REDUCING COSTS AND INCREASING SAFETY
WHEN MOVING MATERIALS HORIZONTALLY
A safer material handling system can actually cost a lot less.
Forklift safety records are well documented. OSHA and the ITA estimate that 9 out of every ten forklifts will be involved in some sort of accident over their useful lives. And many of these accidents result in injuries or even death.
Not so well documented are the costs of using forklifts for the horizontal movement of materials. Many companies that have added industrial electric vehicles and towable trailers to their material handling systems are finding that using forklifts for vertical movement and EVs and trailers for horizontal movement significantly reduces capital costs and material handling expenses.
DESCRIPTION | ELEC. FORKLIFT | ELEC. TUGGER +2 96" LONG TRAILERS |
Depreciation | $7,600/yr.* | $2,400/yr.** |
Capital Outlay (@5%/yr.) | $1,900 | $600 |
Elec. Power Used | $2,000/yr. | $500/yr. |
Maintenance | $500 | $200 |
Total Cost/yr. to Own & Operate | $12,000 | $3,700 |
# of pallets carried/trip | 1 | 4 |
Annual Cost Per Pallet Carrying Capacity | $12k/pallet | $925/pallet |
* $38k amortized over 5 yrs. ** $12k amortized over 5 yrs. ($8k for Tugger + $2K ea. for 2 Trailers) |
Compare the cost of owning a forklift truck with a tow tractor and two trailers. The annual per pallet carrying capacity cost is reduced by over 92% by integrating the EVs and trailers. The difference is even greater between gasoline-powered forklifts and industrial electric vehicles.
The precise details of forklift-EV integration vary with every plant. The rule of thumb is to allow each type of material handler to do what it does best. However, greater economies of ownership and use go well beyond the rule of thumb. That’s why Pack Mule sales engineers work with customers to determine just what mix of vehicles and trailers—and how those vehicles and trailers should be configured—result in the greatest productivity as well as the lowest cost of ownership and use.