper operation of forklifts, you should try to answer these questions:
· Do I have too many or too few forklifts?
· How many hours are the forklifts working per shift in a day?
· Do we have the right mix of forklifts with the right capacities and functionality requirements?
· How much are we spending on forklift maintenance?
· Are operators properly maintaining forklift batteries?
· How and when are we charging our forklift batteries?
· At what point do we start replacing forklifts because of their growing maintenance expense?
· Should we change out our older forklifts because of high maintenance costs and/or reliability issues?
· Are our vehicle checklists being filled out properly to comply with OSHA regulations?
· Have the credentials of the forklift operator expired?
· Are there accidents that take place that are not reported?
· Are there more damaged forklifts than previously?
· Are operators lifting loads beyond the capacity of their assigned lifts?
Besides the battery room, don’t ignore your forklifts when considering cost savings. For most warehouses they are the largest capital expenditure and can become a major operational cost.