How and why should you prepare your forklift for scheduled maintenance?
Forklift maintenance is an essential consideration for every business owner that uses forklifts. At Radnes Services Ltd, we offer a range of forklift maintenance services designed to fit in with the schedule of busy warehouses, factories, and fulfilment centres. There’s more to looking after a forktruck than just sending it off for maintenance, however. What do you need to know?
Your pre-maintenance checks
As a part of your fork lift maintenance routine, you should be in the habit of doing daily checks. These checks are done to ensure the vehicle is in proper working condition and can be invaluable for helping identify and isolate potential problems before they arise.
These checks aren’t just useful for daily forktruck maintenance, however, they’re also useful when you have your forklift booked in with us for repairs or servicing. When you contact us, we’ll arrange a time to suit you as best as possible. Before your forklift is sent off to us, however, you should invest a few minutes in having an experienced operator give it a thorough checking over before it’s loaded for transportation.
This is useful because it can give you an indication of the vehicle’s condition before it arrives. If you spot any problems with it, you can let us know, and we’ll be able to make sure those problems are addressed. We pride ourselves on turning around forklifts very quickly, as we know businesses depend on them, but that time can be reduced even further when we know in advance what issues a forklift has before arriving.
Another consideration is that knowing issues in advance can allow us to make sure we have a necessary part in stock before your forklift arrives. This means we’re able to know the problem area ahead of time and prepare the necessary parts, again reducing downtime.
Be sure to have a replacement lined up
When it comes to forklift maintenance, the important thing is planning for every eventuality. You may want to make sure, then, that you have a replacement forklift available to use while one is in for repairs or servicing. This can help keep your fleet mobile and ensure you’re able to still operate to capacity, even while taking ongoing forklift maintenance requirements into consideration.
This is where renting a forklift can come in useful, and as it happens, Radnes Services Ltd can also help you with that. We can provide you with a forklift that matches the spec of the one you’re having us collect as best as possible. Then you’ll be able to keep working to capacity. We can drop off the rented forklift, pick up your forklift, then when the forklift is repaired, bring it back and collect the hired forklift.
This takes the stress, the hassle, and the risk of downtime out of the equation. The last thing you want to do in a consistently busy period is have an operator without a forklift to use. This is going to mean a reduction in efficiency and deliveries not being processed in good time. You can avoid that risk entirely by arranging to hire a forklift and have the convenience of it being delivered for you.
One more consideration you should make is that you may have to have the forklift hired for longer than you first anticipated, so ensure both you and the hire contract are flexible to allow for this. The reason is that there may be issues with your forklift that are only discovered while it’s in for repair, which can cause an extension to the amount of time it’s in for. You, and the people hiring to you, should be prepared for this.
The good thing is that most hire contracts are flexible and can be extended sometimes on a daily basis.
Preparation is always key
For everything in life, it’s important to prepare, and sending your forklift off for maintenance is no different. You should always have a good idea of your forklift’s general condition before you send it off for maintenance, especially if you’re sending it for routine servicing.
Invest just a few minutes ensuring the forklift is thoroughly checked ahead of time, and you could be saving yourself a lot of stress in the long-run. You and the maintenance team will know what to expect when the forklift is further examined, and you’ll be able to have a much better idea of how long you’ll need to arrange a suitable replacement. You don’t want to think your forklift will be gone for two days, only for it to actually take five.
Looking after a forklift truck is easy when you invest in the services of a team of dedicated and professional experts. That’s why you should always contact the team at Radnes Services Ltd when it comes to keeping your forklift working reliably. Whether you just have one trusty workhorse or a whole fleet spread across several different sites, you can trust Radnes Services Ltd to keep it working as dependably as possible.
For hiring, buying, or maintaining a fork lift, Croyden Surrey businesses choose Radnes Services Ltd – and you should too.
