Atlas Blog

The right equipment is necessary to keep your business moving forward, but without the right operators, your investment in equipment will be wasted capital. That’s why Atlas Toyota Material Handling provides specialized and comprehensive training materials and programs at our four locations in Illinois. Why? Because training is not just important, it’s mandatory.

When you are in the market for a forklift, there are several key considerations you need to take into account to ensure you are purchasing the right one. A good place to start your evaluation is by making a list of your requirements and answering the following questions.

According to the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA), a standard forklift capacity plate is a nameplate that contains the capacity of the lift truck, where the capacity is defined as “the manufacturer’s guideline for how much weight a forklift can safely lift.”¹ The nameplate contains a host of information besides the forklift’s capacity data.

Operating forklifts have costs associated with them. While you might not think it worth your time to track these costs, this is never beneficial. First off, knowing the average forklift cost per hour is a good indicator to use to determine when to replace them with new lift trucks. Second, these costs will help you identify potential problems with particular lifts. For instance, you could have one forklift that is constantly breaking down even though it is a year or two old.