Knorr-Bremse, headquartered in Munich, is the world’s leading manufacturer of braking systems for rail and commercial vehicles. As a technological pioneer, Knorr-Bremse has been playing a significant role in the development, production, sales, and servicing of modern braking systems for more than 110 years.
In the past, our company in Liberec faced higher costs related to damage caused by forklifts to both the equipment itself and the production and storage facilities when operating a fleet of 40 pieces of handling equipment. When analyzing damage incidents, we were unable to identify the culprit in all cases and thus investigate the cause with the subsequent application of corrective measures to prevent similar accidents from occurring.
Another problem for us was keeping operational logs, which drivers did not always fill out correctly and sufficiently. At the same time, we had to process and archive the logs in paper form, which made archiving complicated and searching for logs time-consuming. The data in the logs was incomplete and inaccurate. We were also looking for ways to improve health and safety prevention, which is very important to our company. In this area, we often dealt with forgotten keys in the ignition, which posed a risk of unauthorized persons tampering with the trucks. Our facility has some areas that are confusing or difficult for pedestrians and handling equipment to navigate. In the past, dangerous situations occurred in these areas, with the risk of forklift collisions or employees colliding with forklifts.
Last but not least, we lacked relevant data on the utilization of our handling fleet, which would have enabled us to use handling equipment more efficiently or implement measures that would lead to a reduction in numbers and subsequent financial savings. These facts led us to seek a solution that would help us improve the current situation.
Project objectives
- more efficient use of handling equipment
- increased efficiency of handling workers
- reduction in the number of accidents involving handling equipment
- reduction in repair and damage costs for handling equipment
- reduction of damage incidents and repair costs
- simplification and clarification of mandatory administrative procedures
- obtaining accurate data for optimizing operations and the number of machines
- securing problematic areas in the premises
- protection of employees against collisions with handling equipment
Choice of solution
“When selecting a suitable system that would comprehensively address our requirements, we opted for a solution from GX SOLUTIONS BOHEMIA, s.r.o. The main reason was that it is a universal and unified system that can be implemented on various types of handling equipment from multiple manufacturers, as we use a “mixed” fleet. During installation, various individual adjustments were made to the entire solution based on our additional requirements. Adapting the entire solution to the specific conditions of our operation proved to be one of the key features of the system from GX SOLUTIONS BOHEMIA, s.r.o. The system provides us with functions and information beyond our requirements, which have proven to be very useful. We evaluated the solution from GX SOLUTIONS BOHEMIA, s.r.o. as the most suitable in terms of both the range of services offered and the price for implementation,” says Petr Toman, logistics specialist.
Specific results of the solution
- Úspora 6 ks techniky díky analýze dat z reportů přinesla úsporu více než 500 000 Kč na operativním leasingu.
- Adjustment of the number of engine hours in operating lease agreements with annual savings in the hundreds of thousands.
- A 50% reduction in accidents involving handling equipment.
- Reduction of costs for damage caused by handling equipment by 60%.
- Success rate in identifying those responsible for accidents up to 90%.
- 100% elimination of unauthorized manipulation thanks to driver login to the equipment using employee chip cards.
- Online movement tracking identifies specific locations of security incidents, including date and time. The information is used in combination with security camera recordings, among other things.
- The system sends online alerts (via SMS/email) in the event of undesirable situations. These include impacts, equipment overload, low battery levels, etc.
- The system provides us with comprehensive data on battery management. We now have full control over the batteries and their charging.
- Identifying “problem” drivers to improve their skills.
- Mandatory administration in the form of electronic logbooks, including pre-operation technical inspections, is carried out automatically and archived electronically. If a fault is detected during the pre-operation inspection, we receive notification via text message or email.
- Tracking the movement of equipment identifies inefficient routes for trucks.
- Reports from the system are used to motivate employees. Employees compete in terms of efficiency or number of impacts.
- The reported data significantly helps us in selecting new equipment and its technical parameters.
- Some data is used as a basis for resolving complaints about technical defects, including batteries.
- Reduction of the number of out-of-warranty service interventions by equipment suppliers by 70%.
- 100% elimination of collisions in specific areas of operation with poor visibility.
- Elimination and prevention of accidents (occupational health and safety) associated with collisions between machinery and people moving around in traffic.
