Based on accurate utilization data, McKean says most companies will find their fleets are larger than needed. “There’s probably an easy 10% fleet reduction once you start measuring,” he says. “But you can never prove that until you get data in front of management.”

A proactive, real-time approach to fleet costs can help address small problems before they become big issues. Over time, trends can help inform budgets based on consumption not calendars. “How can you budget for your fleet when you don’t know what your real costs are?” asks Wells. “That might not be a ‘real’ number, but is instead based on something you did before.”

Uptime and cost per hour used to be the main metrics for maintenance, according to Steven LaFevers, telematics solutions manager for Yale Materials Handling. “That’s not nearly enough now,” he says. That approach will suggest that during slow times a fleet enjoys a better cost per hour, which worsens during busy times. When looking at cost drivers, it’s important to find the root cause, LaFevers says. There is value in drilling down into the operation by operator, by utilization across units for like activities, and other key details. “Fleet management is not just about the cost of the lift truck, but its use as well,” he says. “There’s a pitch and a swing; data gives you the pitch, but you better be ready to swing.”

By collecting and analyzing data, a business can make more informed decisions on the way to break everything down to cost per hour—which is not a matter of dividing annual maintenance spend by the hours on a lease. Instead, each part should be accounted for. “Customers can get to the point where they have the OEM recommended parts stock list that allows them to not have as much capital investment or space tied up in inventory,” Wells says. “With only needed parts on hand, we’ve seen inventories cut by as much as half.”

First, Hyster’s DeSutter recommends the creation of a good, clean inventory of assets by department and usage. “Sit down with the controller, maintenance management or facilities management and make them all part of the process,” he says. “What do you want to manage? Is it possible to know how long an asset is down, the repair time associated with that event and the parts consumed? The goal is to improve uptime, thus productivity and throughput. It can be a different kind of conversation than execution and procurement are used to, but common ground for a huge spend should not be hard to establish.”

Diagnosing the problem, seeking appropriate care
With common ground defined within an organization, the process of securing the right service provider can be greatly simplified. While it is not necessary for either the customer or the dealer to use technology and telematics, any data collected will help prevent waste and downtime.

“A lot of time, downtime is just waiting on approvals for service,” LaFevers says. “With detailed information, you can make those decisions quickly and optimally. The business justification now takes seconds. Otherwise, it might be a series of weekly gut-level decisions to see if you have the money or if the lift truck is worth it. Whether for a fleet of seven trucks or 70, gut decisions are still very common.”

Clark Simpson, product marketing engineer for Clark Material Handling, warns that even with visibility and a capable partner, outsourced maintenance agreements still present the opportunity for pitfalls. “A customer might contract fleet maintenance by the month, but the worry is they are giving the service provider a blank check,” Simpson says. “Instead, some will accept the lowest bid and then it’s in the third party’s best interest to do the least amount of work. This can be kind of an ugly deal.”

Within each service event, the issue of proper diagnosis is another key hurdle. “Often a service provider doesn’t get paid to diagnose,” he says. “For instance, a wiring issue can eat up several hours of a technician’s time, resulting in a big cost the provider hadn’t planned for.”

The increasing complexity of lift trucks compounds the problem. In years past, checking the spark or fuel would be enough to get a lift truck back up and running. “Just within one OEM it has changed from a simple carburetor to four different fuel systems,” Simpson says. “You have crank sensors, map sensors, O2 sensors. Each can cause a no-go and there might not be easy ways to spot them.”

When bundled with leases, fleet maintenance programs can include some very troublesome fine print. For example, some lessees have suffered at the end of a lease when a unit needs $2,000 of repairs to reach the agreed-upon residual. A 10-truck user could be looking at $10,000 to $15,000 at end of lease, which the dealer might forgive in exchange for renewing a deal.

“Both customers and dealers should understand transparency as a way to gain trust,” says MCFA’s Sytsma. “This profession, whether automotive or for lift trucks, has a public perception that customers can never really know if they’re paying too much.”
McKean suggests three initial steps to improve the likelihood of success. First, check an existing maintenance plan for efficiency and quantify the maintenance spend. Second, analyze if dedicated in-house labor is cost effective as compared to as-needed labor. Third, look to demo a telematics system to see what additional data reveals.