If you've been in business for some time, you know that you have to be flexible to stay ahead and try to reduce cost as much as possible. If you've got a growing distribution business, then you may face the need for additional equipment to deal with operations on site, but don't want to extend yourself too far so you lose your competitive advantage. As you may know, the buzzword these days is rental rather than purchase, and this applies to all of your equipment, especially in uncertain times. Why should you go down this route when it comes to moving goods and materials on site rather than buying any gear outright?
Number of Forklifts
Many owners in your situation face this challenge when thinking about forklifts. Their growing operation may require them to move stock more efficiently from one part of the yard to another or to help with different storage arrangements when new materials arrive. Indeed, the business may have grown to such an extent that they could do with a variety of different forklift trucks, each one designed for a specific purpose.
Slimline
You may be pleased that your level of growth is providing you with such a range of challenges, but is it a good idea to buy several different types of truck at this stage of proceedings?
One of Each
As you may know, forklifts come in all shapes and sizes, and they can be relatively compact or heavy duty. Some of them can be operated by hand, others are driven and individual models specialise in lifting the heavier loads up as high as possible. In truth, you could benefit from every one of these designs at some stage, but this would tie up a lot of your assets and this is not the right way to remain competitive.
Fit for Duty
It's far better for you to consider renting these machines instead and to bring in different attachments or capabilities as needed. You can also rely on the supplier to keep these machines well maintained and to jump to attention should anything fail. Furthermore, you know that you will always get the best model on the market and won't need to worry about the latest upgrades as well as when they arrive.
Up-To-Date
If you chose to buy instead of hire, however, you will always be behind the curve and under pressure to invest in a more capable version of your current machine, simply to keep pace with development. You will also find that demand exceeds supply at the most inopportune moment, and if you don't have access to additional machines from a rental company, you may fail to meet an order which could lead to disgruntled customers.
Compliance
Finally, you can rely on your supplier to make sure that all these machines are compliant in terms of health and safety requirements. After all, you want to manage your risk as well as your expenditure, while keeping your business expanses on track.