How to choose your desired forklift

Forklift is a kind of material handling machinery. According to the national safety requirements, it belongs to special vehicles. It is engaged in special operations. The so-called material handling equipment mainly refers to the mechanical equipment for material loading, unloading, transportation, lifting, stacking and storage within the enterprise (including wharf, stockyard, mine and commercial warehouse, etc.), generally including industrial vehicles (forklift, tractor, etc.), heavy machinery, conveyors, loading and unloading machinery, and storage equipment. What is special operation? It refers to the operation that is easy to cause casualty accidents in the process of labor and has great harm to the safety of the operator, especially others or production equipment.

The forklift, also known as fork type loading and unloading vehicle, takes the fork (of course, it can also be equipped with its non fork handling or gripping accessories) as the main pick-up device, relies on the hydraulic lifting mechanism to realize the lifting and lifting of goods, and the tire type (very few use crawler) operating mechanism to realize the horizontal transport of goods. The forklift can pick up, unload, stack and operate by itself, relying on the operation of the driver, without the assistance of loading and unloading workers.

Forklift truck plays a very important role in national industrial production and is the main force in material handling equipment. According to incomplete statistics of China forklift network, there are more than 500 manufacturing enterprises engaged in various handling equipment in the world. At present, the world produces and consumes nearly 1 million forklifts with power every year, and more than several million manual handling equipment are produced and consumed. The global forklift industry scale exceeds 10 billion US dollars. After nearly 20 years of rapid development, China's forklift industry has reached more than 20 billion, with about 200000 employees and more than 500000 forklifts in China. According to the data obtained from CITA (industrial vehicle branch of China Construction Machinery Industry Association), from 2001 to 2009, China sold 818000 industrial vehicles, of which 201000 were exported and 607000 were sold domestically. China's industrial vehicle industry developed at an average annual growth rate of more than 20%.

At present, there are many forklift brands available in the Chinese market, and the models are complex. In addition, the products themselves are technically strong and very professional. Therefore, the choice of models and suppliers is a problem that many enterprises often face. This paper focuses on the selection of models, brands and performance evaluation criteria.

The function of forklift in material handling

The concept of logistics was first put forward by the United States during the Second World War, which originated from the research on the military material supply system of the army logistics. From this, the later overall planning and logistics were derived. After the Second World War, Japanese researchers introduced logistics technology from the United States in the 1950s, and China introduced the new concept of logistics from Japan in the 1980s. After more than 20 years of development, logistics has gradually attracted the attention and recognition of the government and all walks of life. The focus of enterprise competition is no longer limited to price competition, but to adapt to market needs, rapid response, accurate delivery time and good service will become an important competitive advantage of modern enterprises.

In people's memory, the warehouse used to be a place to take care of the old, the weak, the sick and the disabled. With the continuous penetration of the concept of "logistics", people have begun to realize the importance of the warehouse as the center of material distribution, and have a new understanding of the role of forklift, one of the most basic equipment in Logistics: forklift is not only a forklift, but also a part of the overall solution for material handling. Therefore, how to choose a suitable forklift will have a profound impact on the comprehensive operation efficiency of the entire logistics chain.

Understand all the information about the forklift you purchased from a macro perspective

There are many kinds of forklifts with different uses

How to choose a suitable forklift is not as simple as we think. We need to carefully analyze and consider many factors and conditions. Forklift is the traditional name of material handling equipment, with many kinds. Generally speaking, forklifts can be divided into internal combustion counterweight forklift, electric counterweight forklift, storage forklift and heavy forklift. The storage forklift can be subdivided into electric pallet carrier, electric pallet stacker, forward moving forklift, narrow channel forklift, tractor and other professional models; Heavy forklift can also be subdivided into balanced heavy forklift, empty container stacker, heavy Container Stacker and front crane. In addition, in the flammable and explosive working environment, there are corresponding explosion-proof forklifts; For the handling of goods with special shapes, such as paper rolls, pipes, etc., the forklift also needs to be equipped with relevant accessories. Safety, health and environmental protection have been subdivided and become the development trend. Forklift is no longer only our common narrow balanced weight forklift.

