Trying to Decide Which Forklift Truck or Fleet to Use?

Forklift Training

In order to make the complex decision on the purchase of a forklift truck, it will take more than simple knowledge of technicalities to make your choice. The forklift truck that you require may have similar features to another, but has one small difference that changes everything. The right choice will help to increase your business and your productivity.


We will help you navigate the confusing world of Forklift Truck shopping but one bit of advice you should heed is to do your research thoroughly first. You may have been given training in this regard before you got a forklift truck license but most likely they will have only given you the basics pertaining to general forklift truck purposes. So I will go over a few points you need to consider before making any decisions.

First, examine your business needs and match the performance and specifications of the forklift you are purchasing. By using dealers or sales people who understand the industry you work in, and the type of business that you do, the odds are in your favor of finding the perfect forklift truck. Think about not only the type of products you will be moving, but the size of the warehouse they are stored in.

Having a forklift that can handle the loads yet not be able to navigate through the floor would not work. Also consider the workload that a normal truck would do on a normal shift. If the forklift you are considering can handle that workload in the space that you have available, then you are on the right track.

Talk to other people, besides the salesman, about what the forklift is capable of, perhaps they can give you a review from a customer's point of view. When asking questions, make sure to include things such as how easily it can be repaired, the ease of operating, the design on the forklift and how it affects the workload, and any other relevant information to your industry.

Second, look at the dealer that you are purchasing from. Are they a quality dealer that is well known and respected, or is it some guy selling it from his backyard? Will they be able to fix it if necessary? What about maintenance? Are they local, or are they located in several places? If you're business is local, then purchasing from a local dealer can be a great option. However, if you are a nationally used company, you may want to reconsider if you would have to bring the forklift back 3000 miles just to fix a part.

Another important aspect is to ensure that the dealer knows what he is talking about. Anyone can read information off of a piece of paper, but does the salesman truly understand the product? Will he be able to assist you will fleet management? These are all important questions to ask.

Finally, the total cost of ownership takes all of the information together in one shot. Examining the purchase price plus any maintenance and of course the forklift training course that will be needed to operate the forklift, minus the increased productivity and profits that are made from the the vehicle. If the end justifies the means, then you have yourself the forklift truck that you were meant to buy. Take all of the factors that we have discussed and then make the best decision for you and your business. To get some advice visit http://www.aftt.co.uk/.

What’s So Good About Electric Forklift Trucks

Forklift Truck

You can get many types of forklift trucks in warehouse settings but one of the more popular choices in terms of how they are powered is electrical forklifts. They may cost a small fortune to buy but it's certainly a cheaper forklift to run as they are just powered off a battery which is charged up after use every day.

They are also a lot quieter than fuel powered forklift trucks which are a godsend when working indoors as the noise from some of them can be quite annoying.

They also require less machinery parts to run which means that maintenance on these types of forklifts are a lot easier to deal with. Someone who goes on a forklift training course is given full instruction when it comes to maintaining such vehicles but this tends to be for the upkeep rather than a full repair job. However, the upkeep on these is fairly simple too so this means that there is less likely to be mistakes made in this area.

Now this next point this may not be on a company's top agenda but they are actually quite environmentally friendly unlike the fuel powered forklift trucks which emit carbon monoxide. This apparently adds to the greenhouse effect which adversly effects climate change and global warming.

In fact both gas and diesel powered forklift trucks shouldn’t be used indoors anyway because there is a health and safety issue due to carbon monoxide building up to dangerous levels in confined spaces. This could lead to carbon monoxide poisoning for many of the staff which is obviously of major concern. Despite the fact that the warehouse or similar building may have very good ventilation it's still a big issue and so the only sensible choice companies have is to use electric forklift trucks. For more information about Forklift Trucks training visit www.aftt.co.uk.

When forklift truck drivers go on forklift training courses one of the segments on the course is related to health and safety as forklift trucks can be dangerous in themselves if not handled properly. Some courses even have first aid as part of the syllabus because it's important to understand how to deal with a situation when someone gets injured, even when having inhaled poisonous fumes.

Speaking of hazards having fuel such as gas or diesel stored on the premises is a high risk and breaks several health and safety regulations unless stored safely away from the building. This of course ends up costing the company more money for specially designed fuel storage so where a company may have saved on the cost of the forklift they end up losing through the added expense.

Electric Forklift Truck - Reviews

Now it’s not all good news when it comes to electric forklift trucks as they aren’t good in rain or areas where there is much water as this can short out the forklift. So it’s a strictly indoors vehicle unless it happens to be nice and sunny outside.

You may have needed to build a fuel storage area but for electric forklifts they also need an area setup in the warehouse for the charging and replacing of batteries. A good battery will only last around six hours on a good run  but takes a good eight hours to charge. You also have to leave them for several hours to cool down as well which delays their use further.

This means that batteries have to be replaced every shift which isn’t a problem but need to be counted into the overall running costs of using an electric forklift as one battery won’t do.

So those are a few benefits to running an electric forklift over other powered forklift trucks and should help you see the reasons why electric forklifts are used so much in warehouses today.