Do We Really Spend That Much?

Before I ask the question, I will tell you the answer is YES! Here is the question now. In a business that is dependent upon electric material handling products for their day to day activities, are labor and electricity? Now that you know the answer, let me dive into this a little bit.

The average time to change a battery is 20 - 25 minutes plus 3 - 5 minutes to get to the battery changing area. So on the low end, in a 2 shift operation, you are looking at 46 minutes of battery changing time. So if your forklift operator makes $20.00 per hour, you have a 2 shift operation working 360 days per year, you are spending roughly $165,000.00 just in labor.

Now a quick look at the electricity. The cost to charge 2 batteries every year on a 2 shift, 360 day operation with just 30 electric walkie riders is a little under 60k per year. So labor and electricity is about $220,000.00 per year. This is what I like to call "Unrecoverable". Money you will never see. This blog is just to get you thinking. I will write more later about how I calculate these numbers so you will be able to look at your fleet and begin analyzing your finances.