The cream of forklift logging boosts H&S and saves money
March 10th 2006

Kerrygold has been improving health and safety across its fleet of forklift

trucks using Davis Derby's TruckLOG system since 2002.

The system also protects Kerrygold's assets, limits damage and enables the

company to use the data captured to improve day-to-day management practice – allowing it to improve safety on an on-going basis. According to Davis Derby, it is one of the many companies that has achieved complete return on investment within six months of installation.

"The biggest benefits have been realised through improved driving practices

which has led to significant improvements in departmental efficiencies,

contributing to a large reduction in chargeable costs to fleet, infrastructure

and products," says Nigel Windsor, Manufacturing Services Manager.

"The single most significant aspect has been in identifying the condition of our floor areas. We experienced a number of FLT repairs where floor bolts were shearing and subsequently drive motors and gearboxes were getting damaged, and our fleet maintenance charges were very high. The shock data reported by the system facilitates a more proactive approach to site problems. In this instance, we responded by repairing poor floor surfaces, which otherwise would have gone unnoticed. That prevented recurrence – and has led us to a significant reduction in maintenance charges with our hire company.

"Another key report for Kerrygold is the TruckLOG ‘driver termination’ report,

which assists us from a ‘Health & Safety at work’ perspective. Primarily,

preventing electrical shocks, which can be caused when batteries are

disconnected from the charging bays whilst vehicles are enabled and logged on. The termination log tells us who was logged on, when, and how they logged off, and provides us with auditable evidence that preventative action is being enforced.

"The system has also facilitated a change in culture. There is now a greater

level of ownership and accountability from the drivers themselves, which has led to improvements in vehicle reliability, reduced costs and improved

efficiencies. We routinely explore the information captured from the reports at our weekly performance management review meetings and provide feedback to our team via their own personal development reviews.

"For us, TruckLOG has been a complete success, extremely effective and a

profitable investment."

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