The Importance of Forklift Servicing & Maintenance

Servicing a forklift is just as important as having your car serviced. It helps for a number of different reasons, but the number one reason is to elongate its lifespan and ensure maximum performance for as many hours as possible. So why else is it important to have your forklift serviced regularly?

Any problems can be caught early

Any number of things could go wrong with your forklift, at any time. Having your forklift regularly serviced will help to highlight any issues that might have arisen since its last service. Once the problem has been uncovered, the engineers on hand will be able to repair or replace any faulty parts or components before the issue gets out of hand.

Where you might not believe that having your forklift serviced is worth the money, it will most certainly stop you from parting with large amounts of cash to repair extensive damage or even to replace an entire forklift with a new one. Small adjustments and repairs are far less expensive than having to deal with more serious problems that have been left undiscovered for a long period of time.

It will help to prevent accidents

Forklifts are extremely heavy pieces of equipment, capable of lifting extremely heavy loads and moving at impressively fast speeds and this makes for a dangerous combination, especially if it has existing faults with steering, hydraulics or even its brakes, to name a few. Unfortunately, a number of accidents involving forklifts occur each year and they could have been prevented by having material handling equipment serviced.

This means that if you have your forklift regularly serviced, you’ll be able to prevent serious accidents from occuring on your premises. Not only will this protect your staff and your equipment, but it’ll also save you a considerable amount of money as you won’t have to face lawsuits due to accidents in the workplace. Give yourself and your employees absolute peace of mind by having your forklifts serviced.

It’ll improve productivity

If you run a business that relies solely on fully-working heavy machinery, then you won’t be able to afford to run your operations without at least one of your forklifts. In order to be as productive as possible and reach your daily, weekly, monthly or even annual goals, then you need to be operating at maximum, productive capacity and that includes having full use of every last piece of material handling equipment at your disposal.

With this in mind, a faulty forklift spells bad news for any warehouse owner looking to operate as productively and as efficiently as possible. Missing deadlines will cause stress and delays as well as added pressure on your entire workforce. In turn, this could impact your business’ performance and reputation and that’s not something a warehouse owner will want to put on the line. Mitigate this problem by having your forklift regularly serviced.

Any issues of wear & tear will be mitigated

Forklifts are used regularly to lift, transport and unload heavy goods and when used in a warehouse, this is exceptionally repetitive work that’s carried out on a daily basis. Therefore, it’s only natural that your forklift will suffer from some sort of wear and tear over the years. In particular, tyres, brakes, lifting mechanisms and hydraulics systems will come under significant strain as a result.

If you have your forklift regularly serviced, the technician will be able to look at the vehicle as a whole whilst delving into everything in more detail further into the service and that includes keeping a close watch on those parts that are most heavily hit as they can be replaced as soon as a problem is found.

It’ll increase performance and longevity

Regular forklift servicing will ensure that you have a safe, reliable and robust fleet of forklifts with enhanced performance. After a service has been carried out, your existing forklift will feel like new as all problems will be fixed. This will improve efficiency that’ll aid in getting the job done. This will also provide you with many more years of uninterrupted forklift service.

Why is it important to perform maintenance on your forklift

Forklift maintenance is different to servicing a forklift. Maintaining your forklift is something that either yourself or your employees could do and it involves conducting some in-depth checks on the vehicle in a bid to identify any issues. If problems are uncovered, then they can be resolved prior to the next service as it might not be healthy to run it in between services. But there are further reasons as to why forklift maintenance is paramount.

It ensures safe warehouse operations

In this modern age, heavy goods can be lifted, moved and unloaded safely with the aid of pulleys, cables and ropes. Your workers don’t have to worry about manually carrying stock with the implementation of a forklift. Employees will be protected at all times when operating forklifts from Charnwood Lift Trucks. You can rest assured that heavy loads will be carried to its desired location with absolute ease and efficiency.

Warehouse operations will be made to be more efficient

When a forklift is properly maintained, it’ll make for quick and efficient warehouse operations when you need it most. Forklifts are exceptionally effective at reaching locations that your workforce can’t and so they’re important for the smooth running of things. Pay particular attention to the condition of your forklift in order to get the most value out of it.

But what should you keep an eye out for and what should you check when performing a maintenance check on your forklift?

• Change the oil on a regular basis
• Check your tyre tread and pressure
• Keep an eye on fluid levels
• Lubricate all moving parts and components
• Check the brakes

Charnwood Lift Trucks are highly-experienced material handling experts with a wealth of industry knowledge and expertise. We have an impressive range of both new and used forklifts of a variety of makes and models. We also have forklift hire and pallet truck hire services available, helping us to cater for each and every one of our customers, regardless of your needs or your budget. For more information about the warehouse machinery we’re able to offer, get in touch with a member of our specialist team today – we’re always happy to help.