Increasingly, companies are mandating the move to forklift free production floors on the basis of highly visible macro issues like safety improvements, reduced forklift lease and maintenance costs. However, there are many other less visible advantages with direct and secondary benefits that may play an important role in reducing costs and improving customer response.
K-TEC WHITE PAPER August 2007 John Neumann Larry Tyler Mike Urban
Forklift Free Plants.Considerations for Success
Increasingly, companies are mandating the move to forklift free production floors on the basis of highly visible macro issues like safety improvements, reduced forklift lease and maintenance costs.
However, there are many other less visible advantages with direct and secondary benefits that may play an important role in reducing costs and improving customer response. Identifying these benefits requires a big picture overview of the project as well as an understanding of how each department and
suppliers, both internal and external, will be impacted.
Implementation of the forklift free factory plan can be extremely challenging and at times frustrating. Many familiar habits of both the material handling support and production assembly personnel will be
changed. Physical plant, assembly line and storage constraints, packaging changes, budget limits, ergonomic issues and project completion time add additional complexity. Working through these difficult problems will require unabridged input from top management, the affected departments and
suppliers who will share ownership of the plan.
The Case for Forklift Free
There is no question human loss and liability cost relative to forklift injuries has been the number
one driver for forklift free (also referred to as forkfree) plant floors. Each year in the United States, nearly 100 workers are killed and another 20,000 are seriously injured in forklift-related incidents. Forklift overturns are the leading cause of fatalities involving forklifts; they represent about 25% of all 1forklift-related deaths .
The Hyster Company estimates that businesses waste over $1 billion in unnecessary operating costs associated with material handling equipment. A recent study suggested that unfortunately, only
6% of end-users actually know their real maintenance costs. Even fewer have programs in place to 2reduce these expenses . An old industry axiom states that on the average over the life of a forklift, only 320% of its cost is ownership. Approximately 80% of total forklift costs are operating costs .
1 National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) at www.cdc.gov/niosh/2001-109.html 2 The Hyster Company, www.hysterusa.com/fleetsvc.html 3 Materials Handling Equipment Co., materials-handling-eqp.com/forklift/significantly-reduce-forklift-operating-costs.htm Forklift Free Plants.Considerations for Success
On the flip side, forklift free programs can contribute value in areas relating to reduction of inventory, improvement of material flow, reduction of line-side handling equipment and floor space,
improved operator ergonomics, cycle efficiency and reduced need for coordination between forklifts and operators for replenishment. A summary follows:
Forklift Free - Justification Issues 1. Improved worker and investor perceptions relating to the company's plan to reduce forklift activity in response to injury or death situations involving forklifts. 2. Decreased lost worker production, compensation and litigation costs associated with less forklift injury claims by going forklift free. 3. Reduced costs for forklift leasing, purchase, maintenance. 4. Reduced forklift operator costs (direct labor and benefits). 5. Cost avoidance due to fewer and less expensive line-side handling equipment. 6. Cost avoidance of extra line space required for forklift replenishment. 7. Improved scheduling flexibility by not needing tight coordination between line operators and production floor material handlers (built-in system using RF, Kanban, etc.). 8. Decreased total WIP (work-in-process) inventory. 9. Improved control of FIFO (first in, first out) products delivered line-side. 10. Reduced coordination time between forklift operators and production floor material handlers.
Macro Issues
Building a forklift free program requires that a significant amount of time be spent on the "front end" of the process clarifying plan targets, goals, identifying waste, ergonomic and safety threats. At the
start of the ... [download for more]
