As the world continues to navigate changing customer demands, well-functioning warehouses and distribution centers have become increasingly important. Running an efficient operation of any size goes beyond operating forklifts—it requires a broad range of solutions, working together to achieve a common goal. One way to ensure your business is running at optimal efficiency is by partnering with a company that offers complete solutions including training, consulting, intralogistics solutions, energy solutions, maintenance, rentals and parts. Some of the benefits that come from partnering with a complete solutions provider include:

Optimized Learning and Processes

An optimized warehouse creates more space for product, increases workforce productivity and leverages lift trucks for the best suitable task - all of which, ultimately, drive cost savings. One way to optimize your operation is by properly training new employees. The material handling industry already faces a workforce challenge, both in finding good workers and training them. To combat these challenges, e-learning and other tools such as virtual and augmented reality technology can help build expertise, increase learning retention and improve efficiency of your current or potential forklift operators. 

Another great way to optimize your processes is to implement Lean Management. Lean Management seeks to improve efficiency and quality by identifying expenditures, eliminating waste and visualizing solutions. This fosters a culture of continuous improvement and allows you to fully understand the current state of your facility using data based visual tools, ultimately optimizing the people, processes and places in your organization.

Connected Systems

The material handling vehicle is no longer just a truck. It’s now seen as the operator’s cockpit. There are plenty of advanced technology options that you are able to layer onto traditional base truck offerings, including tools to assist operator productivity and security.

Utilizing a comprehensive telematics system is crucial to gathering the data required to visualize improvements and optimize an organization to meet increased demands. A telematics suite of solutions identifies data-driven insights by tracking and reporting on vehicle and operator utilization. By collecting data, businesses can drive productivity and continuous improvement across your operations by effectively managing and monitoring batteries, reducing incidences, simplifying asset maintenance management, optimizing labor resources and turning actionable data into results to reduce costs. 

Another important telematics tool is a real-time locating system (RTLS). RTLS has geofencing and zoning capabilities that allow you to keep your trucks in the right place at the right time and minimize vehicles and pedestrians in the same area. Flexible and scalable, RTLS lets operations create zones and tailor the system to your unique layout and application. By zoning and geofencing, operations can keep forklift operators and pedestrians in different areas by geofencing and zoning specific areas within a facility and generating alerts when violations occur.

Another useful tool in managing your warehouse are operator assist tools such as pick-to-light systems. These systems help reduce picking errors by using LED technology to visually reinforce product placement for order fulfillment in batch picking applications, ultimately maximizing operator productivity by directing operators to the desired customer pallet — enabling them to quickly move to the next pick with confidence.

Complete Support and Consulting

When you work with a material handling company, you need more than just a lift truck. Relying on a company with a broad range of expertise can increase workforce productivity, help you to leverage lift trucks for the best suitable task and evolve your investments with changing market conditions. 

When it comes to service, utilizing contracted maintenance can reduce costs, increase uptime with planned intervals of maintenance to make repairs before parts fail, and increase market value at the end of a lease term. 

Complete solutions providers can also help improve energy usage. Conducting an energy study will help analyze a company’s current energy consumption and provide recommendations to optimize that usage and determine the best possible energy source. Using alternative energy sources on lift trucks can help increase uptime — valuable to any warehouse or distribution center.

Finally, operator and technical training is vital for customers looking to get the most out of their labor force. By using enhanced learning technologies like eLearning, AR and VR, companies can help get employees up to speed quickly and accurately on the proper ways to operate any piece of equipment or technology within a warehouse. 

Having an efficient warehouse is more than just forklifts these days, its lean management, telematics, operator assist and other intralogistics solutions. It’s important to look for an end-to-end solutions provider that delivers innovation, quality and service in order to empower their customers to run better and manage smarter.