If materials handling equipment were like athletics, conveyor, sorters and automated storage systems would be like the flashy quarterback who throws the winning touchdown and gets the girls.
Lift trucks might be the center—you can’t win a game without one, but few people notice his performance unless he drops the ball.

There are no materials handling quarterbacks at metal finisher Lincoln Industries. Instead, a fleet of 32 lift trucks (Yale, yale.com) are the backbone of the materials handling processes in the 334,000-square-foot plant in Lincoln, Neb. There, lift trucks get the glory.

“We rely entirely on lift trucks to keep product moving through the facility,” says Lincoln Industries’ vice president of operations Bill Ellerbee.

At the end of last year, Lincoln worked with a local distributor (Riekes Equipment Co., riekesequipment.com) to upgrade an aging fleet of 26 trucks. As part of the process, Lincoln Industries not only brought in new equipment, it also added lift truck attachments, fleet management software and opportunity charging to improve the operation of the fleet.

The result has been improved safety and productivity. “We’ve had the new fleet in place since February 2012,” says Ellerbee. “Since then, we’ve broken monthly sales records in four of the last six months. At the same time, we’ve kept up with the extra production with no additional overhead.”

More importantly, adds Ellerbee, “We have the security of knowing our team can do their work day in and day out safely and productively. Our people have the right tools to do their job.”

A unique culture
Based in Lincoln, Neb., Lincoln Industries is the nation’s largest privately held metal finishing company, providing 29 different metal finishes to world-class manufacturers like Harley-Davidson, Polaris, John Deere and PACCAR.

Family-owned, the company is as well-known for its unique business culture as it is for the quality of its work. Lincoln Industries has been recognized five times as one of the 25 Best Medium Size Companies to Work For in America.

“We are a people-oriented company,” says Ellerbee, explaining that Lincoln Industries doesn’t hire employees, it selects people to be part of its team.

The company culture includes a focus on developing individual talent, encouraging the health and wellness of its people, providing opportunities for education and career advancement, and maintaining a safe workplace.

Productivity and safety, both related to the business culture, were catalysts for the upgrade of the fleet. The company had 26 trucks, and they were all five years or older. A technician was on site 8 hours a day just to avoid downtime.

The fleet included three core truck types, but was a hodge-podge of styles and all had basic features. The mast heights were different and the options were different.  One truck couldn’t necessarily operate in all parts of the plant.

Safety was also a concern. To accommodate the many different-sized pallets and containers handled within the plant, drivers had to frequently get off their lifts to adjust their forks. That was unproductive. Last fall, Lincoln Industries called in local forklift providers and asked for bids.

The goal was to bring in a new fleet with features that would improve productivity and safety. Lincoln Industries also wanted to make sure that the composition of the fleet matched the duties of the operators who would be using the trucks.

Selecting trucks
Lincoln Industries’ lift truck operators were a critical factor in the selection process. After all, they would be operating the vehicles and had a stake in how the trucks performed.