How Often Should You Service Your Material Handling Equipment?

Forklift Service Forklifts

Your material-handling equipment takes good care of you. Whether you’re picking items on warehouse shelving or keeping your facility clean, you rely on it to keep your business running smoothly. But your machinery in turn relies on you to keep it running smoothly as well, which means you need to be aware of and adhere to proper maintenance practices.

Let’s take a look at some of the basics in servicing your material handling equipment.

Why Does My Equipment Need Maintenance Service?

Most Indianapolis warehouse managers are in the know when it comes to the importance of keeping material handlers on strict service intervals, but it’s never a bad idea to remind ourselves of why we do what we do.

1. It’s the law. To be in complete compliance with OSHA regulations, regular maintenance is required for forklifts and other machinery.

2. For safety. This naturally follows from OSHA compliance, but planned maintenance can help prevent equipment-related accidents that can result in injury or damage to your assets.

3. To maximize efficiency. A regular maintenance check-up can identify issues in your equipment that can impact how well your lift trucks work. These could be issues like fuel leaks, improperly fit bearings, or fatigued lift chains.

How Often Does My Material Handling Equipment Need Serviced?

This question is at the same time very simple and somewhat complex. To answer it simply, always refer to the manufacturer’s recommended maintenance guidelines. The reason is may be complex is due to a few different variables that can affect those recommended guidelines, and may necessitate some slight deviation depending on your equipment.

First is its hours of use. It’s natural that a forklift used 6 hours every day, 7 days a week will have shorter service intervals than one that’s used a little more sparingly. Though bear in mind that there are some issues that can pop up no matter the average workload of your lift truck (for example, the motor oil in an IC lift truck breaking down over time as it sits).

Next, the type of engine in your equipment will affect its average service interval. Typically internal combustion engines will need regular maintenance after about 250-300 hours of use. Compare that to electric motor forklifts which have longer service intervals, usually closer to around 500 hours of use before service. Again, refer to the manufacturer’s recommended maintenance guidelines, as there are some outliers to these rules of thumb.

Lastly, the functioning parts of your equipment will require service that can affect service intervals as well. For example, although floor cleaning equipment such as a rider sweeper may have a more lenient maintenance schedule for its engine, the brushes and vacuum can accumulate gunk and debris that impact its performance.

Tynan Equipment Is At Your Service, Indiana

When it comes to expert aftermarket equipment service, Tynan takes value to new heights. We work directly with the best manufacturers including Yale, Bendi and Cushman to provide service tailored to your specific lift truck, floor cleaner, or burden carrier. Call Tynan Equipment Co. at 317-597-4003 today or find our nearest location to learn more about your service options.

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