The survey revealed that amid the challenging times of the past three years, a slight majority (51 percent) of respondents increased the size of their fleet while fewer than 10 percent reduced their fleet during this period. When looking to the future, 47 percent expect fleet size to grow during the next three years while 50 percent anticipate their fleet will stay the same size. Less than five percent expect their fleets to get smaller.

Sustainability and energy efficiency emerged as important topics when making forklift decisions. Specifically, 83 percent of respondents indicated that environmental sustainability is important when making lift truck purchasing decisions, and 95 percent indicated that energy efficiency is important when making decisions.

“Our customers are interested in new and innovative ways to minimize waste, manage energy and maximize productivity,” said Matt Logan, director of global marketing, Crown Equipment. “These three principles are embedded in our product development, engineering and design, manufacturing, and operational processes so that we can deliver the sustainability and efficiency the market is demanding.”

Respondents also showed a strong interest in emerging technologies such as fuel cells and fleet management. More than one-third (35 percent) believe that fuel cells will be important to material handling in the next five years while 37 percent are using some form of fleet management software; although 65 percent of those who use some form of fleet management software are using spreadsheets as a management tool.

“Spreadsheets can be very useful in managing and analyzing fleet costs, but they can’t provide the real-time visibility required to optimize productivity,” said Jim Gaskell, director of global Insite products, Crown Equipment. “We believe fleet management systems used on truck-mounted devices that provide real-time visibility into truck and operator location, energy usage, impacts and other variables represents one of the best opportunities material handling managers have to increase productivity. We expect to see increased adoption of these systems in coming years.”

Komatsu Group says while it has confirmed the safety of all of its employees, some of its staff are unsure about the safety of their family members and relatives.  Komatsu says it will take “some time” for the resumption of normal levels of operation for its sales, service and other operations in the Tohoku region that were damaged by the tsunami.

Six of Komatsu’s Japanese plants are affected. Production has stopped at Komatsu’s Oyama, Ibaraki and Koriyaya plants and some production lines have been shut at the Awazu and Osaka plants. Komatsu Utility Co Ltd in Oyama City, which produces forklifts, has resumed production.

The group says it is making progress in repairing its plants in the affected areas and supporting its suppliers which have been adversely affected by the disaster. However, Komatsu anticipates some difficulty in parts procurement for the coming weeks.

Nissan Forklift spokesman Yuasa Katsutoshi Says that all of the Yokohama-headquartered company’s employees and their families are safe, but some of its dealerships in the northern part of Japan were severely damaged. The facilities of suppliers located in the disaster area are also damaged.

Nissan Forklift stopped production at its Takada factory at the end of last week and Katsutoshi says there is “no concrete plan” to resume production at the facility. The Takada plant mainly services Nissan’s Asian and Australian customers. 

They further  explain that the factory was not damaged but production could not continue because of the damage suffered by it suppliers, the limited supply of electricity to Takada and its suppliers, and the logistic problems caused by the damage to many main roads.

Gunco and Milcon are Netherlands-based rental and service companies specialising in forklifts, telehandlers, aerial work platforms and scaffolding. HDW distributes Genie lifting equipment in Benelux and Eastern Europe, Tuepen and Unic Cranes in the Netherlands, and last December took on the Netherlands dealership for Italy’s Isoli.

TVH Services, part of the Waregem-headquartered TVH Group, Which is the main compnany of Systems Material Handling is a parts and service specialist for industrial forklifts, and sells forklifts. It has operations worldwide.

Effective worldwide, the guarantee invites lift truck dealers to compare wheels and tires in the test application of their choice. If Thombert’s don’t last longer than the competitor’s, users receive their money back.  

“This is the longest-standing product guarantee in the industry,” says Reggie Collette, Sales Marketing Manager. “We know that when customers buy Thombert wheels and tires, they’ll experience the lowest cost per hour of use.”