Measure twice...
August 1st 2005

A comprehensive site survey involving all parties can make a huge difference to bottom lines. Finning Materials Handling’s Peter Barlow explains the company’s approach

A‘day in the life’ of a materials handling salesman is often full of familiar scenarios. Typically, an existing contracted customer or new business prospect will call and detail his or her new lift truck requirements. Often, the customer provides a short statement of their requirements: “I need to lift 1500kg, a 1.5 tonne truck will be suitable” or “I must get a Reach Truck to be able to lift above five metres.” Unfortunately, there are a host of other factors which dictate truck type, specification, attachment and the number of machines needed to handle a specific application. This information cannot always be garnered from a single call or email and to fully understand these external factors, an equipment provider should visit the site and compile a site survey as part of any machine order.

A site survey does not comprise of complicated formulae or mathematical equation. Instead, it is a concise, written document which looks at applications across a site and details in layman’s terms, the number of trucks required, the exact specifications, attachments and include an agreed number of hours-per-year that the truck will work. A site survey is an integral part of any fleet management model and is often the starting point for a customer relationship. If a site survey is not carried out correctly first time around, in some situations it may be impossible to make accurate recommendations in the future.

Unfortunately, thorough site surveys are not always completed or customers ignore their contents. The financial consequences of both actions can be severe.

All too often, customers operate too many trucks and pay rental fees for more trucks than they actually need. If a typical 2.5 tonne counterbalance truck has a rental of £70 a week, five of these trucks, that are surplus to fleet requirements, could end up costing a company a crippling £18,200 a year. Similarly, customers can pay out significant sums for over-specified trucks which offer superior lift and loading capabilities that are not needed for the task.

To safeguard against these site problems, customers should always work closely with their equipment supplier, who should be able to provide a detailed site survey and ongoing consultative support. Importantly, customers should always assess how well their equipment partner approaches this task, as this is marker of how they will undertake fleet management.

Ideally, a materials handling partner should take a 'back to basics' approach to fully understand the site layout and the unique demands of the customer’s business.

For each application across a site, the survey should look at the weight, length and lift of the load. Height of doorways, operating aisle width, and overhead clearance of pipes and lights and sprinklers should be measured as this will affect mast head choice. Drive-in racking should also be assessed and again measurements taken.

Ground floor conditions should be a consideration and the survey needs to assess whether a truck will be working inside or out as this could dictate fuel type. The equipment provider should be asking about shift patterns and whether the truck will be asked to work on a slope or gradient.

Critically, the survey should detail the number of hours each piece of equipment should work per day/week/year. It is essential that these hours are accurate and that they reflect the nature of the application and the shift pattern of the organisation.

Although, a materials handling partner should lead the site survey, it is two-way process and customers need to be open and honest with equipment providers and provide them with an accurate insight into applications and how they ‘really’ run their trucks. For example, providing incorrect hours for a machine could result in a customer paying for a truck on a 3,000 hour contract, when in reality it is used for only 1,000 hours.

Similarly, customers need to detail exactly how they intend to use a truck. If a truck changes application, to a role that it was not specified for, there is a risk that the customer could incur damage costs and penalties.

Managerial input from the customer is very important in compiling a site survey, but an equipment supplier can also gain a good understanding of how trucks will be used, from those employees at the coal face – the operators. A good equipment provider will spend time to chat to operators and detail their thoughts and concerns in any proposal.

Once completed and agreed, a site survey sets a marker in the ground for any fleet management model. Fleet management customers can potentially look back at monthly management reports and cross-reference performance against what was originally agreed.

At Finning Materials Handling, we acknowledge that a site survey and its recommendations should continue to evolve with the changing dynamics of any business.

There is also an acceptance that what was originally agreed in the site survey will not be the same in a few months. Importantly, customers need flexible equipment providers who are prepared to visit sites and will continue to evaluate the success of the survey recommendations. Our nationwide network of account managers and engineers ensure that we visit customer sites and become a customer’s ‘eyes and ears’ reporting back our findings in monthly fleet management reports.

Once completed and agreed, a site survey sets a marker in the ground for any fleet management model. Without a thorough site survey being completed in the first place, it is impossible for any equipment provider to make meaningful fleet management changes in the future, because these recommendations will be based on inaccurate data. The message to customer is clear – get it surveyed properly!

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