Working in the industry which involves heavy material handling equipment, one must possess a heavy set of skills. These include attentiveness, communication, teamwork and patience. Without these must have capabilities one would easily fail to handle these types of equipment. Knowing some procedures will avoid injuries and maximise the productivity.
Here are some useful tips for material handling equipment-
Get the right tools
Right tools are the prerequisite for doing any job correctly. Working in a large fleet company you would require to use a number of equipments but using the correct tools appropriately at each stage is the key to success. for example- Instead of lifting multiple cartons one by one and manually transferring them to the warehouse, use a pallet to stack up all the cartons then use fork-lift to move them all in one go. Thinking the right way of using the right tools increases efficiency and productivity.
Plan the Storage Facilities
If you working in a material handling industry, storing the stock strategically will have a massive impact on overall efficiency. But simply storing the popular items nearest to each other will do more bad than good. The stocking must be done in such a way that it doesn’t create a rush during fulfilling multiple orders at once. If the items daily ordered items are far away in storage it will waste unnecessary time. So plan the inventory in such a way that it minimises retrieval time while avoiding bottlenecks.
Manage Your JAM!
Your warehouse is full of heavy machinery automobiles such as forklifts, pallet jacks and motorised pallet trucks. These run on the lanes between your storage racks. It is a problem because commuters don’t manage the traffic themselves. They need a traffic cop to avoid jams and decrease the chances of accidents. Using the systematic criteria to run the traffic will have a tremendous effect on your efficiency.
Train the troops
Giving proper training to the employee is the only way to make most out of material handling equipments. Training all the employees to handle all types of equipment would reduce work build-up during peaks hours or when the staff is unavailable due to sickness. This way there would always be someone to cover for you. Additional, proper safety and first aid courses are mandatory for every employee working in a hazardous industry. Charts displaying tips and hints are useful as a constant guide.
Maintaining your machinery
Running machinery must be maintained, frequent equipment checks are necessary for its smooth functioning. A large-scale company can hire an additional staff for maintaining the material handling equipment to save money. It is more economical than repairing the machines later on. Investing in replacements and maintenance repairs for material handling equipment is the most beneficial investment you’ll make.
Interact with your employee
Observing the work is completely different from working in the field. Only the workers know the problems they are facing while doing their job. So, to improve efficiency, the people working with the machines need to be heard. They can suggest how to improve processes or could come up with exceptional ideas to ease the work.
