Forklift Fleet Management Software – Get Full Control
Do you have full control of your forklifts? If you don’t have fleet management software for them, then unfortunately you don’t. A forklift FMS will provide you with complete operational intelligence and control over the entirety of your fleet. This includes your trucks, trailers, drivers, deliveries, bakkies, sales vehicles, heavy machinery, and the often-forgotten about… forklifts.
Now you may be asking yourself, ‘Why do your forklifts need FMS?’
They rarely, if ever, leave your warehouses, but they still:
- Require maintenance
- Need operators to have specialised licences
- Have to meet safety compliance regulations
Did you know that the global forklift fleet management software market is expected to reach 81.4 billion dollars by 2033, with a CAGR of 13.2% from 2025 to 2033? This is thanks to operations requiring real-time insights, IoT integrations, and predictive maintenance to assist with cutting down operational costs and boosting efficiency.
How does fleet management software work for forklifts?
Fleet management software provides real-time monitoring, predictive maintenance, compliance, operator management, analytical data and reports for your forklifts. This is useful because every vehicle and machine you own plays a vital role in how your operations run and the profits you’ll yield.
Let’s put a scenario together to answer this question.
Banele has a warehouse that holds expensive furniture for a luxury brand. He has 26 forklifts and 30 staff members working in the warehouse. He has an elderly lady that handles all the paperwork and staff documentation. Unfortunately, the warehouse hasn’t been making much profit over the past year, and there are constant unexpected breakdowns of forklifts as well as furniture getting damaged when they’re being moved around.
Banele has decided to implement a full fleet management software solution and added ID tags and AI cameras for all of his forklifts. This is what he discovered…
- Only 15 of the 26 forklifts are being used
- 6 of these forklifts are always in rotation
- Those 6 are the ones that are constantly breaking down
- Only 18 members of his staff have specialised licences to operate forklifts
- Staff members that don’t have the specialised licences are operating forklifts
- Some of the drivers are using their phones while operating the machines
- Staff members are taking the forklifts out of the warehouse
- 8 of the forklifts require maintenance
- Operators are leaving forklifts idle for long periods of time, wasting gas and battery life
Thanks to all of the insights from the FMS, Banele has been able to see exactly what’s eating into his operational profits. He’s now able to give his team proper training when it comes to using the forklifts and ensuring that only operators with the specialised licence can operate the forklifts.
He now makes sure the forklifts are being rotated amongst drivers so that all of them are getting used equally and there aren’t only a handful that are getting overworked. He has also gotten rid of the 6 overused forklifts, keeping a spare 5 for when the others are having maintenance work done.
The FMS provided Banele with all the operational data on his forklift fleet to ensure they’re meeting safety compliance regulations, being properly maintained, staying in the right zones, and that they’re all being used safely and efficiently.
How to choose a forklift fleet management software solution?
When choosing a forklift fleet management software solution, you must first take a good look at your operations and find out what information you need. Do you need:
- Operational data?
- To keep an eye on forklift operators?
- To manage maintenance?
- To control who uses the forklifts?
- Real-time tracking?
For all of these, you can trust Cartrack to give you complete operational intelligence of your entire forklift fleet.
How can you improve forklift fleet efficiency in your warehouses?
You can improve forklift fleet efficiency in your warehouses through regular maintenance, keeping operators trained, and tracking operational data. However, these are just some of the ways you can improve efficiency with your warehouse forklift fleet. Let’s take a deeper dive into some more forklift fleet efficiency tips.
Utilisation and layout tweaks
One of the fastest ways to improve forklift fleet efficiency in your warehouse is through utilisation and layout adjustments, such as the following:
- Optimising the layout and design of aisles (making them wider and only one-way routes for forklifts)
- Packing the fast-moving and high-volume products closer to the dispatch area
- Ensuring that aisles are well lit and there are clear safety signs up.
Maintenance & tech
The smartest way to improve forklift fleet efficiency in your warehouse is by incorporating your predictive maintenance tech and AI cameras.
Predictive maintenance will:
- Prevent unexpected breakdowns
- Reduce unexpected downtimes
- Extend your forklift’s lifespan
- Improve fuel/energy efficiency
- Prevent safety-related incidents
AI cameras provide you with:
- Driver monitoring (distracted driving)
- 360-degree visibility
- Collision prevention
- In-cab alerts
- On-demand footage
Fleet management software
The most efficient way to improve forklift fleet efficiency in your warehouse is by integrating your fleet with fleet management software.
FMS will provide you with:
- Utilisation rates
- Energy/fuel consumption
- Operating hours
- Forklift diagnostics
- Geofencing
- Operator driving behaviour (speeding, collisions, harsh braking)
Combining all of these in your forklift fleet will completely transform your forklift fleet’s operational efficiency!
The benefits of using telematics in forklift fleet management
The benefits of using telematics in forklift fleet management include improving safety and productivity, managing scalability, identifying inefficiencies, and tracking forklifts. These benefits will improve how your forklift fleet operates in your business, so let’s take a look at them.
