Rental Forklifts, the Roller Coaster Ride

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The great recession found a lot of dealerships thinning their rental fleets, divesting themselves of those pieces that were “extra”, or “fringy” in demand. Times were tough, equipment was coming home to roost and there didn’t seem to be any hope that things would improve anytime soon.

Then as they always do, they did catching many flat footed.

Just a short while after the recession started [relatively speaking] there was a return to almost normal demand for rental units, but because this was in fact took a time period of about ten months a lot of rental equipment was sold to customers savvy enough to know the value of a well maintained piece of used equipment. The scramble was on by dealerships who'd purged their inventories.

While the time-line I describe may not be what was seen by all dealerships, feedback I’ve been privy to seems to indicate what we saw was pretty close to what many went through. Toyota-Lift of Minnesota resisted and maintained it rental fleet levels, and was able to capitalize on the upswing and the phenomena of re-renting equipment through other competing dealerships. We are currently seeing demand that might be called greater than pre-recession possibly because of that demand seen by other local dealers.

All this is a long winded approach to saying that we still have an adequate supply of rental units available. Further TLM [like so many others] has even recently added equipment to its rental fleet in order to continue to serve its customer base at levels they’ve come to expect.

Have a need for more equipment but don’t want to commit capital to a lease or purchase, give us a call. We’ll give your productivity the boost it needs, at a cost that makes it the wise choice.

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Forklifts and the QR Code

While viewing new posts at the Toyota dealer website portal, I was greeted with of all things a QR code, short for “Quick Response”. Now because a Toyota subsidiary Denso first introduced the code back in 1994, I shouldn’t have been too surprised, but that said I was still was.

Short for “quick response”, I’ve never seen the codes that way and maintain the belief that while functional, the code still requires too much fumbling around first to be called quick, second to be widely accepted and used in our industry at least.

Maybe I’m just looking at it from my personal view point. I’ve certainly seen the codes used here and there while out running around, but the prospect of having to pull my phone out, fumble around trying to find the app that I have that reads them and then squinting at my smart phone screen to read a website with font too small to measure never seemed, well workable.

What is your read, I’d appreciate some feedback. When seeing the QR code here was your first response to have your phone read it? Did you see the information you were given as timely and worth that effort? Do you see QR codes “taking off?”

In case you didn’t, and at the risk of upsetting the analytics TMHNA is likely collecting, this link will show you the site the code goes too.

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Between Selling and Believing

I’ve been accused of a lot of things, indeed convicted on a couple. But being called a salesman is still something that sort of rubs me the wrong way. It might be because of my start in parts. We didn’t see ourselves as salesmen so much as we saw ourselves as partners in the customer’s pursuit of making a repair.

Where is the line drawn that defines one as a salesperson versus say an individual who is passionate about simply delivering products or information that helps another?

I’ll be out again visiting with customers exploring that boundary. My approach to these occasions is casual and relatively stress free as I have nothing to prove, no quota to make or commission to fret over. Rather it’s just to make myself available to hear concerns, discuss issues and in some cases even perform a little IT support that helps facilitate the transferal of information that supports a customer’s maintenance efforts.

All of our sales staff sees themselves first as consultants, working to understand issues they’re made aware of that a customer is experiencing, and then work to resolve those issues drawing on their experience to do so. We all see, measure, and remember the sales that may result from this, someone should keep track of the many occasions where a sale wasn’t the solution, rather it was the help or insights offered. Wouldn’t that measure true value?

In any event while you’re reading this I’m on the road, not filling the role of salesman but rather fulfilling my role in support, support any TLM customer can expect from this dealership.

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CSR Certification: Three Make Third Gear

Certification doesn’t trump value, but it certainly validates.

Our CSR staff mentioned in yesterday’s post reached the pinnacle of Toyota’s validation process for their positions. Toyota’s Third Gear.

CSRs Ron Gohl, Bruce Wald and Steve Gerlach received this level over the past weeks after Toyota-Lift of Minnesota removed some of their last roadblocks by hosting Toyota training here last year.

CSR Staff

Ron Gohl

Bruce Wald

Steve Gerlach

I have told customers I’ve conversed with, and certainly those folks I see daily in the halls around here, that this is nothing more than a tangible scoring for something our CSR staff has carried with them day to day in their work to solve customer material handling questions and problems. We are blessed to have the staff that we have, and are very pleased that Toyota can see their value through this certification process.

Congratulation guys on training well done. We know you have the right stuff, now that plaque on the wall tells everyone else.

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"In business you get what you want by giving other people what they want"

Click to enlarge: Arrows point to contact portals

Credit to the quote author Alice MacDougall, it is what prompted me to write this post.

Customers have a lot of concerns they have to deal with daily, most of us do. When those concerns involve material handling issues we’d like our customers to know we are here to help them.

Technical concerns can be addressed directly with either Eric Nelson our technical foreman, or through Rick Macklin shop foreman or even Steve Eason [who many customers already deal with] our dispatcher.

Parts concerns are dealt with daily through Dave Dop and Steve Doyle our parts technicians, they’re on the phone almost every moment of the day doing just that. You’ll note that their experience gets you a lot more than just a good “order taker”, they also know how to dig for solutions to problems not fixed by simply selling you something.