The overall solution shall be considered when selecting forklift

Different storage modes need to be equipped with different forklifts, and the matching mode realized will be very different in first in first out or first in last out, space utilization, operation efficiency and investment cost. For example, the traditional heavy-duty rack and counterweight forklift can fork goods at any shelf position, with high operation efficiency, moderate investment cost and wide application, but insufficient space utilization; The drive in rack is often used with a forward moving forklift or a small tonnage counterweight forklift. It has high stacking density and good space utilization, but it cannot fork goods at any shelf position;

The narrow channel forklift used with the elevated warehouse can stack goods more than ten meters high, and can fork and pick goods at any shelf position. The space utilization rate is good, but its investment cost is very high. At the same time, it needs to cooperate with an efficient scientific management system.

Possible problems

Many users who are about to use forklifts start to look for suitable forklifts after the warehouse is completely built. Due to the lack of necessary understanding of the products and development trends in this field, they often find that the clearance height of the warehouse is not considered enough, which leads to unreasonable input-output ratio, or the awkward spacing between the columns, which makes it impossible to achieve the best space utilization rate. Many other customers are used to choosing forklifts based on their previous experience. Although the result is that they can meet the basic needs, they cannot give full play to the comprehensive matching effect of forklifts to achieve the best operation efficiency, and also cause a waste of investment costs.

The fastest way to solve the problem - get information through forklift Consultants

There are many factors to be considered in how to choose a suitable forklift, and non professionals often lose sight of one another. The best way is to choose a reliable professional material handling equipment manufacturer for good communication and cooperation, so as to achieve twice the result with half the effort and reduce the investment cost of material handling equipment to the maximum extent.

Reduce information asymmetry

When building their own plants, smart business owners have professional general contracting teams and detailed professional planning. Such teams will make scientific arrangements for the storage, circulation and handling of goods in the whole plant, and avoid the embarrassing situation of mismatching between the forklift and the operating site as much as possible.

The following steps can basically solve some common problems you encounter in the process of purchasing forklifts.

1、 Fully understand the working environment of the forklift you need, and then select the appropriate model and configuration

What are the goods you are carrying? What size card is used? Do you want to enter the elevator or container? What is the size of the passage.

The forklift has the basic functions of horizontally moving goods and lifting, and has the capacity of stacking, loading and picking. After fully understanding the weight, volume and shape of the goods, the height to be lifted and the channel conditions (channel width, ground bearing, whether anti-static, dust-proof and anti pollution explosion-proof, noise) inside the plant, you can basically determine what kind of forklift you need and how to configure it. At the same time, you can consult 1-3 different forklift companies to reduce information asymmetry.

2、 Cost calculation

In the process of purchasing forklifts, many business owners never carefully calculate the purchase cost. To put an end to the waste of equipment, we should clearly know the number of equipment we need so as to make scientific and maximum use and convert it into productivity.

The price of forklift is just the tip of the iceberg

If we only analyze from the perspective of investment cost, for example, if we transport the goods from place a to place B, which is 100 meters away, we can choose to transport the goods manually without spending a cent on forklift, or we can also transport the goods with forklift equipment with a value of several thousand yuan, tens of thousands of yuan, hundreds of thousands of yuan and millions of yuan. In terms of the initial procurement cost of forklift, the difference is extremely great, However, if the comprehensive operation cost is calculated, it may be the lowest equipment investment and the highest single piece handling cost.

As the end user of forklift, what we really care about is the comprehensive operating cost of forklift in its entire service life. This is also the so-called "iceberg" theory that we often talk about. Compared with its comprehensive operation, the initial purchase cost of forklift is only the whole iceberg exposed on the sea and the huge iceberg matrix hidden under the sea. It is just as easy to ignore the maintenance and repair costs, energy consumption costs, labor costs, even opportunity costs and risk costs of forklift in the future. Therefore, it must be considered comprehensively.

