FAQ

- Forklifts — When You Buy, What Are You Buying?
- Rationalize the need
- So what was it all about?
- On the subject of emissions
- No clear-cut answer
- The model
- Utilisation
- Activity cycle for comparison
- Running costs
- Forklift truck cost comparison example
- Model availability

Forklifts — When You Buy,
What Are You Buying?

What do you look for when buying (or renting, for that matter) a forklift truck?

Behind each buying decision lies first an emotional response, which is then justified by rational reasoning. This certainly applies to the purchase of a motorcar. In fact, the adverting agencies go to great lengths to create an aura of emotional desire around the latest models. But forklift trucks? Pull the other leg.
We would suggest that in most transactions there are two primary emotional responses involved, the one being the colour and appearance of the machine, the other being “do I like the salesman and his company or not.” There is no way of ducking the latter response if there’s a demonstration involved.
Is it right for the job, will all the fancy features make the workplace safer and more productive, and so on? There are also gimmicks and ergonomic issues that are used to create and clinch a unique sales proposition. With the dozens of different types and brands on the market, making the right decision can be a difficult task.

Cut the cackle and get down to the nitty gritty
The minefield of decision-making can be easily circumnavigated by changing your mindset and asking one simple question, “What am I really buying?” The answer to this, especially in the warehousing field, is “Capacity to lift and handle pallets.”

Admittedly there are other things to be handled, but pallets are far and away the most common item. It is relatively easy to calculate how many are or have to be handled in an hour or a day. Then comes weight. What is the heaviest pallet or stack of pallets likely to be handled, and to what height? We homed in on a clever software modelling system to facilitate these kinds of calculations at the August Forklift Conference in Stellenbosch. Using this kind of thinking, one can do sums and investigations on the precise vehicles capable of doing the job, and buy precisely what’s needed. Following this route further, it may transpire that your existing fleet can be rationalised for better economy, battery charging, spares inventory and service/maintenance.

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Rationalize the need
Next time you buy or hire a forklift truck, do some simple sums. It’s then possible to compare brands and models, and arrive at an optimum vehicle, and buy it at the best price. Only at the last analysis should the appearance, smiling salesman and fancy features influence the final purchase decision.
Remember you are buying a tool, not a private motorcar. Your final decision must not be influenced by emotion in any way, nor should “sweeteners” dictate it.
If you can standardize on one brand, and a minimum of vehicle capacities, so much the better because battery charging, cell repair, charging facilities and all the attendant hassles will be minimized to add more value the supply chain.
Of course the really cunning thing to do is establish your pallet-handling needs and do a deal with a 3PL to meet that need. It’s rather like lifecycle costing in building — getting the best value over time.
Battery, Gas, Petrol or Diesel?

The question of which energy source to use for forklift truck operation has been debated in many quarters for some time. Although fuel costs play a significant part in the debate, other factors such as the environment, safety, and suitability for food environments also have to be considered.

So what was it all about?
Essentially the seminar set out to compare the technical and economic aspects of the four methods of forklift truck motive power.

Allan Day of Willard Batteries, Johannesburg, got the ball rolling
Next up was John Fitton of BP, who described the characteristics of diesel and petrol, paying particular attention to emissions. It was interesting to note that South Africa is one of the last outposts of leaded petrol, which today accounts for only 5% of BP’s world sales.

Comparing prices of the different fuels, he quoted R3.11 for diesel against R3.36 for petrol and R2.52 for LPG.
But LPG is probably best for forklifts because of low particulate emissions.

Catalytic converters are an option to reduce emissions, but only operate best at elevated temperatures, which forklift engines do not reach at lower speeds. The ultimate answer will hopefully be fuel cells, which convert hydrogen to give energy — but that’s some years ahead. From what was said, we came to the conclusion that, on balance, LPG is better suited to a food environment as things stand at the moment. The petroleum companies are working on the reduction of gas and particulate emissions, so the picture may well change within the next two or so years.

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Following this excellent presentation, John Ferreira of Total SA dealt with some interesting aspects of liquid petroleum (LPG) gas, which is a mixture of butane and propane. His audience was amused to hear that because LPG is odourless, for safety reasons a stenching agent has to be added. This is Ethyl Mercaptane, rated by the Guinness Book of Records as the smelliest substance on earth.

Points of particular interest were poor burning of LPG at certain temperatures, refinery gas production, and energy values of different fuels. Poor burning of gas is a result of gas separation due to ambient conditions — the two gases of the mix have different vaporisation temperatures.

It came as a surprise to uninitiated delegates that LPG is actually made at the refinery from petroleum and is not a by-product of the cracking process. Comparative energy values in MJ per litre were given as:
UJ LPG-9.31c/MJ U Diesel-8.15c/MJ U Petrol - 9.73 c/MJ
Johan Ferreira concluded that LPG is acceptable for a food environment because if engines are well maintained so that all gas is burnt, there are no emissions.

