Crown’s InfoLinkTM Makes Major Impact Fleet Management System Catalyst for Safety and Efficiency Advancements at MBM

MBM Food Corporation, a leader in food distribution, wanted to improve efficiencies with its lift truck fleet. InfoLinkTM, Crown Equipment Corporation’s wireless fleet management system, provided MBM with the benchmarks it needed to change.

InfoLink maintains records on OSHA compliance, monitors truck impacts, provides the details necessary to maximize fleet performance and plan maintenance based on hours in operation. Communication between the manager and operator is also simplified with text messaging features.

“Our goal is to run safe and efficient warehouses. InfoLink showed us we really didn’t know how our fleet was being used,” said Sean Bennett, senior financial operations support manager at MBM. “We learned a lot about our fleet usage in those first few months. For example, there were a lot of impacts that we felt if went unaddressed would lead to damaged lift trucks, racks and other warehouse equipment. We were able to evaluate and isolate each impact by operator and address operator behavior.”

MBM was an early adopter of the InfoLink system, which launched in early 2007. The company tested InfoLink over a three-month period on nearly 50 lift trucks. During the early stages, MBM management simply observed how the trucks were used. These details were easy to track. InfoLink sends managers real time alerts via email allowing them to address specific issues when they happen. InfoLink also generates reports to track metrics in the short and long terms.

While maximizing productivity is important to operating an efficient warehouse, MBM also strives to lead the food distribution industry in safety.

“Each operator must be certified to operate a particular lift truck,” said Bennett. “InfoLink also helps to manage OSHA requirements. It’s programmed to keep unauthorized individuals from operating a lift truck and make sure the truck is in safe operating condition before it’s used.” The InfoLink system offers customizable pre-use electronic checklists, maintains certification records for operators and has the ability to lockout unauthorized operators from using the lift truck.

In addition to keeping better tabs on impacts and operator certification, InfoLink’s detailed reporting has helped MBM managers change how they approach asset utilization.

Bennett said InfoLink’s reporting features provide the metrics MBM was looking for to manage fleet size and planned maintenance. In the past, they made informed guesses, at best.

“InfoLink is helping us make better purchase decisions. We know how to maximize our current fleet and when it’s time to consider adding to it,” he added. “Our planned maintenance has also been streamlined. InfoLink captures real hours in operation. In fact, we found in some cases that trucks on a one month cycle really needed to be maintained every few months.”

For the most part, Bennett believes operators now take more ownership of their lift trucks. He expects that as overall care in the warehouse continues to increase, MBM will continue to see increased productivity as well as a reduction in rack damage and work-related injuries.

About Crown Equipment Corporation

Crown, www.crown.com, is the number one brand of electric lift trucks in the United States and the fifth largest lift truck manufacturer in the world. Crown’s award-winning line of lift trucks has earned a reputation for exceptional product design, engineering and manufacturing. From the smallest hand pallet truck to the highest lifting turret truck, Crown seeks to provide users with safe, efficient and ergonomic lift trucks that lower total cost of ownership and maximize uptime. Headquartered in New Bremen, Ohio, Crown lift trucks are manufactured and sold throughout the world.