Application concerns are best left to our territory sales managers, they too can draw on years of experience to review an issue, and then bring their skills to bear in resolving those.

At the core however is our Customer Service Representatives or CSRs. This is the group charged with making the most contact with, and being absolutely available for any customer concern. Each of our customers is assigned with a CSR, and in many, many cases each of you is contacted at some frequency by them. They are in short, the perfect conduit to the “right person” if they cannot answer your question or concern themselves.

One last point, in our soon to be launched website we’re making it easier for you to find your sales or service rep with a quick look-up tool available on almost every page. There will also be a function that allows you to quickly message us on any topic. Being available to the customer is paramount, if we’re not, we aren’t doing our jobs right.

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When Knowing Safe Isn't Enough

Eric Nelson: Technical Foreman during training

It’s one thing to know personally safety procedures to take with you on the job. Another too is to believe that such procedures are common knowledge. It is quiet another however to take that as enough in dealing with those procedures, even if they are pervasive around the workplace, and in handbooks. You have to go further.

OSHA requires that whenever known dangers exists in and around a function that you have a specific procedure at reducing that, procedures that are written out, reviewed and trained at, procedure known as lockout/tagout.

Toyota Lift of Minnesota just recently completed that review and training with our entire technical staff weeks ago.

An area of our shop was cordoned off so that each of the dangers we could define were on display, along with just how to reduce or eliminate that danger. From example to example [nine in total to date] our techs were asked to see how to best deal with the threats while following along in the written procedures they carry with them in their service literature.

Tools from simple wood blocks to chains and hood struts were in use, and when necessary they were provided. Most deal with the biggest concern we have which is gravity. Nobody around forklifts wants anything falling at any time, preventing that is a daily practice. Whether a lift truck has to be suspended, or you’re concerns are the force at play in hydraulics. You have to be aware of how such energies are dealt with.

Primary is protecting our employee, and if necessary advising our customers about dangers present if we have to relinquish control by leaving the work area. Lockout/tagout procedures spell out specifically how that will be done.

Do you or your service provider have these procedures? Or are you just running on the assumption that it is “common sense.” Hoping that everyone knows doesn’t work, and at some point OSHA will likely remind you of that. Get the procedures in writing, practice and review the procedures. It is after all the right thing, and the law.

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Safety Training: Are You Doing It Right?

There are several reasons you need to focus on forklift safety, the first and most important is your staff. Subsequent to that you can look at concerns such as preventing damage [often very costly] to your equipment, then damage to product that your handling.

Once you’ve committed to training, a step we don’t take lightly because there are still far too many companies that haven’t taken that step, you need to insure that your training has the sort of value you’re expecting.
Recently DC Velocity published a very succinct article dealing with what to look for in your safety training personnel. Some of it is also applicable if you are having your own staff performing this function. In any event, it is a short read, and carries a powerful message if you only consider the consequences.

You can find the article through this link. And a you can see DC Velocity online here.

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Get Out Of Our Business

More and more it seems companies are asked to manage processes and supply chains across the country if not globally, asking more of their organizations and people in the process. The requirement for attention to details in your core industry are intense, asking you to manage other concerns such as material handling is most often beyond your capabilities.

Short of “just leaving it up to the locals” there are always options available to help in this area, fleet management done either at the local level through companies such as Toyota-Lift of Minnesota or nationally through Toyota Material Handling North America [TMHNA] are such options.

TMHNA has this post about it at their website:

Tired of managing various lift trucks with different parts and repair needs? If you have material handling facilities around the country, a Toyota National Account could be the most efficient way to reduce your operations costs.

With Toyota National Accounts, you get standardized pricing on Toyota lift trucks and Toyota Genuine Parts along with support from our national network of technicians and parts experts. And with our StarLift All-Make Parts Program, replacements parts for your existing trucks are readily available at low prices.

Toyota Forklift National accounts can be a cost-effective way to raise operation efficiency for companies with locations across the U.S. or with a large region. Our account managers are ready to evaluate your needs and see if a national account is right for you.

If you’re interested into looking at programs like this you can contact me or TMHNA, we would be more than happy to get with you to hear the issues and concerns you’d like to cover, and then see if there are solutions we can offer.

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Toyota Forklift: Government Product News

Toyota Material Handling North America [TMHNA] made the December 2011 captured the cover of the magazine Government Product News. Government Product News (GPN) is a monthly product resource for public sector employees at the local, county, state and federal levels.

Toyota has a small article listed on page 11 inside the magazine. You can see the on-line article and the entire magazine here.

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Safety Training: Spotlight On Pedestrians

Over the past several weeks there have been too many news reports of tragic accidents involving forklifts, and more, forklifts and pedestrians. It has been our experience that there is only limited or tepid involvement in forklift safety training, and it's even worse when you start speaking about pedestrian training.

I found a great piece dealing with the subject of training, with a nice focus on pedestrian safety from ProLift Industrial Equipment and I'd wish you'd follow this link and read that article, then if you have the responsibility act on the points made. You can find ProLift as well on Twitter, their address there is @Prolift

Thank you Prolift, as always a great blog piece.

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