Is there a Better Way to Track Forklift Service Hours for Maintenance?

Forklift service hours is one of the best ways to service your fleet of lift trucks. It’s also recommended by most manufacturers that electric lift trucks should be maintained every 500 hours while an internal combustion (IC) forklift should be serviced every 250 hours for minor maintenance or 500 hours for regular maintenance. However, if the hours not imputed and tracked securely, then how does maintenance know what is the right or best time to service the lift truck? Does that affect the longevity or the life of the lift truck? Let’s take a look at how forklift service hours can be tracked…better.

What are Forklift Service Hours?

Forklift service hours are a means of tracking the use of each lift truck in order to service the truck based on the recommendation of the manufacturer. As stated, on average, manufacturers of electric lift trucks recommend service for every 500 hours and IC trucks every 250 hours of service.

How are Lift Truck Service Hours Tracked?

Today, almost all lift trucks have an hour meter located on the dashboard of the forklift. This is great as its being tracked. But if you got 20 trucks, or 100 trucks that you’re responsible for, how are these hour meters being documented? If it’s being tracked on paper, who is checking and how often are they being documented on paper? This can be a problem if you’re trying to get the most from your forklift investment.

A Digital Solution in Forklift Safety

A forklift safety system, such as the SIERA.AI forklift safety system will automatically ask for the hour meter reading to be inputted into the system when the operator starts their daily shift. Here’s the process: When logging onto the system, the forklift operator will scan their QR code located on the badge, or enter in a PIN number only associated with that particular operator. Once logged in, then you can ask anytime during the forklift daily inspection for the hour meter reading. Without the question being answered, the operator will not be able to begin their shift.

Tracking the Hour Meter Reading

Because the information is being transferred from the lift truck to the forklift safety system, it can now be tracked digitally and maintenance can be planning and scheduling maintenance and service. This can be the most effective way to ensure you’re getting the most out of your forklift trucks. In addition, this will also help with ‘favoritism’. Meaning, lift truck operators tend to favor certain lift trucks and this can help with managing their overuse.

Telemetry Dashboard

The beauty of the telemetry Dashboard is the centralization of all of the data captured. Here you’ll capture everything from pass / fail of the forklift inspections, low, medium and high impacts, near miss tracking on both object and pedestrians and of course the hour meter reading. Create your report and keep it digitally, save it as a pdf or print it when necessary.

Contact Us!

Contact us today at sales@siera.ai or call us at (512) 817 0702.