10 Tips For Keeping your Costs Down

Properly managing your materials handling equipment can help your company achieve your financial goals.

Energy Icon

Review Energy Costs

  • Review past, current and projected energy costs
  • Develop plan to optimize energy consumption
  • Investigate incentives with energy providers
  • Leverage and negotiate with energy providers
  • Lock in long term cost prior to economic recovery?
Safety Icon

Capture Safety Dividends

  • Review safety records and insurance coverage
  • Insurance Concessions for ergonomic and safety programs
  • Operator training
  • Abuse oversight and reduction (battery monitoring systems)
Financing Icon

Explore Financing Options

Fixed, Adjustable Leases or Loans

  • Take advantage of lower short-term interest rates
  • Reduce payments and improve cash flow
  • Adjustable component indexed to market
  • Ability to refinance at pre-determined milestones
  • FMV product to help ensure lowest payment
  • Benefit for gradual increase in market liquidity through favorable rate adjustment
Balance Sheet Icon

Improve Balance Sheet

  • Off-Balance Sheet Loan Product
  • Reduce payment to improve cash flow
  • Advance rents
  • Off balance sheet accounting treatment
  • Customer receives tax benefits of ownership
  • State Purchase Option – no premium
  • Residual upside when market strengthens
  • Remarketing assistance available if required
  • Greater control over deal economics
Purchasing Programs Icon

Investigate Purchasing Programs

  • Forward order programs
    • Lock in prices for future needs
  • Parts procurement
    • UNISOURCE parts can save money over OEM options
  • Consolidate the number of contracted service providers
    • Consolidated invoices from each service provider
    • Preferred pricing is typically based on volume of business with each service provider
    • Additional costs for contracting with multiple service providers
Maintenance Icon

Review Maintenance Options

  • Exploring maintenance programs to more align with your revenue stream
  • Usage-based full maintenance to:
    • Align maintenance cost with actual truck usage
    • Pay rates typically based on total number of hours, no calendar term
Fleet Optimization Icon

Explore Fleet Optimization

A fleet management plan should include:

  • Hyster Fleet Smart
    • Service by experienced technicians
    • Preferred parts and labor pricing
  • Right-sizing equipment base
    • Remove non-productive units
  • Re-deployment of equipment
    • Within facility or other locations
  • Replacing units based on optimum life
    • Stop “throwing good money after bad”
Telemetry Icon

Utilize Telemetry Solutions to Monitor Material Handling Assets

Productivity improvements and operator accountability driven by:

  • Hyster Tracker wireless asset management
    • Convenient access to truck and fleet data
    • Drive fleet efficiency, improve operator performance, reduce carbon footprint and lower overall material handling costs
  • Intelligence-based management of assets
    • Effective alternative compared to utilizing human resources as your source
    • Advanced-level monitoring simply cannot be performed by human resources
Fleet Management Icon

Implement Fleet Management

  • Determine fleet operating costs
  • Breakout parts and labor costs
  • Monitor fleet utilization
  • Develop fleet benchmarking
  • Compare maintenance alternatives
Review Parts Icon

Review Parts/Aftermarket Solutions

  • Check tires
    • The best tire for your application
    • Increased tire life
  • Remote hour meter readers
    • Timeliness of scheduled PMs
    • By the hour not by a date
  • Remanufactured parts
    • Reduce parts replacement costs
    • Same warranty as new
  • Operator comfort – less product / forklift damage
    • Suspension seats, hydraulic accumulators and radial tires
  • One-stop shopping
    • For all your forklifts regardless of the brand through the UNISOURCE offering