In fact, the forklift operated by people and the car are actually the same in function. The main function of forklift is to carry goods, while the car carries both goods and people. Accurate budget and positioning of the forklift you need will save you the time to purchase the right products. If you only have a budget of less than 100000 and are prepared to handle goods of less than 3T, the use site does not require high environmental protection, and the forklift is not used too frequently. It is recommended that you position yourself on the brand of domestic products, and do not waste time collecting and contacting and contacting the top 10 forklift brand sellers in the world.

3、 Choice between leasing and direct purchase

Forklift leasing has become a popular trend in developed countries in Europe and America. In the United States, 1 / 3 of construction machinery is completed by leasing. Due to different national conditions, forklift leasing in China is still in its infancy. In economically developed areas (coastal areas), forklift leasing is in full swing. It is conceivable that in the future, China's forklift leasing business will also occupy a considerable proportion in the material handling and procurement industry, just like developed countries.

Forklift users must consider the choice between leasing and purchasing. The advantage of forklift leasing is that it can get rid of the depreciation pressure brought by fixed asset investment and idle equipment, so that the enterprise can outsource the logistics handling and let the capital invest in its core business to improve its competitiveness. In China, at present, many small foreign-funded enterprises tend to lease forklifts to solve handling problems. In fact, not all enterprises are suitable for leasing forklifts. More than half of the forklifts in the world are purchased directly by business owners. Due to the different products handled, the logistics channels have different requirements for safety and environmental protection (leasing forklifts may not solve all handling problems). Therefore, this is why some super large enterprises (including foreign-funded companies) still set up their own material handling fleets by directly purchasing forklifts for unified management, training and reasonable scheduling.

4、 Safety, environmental protection and efficiency considerations

At present, the forklift purchasing environment is quite different from that of more than ten years ago. Forklift users need to evaluate the safety, environmental protection and efficiency options of the products they buy. Of course, it needs to be clear that product safety is the first priority, followed by environmental protection and efficiency. This is especially true for those who require to purchase special forklifts (such as explosion-proof forklifts) and use them in special places.

In terms of safety, most of the forklifts listed in China have passed the forklift quality and safe driving inspection of the national construction machinery quality supervision and inspection center. However, there are still some Shanzhai factories, assembling or imitating the products of the enterprises that have obtained the certificates, which are in the market, endangering safety and environmental protection, and affecting their work efficiency, not to mention. Therefore, the first basic step of forklift procurement is to know whether the product has obtained the production license. For special customers who want to purchase explosion-proof forklift, in addition to the necessary production license, they also need to know whether the forklift has obtained the explosion-proof grade certificate issued by the relevant national authority.

If the user of the forklift is a food company or the forklift is used in a place with very strict environmental requirements, the emission requirements of the products to be purchased should be taken seriously. Of course, electric forklift is undoubtedly a very good choice. The emission of electric forklift is basically zero, followed by gas (liquefied gas) forklift and gasoline forklift, and finally diesel forklift. At present, in the Chinese market, diesel forklift still occupies the largest market share, and electric forklift only occupies about 20% of the market share. In Europe, America and Japan, the market share of electric forklift is more than 50%. So far, the United States, which has a land area similar to that of China, has more than 1 million forklift trucks, while China is only half that of the United States. This is the difference! This is why diesel forklifts are still popular in China. In any case, as long as the handling behavior occurs, it will cause pollution to the environment. That is, the electric forklift powered by hydrogen fuel cells will still produce emissions in the early stage of its fuel manufacturing. Therefore, it is very important for users who have different requirements for the environment of the place of use to choose the products correctly.

