As of this year, Jungheinrich equips all new lift and warehouse trucks with telematics systems as standard. Users will be provided free of charge with tools that give them insight into their fleet and the utilisation of the various machines. The flow of data generated by the telematics systems paves the way for predictive maintenance.
Jungheinrich sells thousands of trucks a year, but does not have the data from all those machines. "If we do have that data, we can send our service engineers out with the right preparation and the right parts," said Uwe Kolk, chief information officer of Jungheinrich at a press conference. "Based on data, we can develop new service models that lead to less machine downtime. Think of predictive maintenance. If we continuously collect data from all machines, we can see which trucks are in danger of becoming 'sick'. Then we can intervene early. Don't call us, we call you."
Jungheinrich has partnered with ID Systems, a US specialist with 25 years of experience in fleet management. As a result, customers will have access to a comprehensive brand-independent fleet management system in the coming year. In addition, the battery management and energy management system will also be updated. In other words, not only the trucks, but also the batteries and battery chargers will be fully unlocked digitally. This should lead to more efficient deployment and longer life, both of the truck and the battery.
Number of operating hours
One of the free services offered by Jungheinrich is a forecast of the number of running hours. When the lease ends, what will be the total number of running hours if the truck continues to be used as it is now? "Users see per truck how much they have to pay extra if the number of running hours exceeds the maximum or how much they get back. That insight enables them to deploy the trucks evenly and minimise additional costs," Kolk states. "In addition, the fleet management system provides an overview of the fleet per branch and insight into the total operational costs per truck. Is that only maintenance costs or also repair costs?"
Forklift fleet managers can set their own alerts. "If one truck breaks down, it might not be so bad. But if two are down at the same time, it might cause immediate problems. In that case, the system can alert," Kolk says. "We can also set which driver can drive which truck and which drivers are subject to a lower speed limit. But we also show which driver needs a new certificate."
Digital tools
Drivers themselves are also getting more and more digital tools at their disposal. The allnew compact stacker ERC 216zi - 17 centimetres shorter thanks to its integrated lithium battery - is equipped with operationCONTROL: a system that continuously calculates the load on the truck. If the load is not in line with the load diagram, the display turns red. And if that is not enough, an acoustic signal is also heard and the steering wheel vibrates.
Another feature is positionCONTROL: a system with which standard lift heights can be programmed. At the touch of a button, the stacker looks up the selected lift height itself. addedVIEW is finally a camera system with four cameras, the images of which are rapidly stitched together by image recognition software to form a 360-degree view around the machine.
