Most manufacturing industries, including sectors which produce material-handling equipment, struggled through the recession, but for most sectors, their company’s performance has been improving year after year, and since 2010 in particular. Each year since the country began to recover from the financial crisis of 2008, revenues have typically grown at a steady pace.
The main areas of material-handling equipment include:
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Lifting and logistical equipment
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Manual and automated conveyors
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Storage and retrieval systems
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Order-pickers
If you are looking to get the best out of your relationship with a material-handling equipment supplier, then here are five tips that you ought to be aware of:
Choose a Partner Not a Vendor
The best material-handling equipment manufacturers are not focused solely on sales. They are there to make money, of course, but the best companies are those who understand it is the quality of their relationship with their customers that decides how much income they are likely to obtain in the long run.
Therefore, it is a truth that it’s best to find a material-handling equipment provider who understands that you are seeking a long-term relationship, and not just a quick sale. If you are to become a successful business, then it is imperative that you have a strategic plan in place. The best suppliers are those who help you realize your plan, and provide solutions that help you achieve all you are seeking to achieve.
Don’t Compromise When You’re Looking to Optimize
When it comes to material-handling equipment, the balance sheet is almost a constant battle between maximizing output while minimizing expenses. You cannot invest in your services without investing money, but spend too much and the returns may not be sufficient, and your finances will invariably suffer.
However, you can reduce the chances of suffering financial woes by careful and strategic planning, and not by simply relying upon a ‘gut feeling’ and a ‘supply and demand’ methodology. One way of doing this is by taking a holistic approach when choosing your material-handling equipment supplier. It will pay you in the long term to choose a single supplier that is able to supply solutions to as many of your needs as possible. For example, many lifting equipment suppliers are able to offer solutions that go far beyond the fork-lift truck.
Estimate How Much Your Equipment Will Cost, Long Term
When you’re working out how much your material-handling equipment is likely to cost your company, it’s too easy to over-emphasis the initial costs. In truth, the initial cost of, say, a lift truck represents only a small fraction of its lifetime costs.
The other bulk of the expenses will deal with parts, labor and maintenance. When you are planning to either introduce or add to your portfolio of material-handling equipment, it’s important to perform a full analysis of the complete lifetime costs involved. You need to understand how often your items of material-handling equipment are likely to be used, and what sort of ongoing maintenance will be required to keep this equipment working properly.
Don’t forget to re-visit your figures every couple of months or so. If you’re not spending what you thought you would spend on your items of material-handling equipment, then the chances are (if your analysis was correct) that it’s being underutilized. If you’re spending too much, then you might need to increase your estimates in order to become more efficient.
Always Be Open to New Technologies
You may be of the opinion that the ‘old ways are the best’ when it comes to material-handling equipment. You’re just moving items from point A to point B, after all – something that companies both big and small have been doing for centuries. However, a conservative approach is not always the best approach, and it seldom is when it comes to increasing your company’s productivity.
You should always be accepting of new technologies, such as using alternative forms of energy, or different ways of keeping your items’ batteries up to charge. Automated systems should always be investigated, as they are an excellent way of increasing productivity and reducing labor costs, and they are becoming more efficient all the time. Such systems typically have a hefty immediate expenditure cost, but over the course of their lifetimes will pay for themselves many, many times over. It’s crucial that you remain open-minded about new technologies at all times.
Ensure Success! Monitor All Aspects of Your Manufacturing Process
Plenty of businesses make the mistake of over-estimating what they actually need to be a productive and successful company. It is of course an excellent choice if you outfit your production facility so that it has the potential to produce the highest yield of what you actually produce, but if your actual yield is only half what you’re capable of yielding, then you’ve simply gone and wasted a great deal of important cash.
It’s important that you constantly monitor the amount you produce in comparison to the amount you could potentially produce. If you constantly fall well short of the maximum, then you may need to get rid of some of your equipment. It’s better that the equipment you have that is left unused generates some revenue, as opposed to just sitting in your warehouse never being used.
Monitoring all aspects of your material-handling process in real-time is crucial if you want your company to remain as profitable as possible.
Douglas Equipment, Your Material-Handling Supplier
Here at Douglas Equipment, we are always seeking to establish new and successful partnerships with companies that are seeking to be supplied with the latest material-handling equipment. We can offer items from all spheres of the business from casters to conveyors, and are always available to offer helpful advice.
Just call us at 1-800-451-0030, or use our online contact form.