On the subject of emissions
For reducing or eliminating emissions of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and nitrous oxide and particulates. He also touched on aspects of health hazards related to emissions in poorly or non-ventilated areas.
One thing that kills the catalytic effect of converters is leaded fuel.
Getting the Stellenbosch forklift conference off to a good start, the Easigas action cricket team won hands down at Montague Gardens

Battery, Gas, Petrol or Diesel? This, he said, started in the post World War 2 days when LPG powered 90% of the USA and European markets for high-speed trucks, which moved at speeds of 48 km per hour! Twenty is considered “pushing it” today.

Some interesting points made were that Toyota took the lead in producing forklifts that could change from petrol to LPG at the flick of a switch. This type of vehicle now holds a world market share of between 20-30%. In Europe it is estimated that 60% of the trucks in service today are battery powered, whereas in South Africa the figure is closer to 15%. With the advent of AC motors, however, which offer 8 to 10 hours of continuous operation, this figure is set to increase.

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Although batteries were emission-free during forklift operation, this was not the case in charging. Acid mists given off during charging can be corrosive and injurious to health, but can be controlled by what was termed a dry charge formation hood design.

Looking at IC engines, he noted that diesel engines are low on CO emissions and soot can be effectively filtered out. Dust generation and heat emissions were on the negative side.

LPG and petroleum tend to a higher CO emission along with smoke and heat.

For truck operators working in cold room environments of -18 degrees or lower, their exposure must be limited to 50 minutes an hour In any environment, noise levels should not exceed 85 dBA. Kosie van Heerden estimated that electric forklift trucks accounted for about 40% of trucks in service in South Africa.

The afternoon closed with a presentation from Hem Botha of SA Breweries, Newlands, which is a large user of diesel forklifts.

No clear-cut answer
Delegates came away from the seminar certainly much wiser in the ways of the forklift world, but with no clear-cut answer as to which energy source was cheapest or best. Our own summation would be diesel leads by a short head with LPG/petroleum running close second tie. You pays your money and takes your pick/depending on circumstances.

We would say, however, that LPG, with 1 500 listed different applications, offers good value for money. Perhaps when the natural gas pipeline from Mozambique comes into operation in 2002, it will have a significant price advantage. It’s not to be sniffed at even though it reeks of Ethyl Mercaptane.
Forklifts, A Practical Model for Comparison

For the first time in South Africa, forklift operators have a computerised theoretical model with which to compare the costs of running battery, diesel and gas powered trucks. It is based on an activity cycle per truck over a five-year period.

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As described by Nina Potgieter, an activity cycle is a sequence of actions which may be to pick up a load and transport it say 25 m, place the load in a rack of a certain height, and travel back to fetch another load.
The cost comparison model has been so designed as to calculate the cost involved in the performance of any combination of activities to form an activity cycle. It is assumed that the forklift truck is purchased new and receives good to average maintenance over its five-year operation time, and is then sold after the five-year period.

For the Stellenbosch presentation it was decided to compare trucks with a 2.5 ton load capacity as this is a fairly popular size unit in the Western Cape. It was noted, however, that the model will work for any other unit, and that it assumes the machine will work on a flat, good condition floor surface. It also assumes that all drivers are competent, but no environmental aspects are taken into account.

The model
The model is divided into the following sub-sections:

Utilisation
This sets out the number of operating hours in the five-year period, depending on the expected actual operating hours during a shift, number of shifts per day, etc.
All this information can be altered according to each user’s particular requirements.

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Activity cycle for comparison
This is the work cycle the forklift is doing. As mentioned above, each activity cycle is a combination of individual activities. For each activity there must be information such as distance to be travelled, percentage of maximum speed, etc.

Power consumption variables and power consumption for activity cycle
This is where the fixed costs for the equipment are calculated. The model assumes the equipment will be financed by a five-year period loan, and that it has a residual value at the end of the five-year period. The loan period can, however, be adapted. Tax aspects are ignored but can be added to the model if required.

Running costs
This includes all the operating costs such as fuel, tyres, maintenance and labour.
All costs are added to obtain a cost per activity cycle, as performed in a five-year period, in other words — what a particular activity costs the user during the “life” of the forklift truck in present value Rand terms per forklift, and for the required fleet size.

Forklift truck cost comparison example

Total cost in rand per activity cycle

Performance and cost variables were applied, only the activities changed.
Activity cycle one: is for small order picking and truck loading type of activities. The forklift truck does not need to travel over long distances, but is doing a lot of load handling.

Activity cycle two: is for medium travelling distances and moving. It covers the type of activity where a pallet is moved from the palletization area to, for example, a cold store and placed on a rack.

Activity cycle three: is for moving loads over longer distances. Typical operations would be moving loads between warehouses or cold stores where trailer transfer is possibly called for

Model availability
Because the model can be adapted for various types of activities performed by a forklift truck, it is an ideal program to use in order to determine the approximate cost of the activity cycle for the different forklift propulsion types movements and lifting like

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