Forklift Telematics: An Industrial Fleet Management Solution

With telematics, it is possible to alert operators and managers about forklift path conditions.

Lift-trucks operate in workplaces with stringent Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) guidelines to prevent downtime caused by accidents and safeguard workers’ health. Operators need to ensure that the forklifts do not collide with:

• Pedestrians
• Objects

Workplaces that rely on forklift operations partner with companies providing telematics solutions that allow integration with:

• Laser Systems
• Proximity Sensors
• AI Cameras

Developing advanced telematics solutions will allow fleet management companies to include the above integrations that work well with communication networks (GPS) to locate and alert nearby operators. This happens in two ways:

• Providing visual or audio alerts using alarms installed on the forklift.
• Notifying the employee using the operator module installed on their devices.

Once alerted the operators can either move out of the way or move an object out of the way.

A fleet manager must ensure that all the vehicles in the fleet must meet pre-task safety criteria. The human-machine interface (HMI) in the forklift, connected to the telematics cloud presents operators with a pre-operation safety checklist. Checklists are issued before every shift to ensure that the forklift is operating under ideal conditions. This includes:

• Checklist Parameters and Scoring: Checklists use pre-set qualities or scores such as ‘Good/Repair/Replace’ to evaluate items.
• Follow-Up Questions: When unfavorable answers like ‘Repair’ or ‘Replace’ are selected, follow-up questions are presented to gather more details.
• Digitalized Paper Trail: This system reduces the manual effort required to maintain checklist entries and creates a digital record that can be easily updated and accessed by fleet managers.
• Cloud Storage: New and completed checklists are stored in the telematics cloud repository for secure and efficient data management.
• Customizable Checklists: Fleet Managers can assign and update checklists based on the specific forklift used and the tasks performed.

Vehicles operating within the premises of a shopfloor, warehouse, construction site or port must adhere to speed limits. Most workplaces stipulate forklifts to operate between 3-8mph.

The telematics device continuously gathers vehicle speed and acceleration datasets.

The fleet manager’s module allows them to set a predetermined maximum speed limit for forklifts.

In situations where operators fail to comply with speed limits, automatic cautionary notifications will go out to managers.

Impact sensors integrated into the forklift telematics framework monitor and record stress experienced by the forklift.

Upon crossing the safety threshold, fleet managers immediately receive impact reports that consist of information on:

• Time of Impact
• Operator
• Forklift Number
• Part of the forklift that experienced the impact
• Location

Fleet managers use this information to determine the cause, site of the impact, damaged equipment, and countermeasures to avoid its recurrence.

Countermeasures include signing up the operator for additional training programs, if the operator is found to be at fault as per the driver monitoring app.

A resource that is not rightly utilized is a loss on investment.

Fleet Managers are under constant pressure to make optimal use of all the available forklifts. Using this wireless data-driven technology, they can gain access to real-time reports on asset utilization rates based on data such as login, trip distance, and hours operated.

A telematics device seamlessly collaborates with third-party apps to perform scheduling tasks. Fleet managers use them to continuously monitor and improve their forklift fleet’s utilization rate.

Forklifts that are surplus to requirements could be relocated or sold, based on the vehicle’s usage data.

Mitigating unnecessary drain of energy is a great way of saving capital resources.

The fuel or battery level sensors integrated into the forklift telematics framework present the operator and fleet management with real-time updates on energy consumption rates.

They can then identify and alert operators to modify their forklift manoeuvring technique to efficiently use fuel/electricity.

Advanced fuel and battery management solutions are equipped with remote forklift locking abilities.

Let’s explain this using an example.

• Instances, where operators leave forklifts running when stepping away, wasting fuel/charge on the battery, are not unheard of.
• Forklift telematics solutions address this issue by establishing remote control.
• Fleet managers can remotely shut off idle forklifts, optimizing resource utilization and reducing operational costs.
• Using telematics software, fleet managers configure forklifts to switch off after a certain period of inactivity if left in an ON condition.

Integrating RFID tag scanners or HMIs for PIN entry is crucial while developing forklift telematic devices. Only authorized personnel with the necessary training and certifications are allowed to manoeuvre a forklift.

Authorized operators log-in by simply scanning the cards with RFID tags allotted to them or entering a security pin to mobilize the forklift. The forklift is unlocked once the RFID tag or pin is cross verified with the dataset of authorized tags or pins present in the telematics data cloud.

Advanced telematics solutions enable fleet management companies to:

• Allot operators to specific forklifts based on their experience and certifications.
• Adjust the operating parameters of the forklift based on the operator. Operating parameters in this context refer to parameters such as speed and acceleration.
• Record and monitor an operator’s completed hours of work against the allotted hours.

The network of sensors on the forklift telematics framework constantly gathers data on every action performed by the operator.

An operator’s performance is analysed based on pre-set performance KPIs decided by the fleet management company.

At the end of each shift, fleet managers receive a comprehensive report on the operator’s performance based on the KPIs.

Telematics solutions play a key role in forklift automation.

Data collected by the telematic sensors installed on the forklift is used to train the automation algorithm. Similarly, telematic systems play a key role in measuring the success of the automation strategy.

Automation yields better results when paired with a telematics system. For example, industries are widely adopting measures to help them switch their forklift operations between manual and automatic modes. When operating in automatic mode, how can the forklift identify an obstacle and notify a nearby operator to move it out of the way? Through Forklift Telematics.

The large network of sensors integrated into the forklift telematics system generates a huge repository of data in real-time. Upon receiving unlikely and untimely values, the part of the forklift from which it originated is flagged.

Operators and fleet managers are notified of this information on their respective modules which allow them to initiate root cause analysis and proactively carry out maintenance procedures.

This is made possible by the telematics system’s ability to allow remote access to vehicle diagnostics data.