This innocent sounding title hides a serious issue; “overlooking” anything when buying a forklift can be a very expensive exercise. The main problem, in fact, is that it’s pretty easy to overlook things and do your bottom line some damage in the process.
With any kinds of equipment acquisition, best practice is to have a checklist of all the things you want. The same could be said about any possible issues or risks. A list of the things you don’t want is equally important in many ways. So, we’re going to give you a quick summary of things you mustn’t overlook.
The Things You Really Shouldn’t Overlook
You may be astonished at some of the things on this list:
1. Operating Costs
Operating costs are the real costs of running a forklift. These costs include services, maintenance, lifting jacks repairing, fuel, electricity, etc. With top-brand forklifts, you can get a pretty accurate estimate of operating costs quite easily.
2. Used Forklift Purchases
From any reputable forklift dealer, you can expect your used forklift to be in excellent condition, fully fit for purpose. The question is, is the used forklift in good condition? Have you checked? You actually need to see the machine operated and check out on-board systems, etc.
3. On-Board Technologies
These technologies are now essentials. You may need multiple systems, including weighing systems, dashboard systems, and more. One of the reasons these technologies are easy to overlook is because there are so many of them coming on the market all the time.
4. Parts and Maintenance
Any sort of problem with parts and maintenance is to be avoided at all costs. You should have no difficulty sourcing parts, and maintenance services should be regularly scheduled. This is standard practice, but when you’re in the process of acquiring a new mobile lift, you probably won’t be thinking about what might go wrong. It’s a natural oversight but it can be expensive.
5. Capacity and Productivity
With mobile lift, capacity and productivity are naturally associated. What you may not know, however, is that productivity is increasing, and that lower capacity forklifts can now do much more. High-capacity forklifts, too, are also able to deliver excellent productivity gains.
Getting Help to Make Sure You Don’t Overlook Anything
Your best and most reliable source of information regarding everything you need to know and everything you mustn’t overlook is your specialist forklift supplier.
All you need to do is ask your supplier for technical or operational information. These specialist suppliers can source information directly from manufacturers, and, if you’re lucky, the very experienced suppliers can also fill in the blanks about new technologies and other essentials.