The use efficiency of forklift and the importance of safety and environmental protection are the same. In fact, the "efficiency" can be reflected in two aspects. First, the users of the forklift can reasonably "use the forklift" to maximize their handling potential. For example, some companies in the world apply the latest RFID technology to forklifts and use advanced logistics management software to maximize the use efficiency of forklifts (reducing the no-load driving of forklifts is one of them). The second is the technical innovation of forklift. For example, the difficulty of replacing the battery of an electric forklift (how much time it takes to replace) also reflects its efficiency. The level of efficiency will directly affect the level of profits and benefits of enterprises.

Since the forklift products produced by each manufacturer have different considerations on safety, environmental protection and efficiency, the purchaser has many choices. It should be noted that the price of products that are perfect in these three aspects is bound to be high. Behind the high price, the maintenance cost is naturally not low.

5、 Understand the basic configuration of the product and other special requirements

If the forklift you buy is a popular product, its configuration has many acquaintances.

To take a simple example, the domestic three ton internal combustion forklift can be assembled by purchasing accessories on the market. And this tonnage of products also has the largest sales volume in the market. Traditional and stable forklift parts suppliers provide power system, transmission system, electronic system and other eight systems. However, if the products you need to buy are used in special sites, such as industrial and mining sites with high dust concentration, forklifts equipped with traditional air filtration configuration may not stand the test. In tropical areas, the forklift should also consider the special requirements of its cooling system.

The greatest advantage of collecting such information is that it can eliminate the lack of understanding of the internal structure of the product caused by information asymmetry, and cause the loss of procurement, especially the loss of follow-up services.

You must also master the main basic performance of the forklift, including its loading and unloading capacity, traction force, sensitivity of braking, mobility, ability to overcome road obstacles and pass through various bad roads, ability to resist overturning, portability and comfort of handling, etc.

If some of your products do not need traditional forks, you need to configure different forklift accessories according to different products. You should learn the performance and parameters of accessories from the forklift supplier. If necessary, you can directly learn from the accessories supplier.

6、 Select and position the right brand

As mentioned above, there are more than 500 brands of forklifts in the world and more than 100 in China. 90% of the world's top 20 forklift manufacturers have manufacturing plants and agents in China.

Go to professional media and institutions to understand the forklift brands sold in the Chinese market.

There are hundreds of Chinese and foreign forklift brands in China, among which there are many manufacturers specializing in the production of special forklifts. Therefore, purchasers need to accurately position their products and then accurately position the brand.

7、 Inspect the seller

After accurately positioning the forklift brand you are interested in, you need to investigate the dealers or direct sales points of the brand near the location you purchased. It should be noted that the following lessons need to be done before contacting the seller or direct sales point:

1、 In order to ensure the safe operation of the products purchased and the guarantee of follow-up services, the forklift brands that have no service outlets within the range of more than 500 kilometers from the place where the forklift is used are excluded. Of course, special forklifts are not included.

2、 Secretly visit the local reputation of the brand and service provider, and understand the service response time and parts price of the same brand.

3、 Listen to the service provider's introduction and carefully observe their professional level in forklift.

4、 Evaluate and understand the service provider's history, hardware configuration and staffing.

5、 Understand the local retention of the brand through authoritative institutions.

8、 Final decision

If your enterprise wants to purchase large-scale forklifts (more than 10 sets), it needs to entrust professional and independent bidding companies (very familiar with forklifts and industrial vehicles) or logistics consulting companies to assist. In order to save the procurement cost and prevent the dark box operation in the procurement process, the final decision-making power of procurement must be in your hands.

Finally, it should be noted that the cheapest forklift supplier may not be the best. Just as you buy other consumer goods, you will get the goods at the same price. Forklift is an industrial product, which needs long-term stable service as support. If a supplier's forklift is lower than the normal sales price, you can think how good its service will be after you buy it. A smart buyer should not only look at the price of the forklift, but also make a comprehensive evaluation before making a decision. (China forklift network)

Shanghai Heyi forklift Co., Ltd. sells Hangzhou forklift, used forklift, forklift leasing, forklift recycling and other businesses.

website: http://www.heyicc.com/ Tel: 021-66867088