Forklifts are a versatile piece of equipment that can provide significant time and monetary savings to business operations.

This week’s post looks at some common ways the utilisation of forklifts can save time and money.

Ways Forklifts Can Save Time

Heavy Load Lifting

A forklifts ability to safely lift large and heavy loads means they can save businesses significant time during lifting operations putting away or retrieving goods.

The alternative to using a forklift is for employees to manually move them.

Employees will need to divide the load up into significantly smaller and lighter loads that they are capable of handling.

The smaller more manageable loads for manual handling can significantly increase the amount of time and number of movements it takes to move large loads when compared to a forklifts ability to lift the whole load safely all at once.

Fast and Efficient Goods Transport

Warehousing and logistic businesses that operate out of large warehouses can benefit from significant time savings with the use of a forklift.

Transporting goods from location to location within the warehouse manually via employees can take significant amounts of time depending on the size of the warehouse and locations the goods need to be moved.

The time taken to manually move in between locations is dictated by how fast an employee can safely walk.

Forklifts either powered by battery electric or combustion engines can travel at significantly faster speeds whilst safely carry loads reducing the amount of time taken to move goods in between locations.

Forklifts faster travel speed compared to manual moving of goods can lead to a dramatic increase in the number of movements of goods that can occur in a designated time-frame or shift, moving more goods in less time.

Ways Forklifts Can Save Money

Increased Versatility and Reduced Capital Costs

The addition of a suitable forklift attachment can provide significant capital savings for businesses.

Attachments such as safety cage attachments can increase the forklifts versatility and the tasks it can be used for.

Using the safety cage attachment can safely lift an operator, their tools and supplies up to complete repairs or maintenance in a warehouse when the need arises.

Being able to use the forklift to not only lift palletised loads but also to lift the safety cage when necessary eliminates the need for additional capital equipment such as a dedicated elevated work platform to be purchased and left dormant when not being utilised on an ad-hoc basis for maintenance.

Reduced Labour Costs

A positive flow on effect of forklifts being able to save time via safely lifting and transporting large and heavy loads is a potential reduction in labour costs as fewer employees are needed.

Multiple employees who may have been involved in the manual movement of small lighter loads can be replaced via a single forklift operator, who can operate the forklift to lift and transport whole loads without the need to break them down into manageable sizes.

Reduced Injury Claims and Compensation

Utilising a forklift to hydraulically lift loads of any size and weight greatly reduces the likelihood of an employee injuring themselves doing manual labour.

If an employee were to injure themselves at work businesses are liable for injury claims and a compensation payout.

Reducing the amount or completely eliminating manual lifting and work reduces the chances of a business having to pay out a large injury compensation claim, with the saved funds able to be reinvested back into the business.

Adaptalift Group have a wide range of forklifts and materials handling equipment that can contribute to businesses saving time and money.

For assistance in finding a suitable forklift for your application contact our team on 13 22 54 or fill-out a contact form and one of our MHE experts will be in contact as soon as possible.