Improved safety
A telematics system can improve the safety of your forklift fleet. Forklifts are quite powerful and can be a hazard in your warehouse, especially if they’re being used incorrectly.
Having a telematics system can aid in preventing the safety hazards that come with having a forklift. You’ll receive insights on how your operators are handling your forklifts, if they’re speeding, braking harshly, or taking corners aggressively.
Increase productivity
If your fleets are productive, profits will be high. When you invest in a telematics system, you can monitor and track each and every forklift in your fleet. You’ll have insights on idle time, load weight and operating hours, (to name only a few), and with all the data you’ll receive, you’ll easily see how each of your forklifts is performing.
This means you’ll keep all forklifts maintained before they unexpectedly break down or redistribute work to other forklift operators.
Identify inefficiencies
Telematics are brilliant for identifying inefficiencies in your fleet. You’ll have the data to understand how each forklift and its operator are performing, which means you can investigate the why. Is the problem poorly optimised routes or lack of communication between warehouse workers, or possibly forklifts and equipment being overworked?
Either way, you’ll have the data to help you see what’s wrong and can tackle the problem head-on, preventing it from reoccurring.
Manage scalability
As your operation expands, the more forklifts you’re likely to get. Having telematics simplifies this process. Think about it… the more forklifts you have, the more you need to keep track of, on top of everything else you’re handling.
Telematics will easily give you eyes on your entire fleet from one single platform. And it doesn’t matter if you have multiple warehouses across Namibia; you’ll see them all.
Keep track of forklifts
Telematics allows you to remotely keep track of all of your forklifts. If you have multiple warehouses or work sites, it’s easy for one to get misplaced; and when you’re spending time looking for a missing forklift, you’re wasting valuable time and money.
Control who uses your forklifts
Just like code B/08 licensed drivers can’t drive a truck, those without specialised licences can’t operate a forklift. By getting a driver ID tag with your telematics system, you’ll ensure that only licensed drivers can operate your forklifts.
Reasons to get a forklift fleet management software solution from Cartrack
The reason you should get a forklift fleet management software solution from Cartrack is because we provide you with everything you need to get complete operational intelligence. We don’t just provide telematics, or dashcams, or GPS tracking units… We provide all of that and more. But with Cartrack, you completely optimise the way your entire operations run.
Driver ID Tags
At Cartrack we have a cool little tool called DID tags. These help you automatically pick up who’s using a forklift using their identification number. We have a couple of tags you can choose from:
- Driver ID: This is a simple tag that identifies who is using a forklift.
- Driver ID start prevent: This tag is assigned to a driver, and it’ll not start the forklift unless the tag is presented.
- DID with configuration: This tag is configured to a specific vehicle, which’ll prevent others from using it.
One platform
As a fleet manager, your workload is high, and you already have many tasks to juggle. At Cartrack we want to make your life as easy as possible, which is why our fleet management software allows you to add your entire fleet to one single, user-friendly platform.
You’ll not only be able to keep an eye on your forklifts, but you can also add delivery vehicles, dump trucks and any other vehicle/machine in your fleet. Our software makes managing your entire fleet operations a breeze.
World-class AI cameras
Not only can you get fleet management software from Cartrack, but we also have top-of-the-range AI cameras. Installing these on your forklifts will not only give you direct eyes on your operators, but your operators will also get instant alerts on fatigue, distraction, not wearing a seatbelt, and even smoking.
This allows your operators to self-correct before causing an accident, but it’ll also give you insights into what to coach them on.
Driver scorecards
Speaking of coaching, with Cartrack we provide you with a tool called ‘Driver Scorecards’. These work by monitoring driver behaviour and removing points from them with each infraction. Driver scorecards allow you to:
- Prevent wasted profits on avoidable accidents
- Create healthy competition with your operators (rewards for good driving)
- Increase safety in your fleet
Geofencing
Cartack’s fleet management software allows you to put up geofences. These are incredibly helpful with keeping your forklifts where they need to be. Once you set up the boundaries, you’ll get an alert if your forklifts leave those areas.
Predictive maintenance & automated maintenance scheduling
Something that really affects your profits and productivity is unexpected breakdowns and downtime. Cartrack’s fleet management system constantly monitors your forklifts’ engines, batteries and tyres. It’ll send you an alert when you should schedule maintenance and what maintenance is needed for each forklift.
Our platform also automates the maintenance schedules for each of your forklifts by using utilisation hours and the time of the last service.
Real-time tracking
As a fleet manager you have to keep track of all of your forklifts. Cartrack’s fleet management software gives you real-time tracking on your entire fleet. You’ll have eyes on your fleet in the palm of your hands!
Remote immobilisation
As discussed, you need a specialised licence to operate a forklift. Cartrack can provide you with remote immobilisation so you can remotely stop a forklift from working if it’s not being used by authorised personnel.
This is also helpful in the event of theft, as you can stop a forklift with the push of a button, no matter where you are!
So, if you’re ready to optimise how your forklifts operate, give us a call today!
