Go digital and improve lift truck operations

For as long as we’ve had heavy machinery, we’ve had daily and periodic inspections to make sure they’re in working order and safe to operate. In many markets, it is a legal requirement. And with good reason—inspections are critical to safety, maintenance efficiency, preventive troubleshooting, managing costs and optimizing the lifetime of the machine.

The practice of maintenance is as old as industry—for as long as we’ve had machines, we’ve had to maintain and adapt our maintenance activities to match their progress.

Today, digitalization is reinventing maintenance practice and standards. Real time insights and data-driven decision making is helping cut costs, improve safety and sustainability and boost the performance of operations around the world. At Konecranes, digitalization is advancing the possibilities for improved maintenance of lift trucks every day, and preparing customers for even more advanced capabilities in the years to come. 

According to a study by the OECD and the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), trade in counterfeit and pirated goods amounted to up to 2.5 % of world trade in 2019. (1) The US Chamber of Commerce estimates that counterfeit products costs the global economy over $500 billion a year. (2) Huge problems for economies, IP protection and incentivization to innovate. But for industrial machinery and applications, human safety becomes the more serious concern—counterfeit spare parts are manufactured for maximum profit, not reliability.

These days, most things in our lives don’t stay the same for very long. In an age of rapid digitalization, everything from our cars to our toasters, suitcases and clothing are becoming more and more capable and connected.It’s not only happening in our personal lives, of course. Take a look around your workplace, and it’s likely you’ll be able to list multiple examples of tools and processes that have been digitalized in recent years. The promise of better safety, productivity and perhaps even competitive advantage is driving the push. And if you’ve been keeping up with Konecranes, you’ll know its benefits are now fully integrated—and continually evolving—in our forklifts and container handlers.

A lift truck is never a short term investment. Its purpose is to aid and enhance productivity, often in challenging environments, at maximum uptime over its service life.But this long view sometimes gets muddied when it comes to spare parts. The temptation to save on high wear consumables such as filters, belts and braking components, or even on more complex components, can be easy to give in to. There may be some short term savings. But the choice to use them is not without risk, including to the total operational lifecycle of your lift truck—and by definition, your investment in it.

A lift truck is never a short term investment. Its purpose is to aid and enhance productivity, often in challenging environments, at maximum uptime over its service life.But this long view sometimes gets muddied when it comes to spare parts. The temptation to save on high wear consumables such as filters, belts and braking components, or even on more complex components, can be easy to give in to. There may be some short term savings. But the choice to use them is not without risk, including to the total operational lifecycle of your lift truck—and by definition, your investment in it.

When you’re a lift truck operator, you’re feeling the pressure in more ways than one: the safety and productivity demands of the job, certainly. But also quite literally from what makes the difference between a lift truck and just a truck: the hydraulic system.

Hydraulics is where the power for every lift task comes from. The system consists of many different components, all working in harmony, to make it possible to lift, extend, steer…. Any motion, in fact, other than forward and reverse.