Frequently Asked Questions

Why would I want or need this service?

Companies with a fleet of lift trucks involving several hundred or more equipment units are extremely dependent upon these vehicles for their material handling needs. Up-time, controllable budgets, efficiency issues and cost savings are crucial concerns that are best managed by professionals that know and understand how this can best be accomplished. Relying on local vendors or in-house maintenance departments are a step in the right direction, but are solutions that have historically proven to be inadequate. The fact that billions of dollars annually are wasted in this regard (Hyster, 2005) demonstrates that companies simply do not have a sufficient handle on these issues. Having a service that can assure you of the resulting added value (verified through documented savings reports) is a wise decision that reduces workloads, cost, and safety risk factors, while increasing up-time, efficiency, productivity and bottom line profitability.

Will this program require a lot of monitoring and work on my part?

Developing a meaningful and quality program requires some initial interactive participation on the customer's part in terms of gathering information. Once the assets are cataloged, the data gathered, and the initial benchmarks are in place, customer program involvement is very minimal. LES provides all the administration, data collection, analysis, conversion to information for use by management, and recommended courses of action. The customer at that point has the necessary information to make the most informed and cost effective decisions. Overall, everyone in the organization previously involved in elements of the management of lift truck assets will find that their jobs have been simplified and time requirements minimized.

This program seems geared toward leased lift trucks. We purchase our lift trucks outright, hence how can this program really benefit us?

When a lift truck is enrolled in LES we monitor the Factory Warranty from beginning to end. We make sure the Planned Maintenance is performed to Factory specifications and our trained staff will assure you are not charged for items that should have been covered under warranty. Once a unit comes out of Factory Warranty, it will fall under the program's vendor warranty policy and will continue to be monitored and documented to our data record and analysis specifications. The 5% lease reduction benefit is lost if purchasing new units outright, but the bid sourcing benefits, along with the initial consultation, contract auditing & monitoring on your initial purchases, warranty issues, and maintenance contracts remains the same during the Acquisition phase. All of the benefits provided during the Maintenance and Exit phases remain the same.

What can you do that my local dealers are not already doing?

Your local vendor cannot objectively self-audit their own maintenance contracts and service invoices. They do not have the ability to provide centralized billing nationwide, or lower monthly lease payments by extending a 5% residual guarantee for your fleet throughout the U.S. LES's volume discounts allow us to negotiate better labor, parts and accessory pricing than even those made available with "national account" status. Also, the local dealer/vendor cannot help you with reducing your staff's time and subsequent in-direct costs in dealing with the myriad of lift truck issues that occur on a day-to-day basis. The added benefits provided by LES are numerous and go far beyond what any local service vendor can possibly provide.

We currently outsource our entire rolling stock fleet, including lift trucks to another firm. Under that situation, why should we sign up with this program? And if we did, how would that work with my current provider?

Most all lift truck equipment makes and models available today have evolved into highly technical pieces of essential equipment with a myriad of micro processed control systems, high tech braking, AC powered technology, etc. With all the agencies monitoring everything from safety to emissions, the day of having lift trucks serviced by the gas station down the street has passed. Expert lift truck industry specialization has reached a level of prominence whereby the added benefit and savings realized via LES will enhance whatever current systems you have in place.

Our goal is to provide a seamless transition into our program. This means working with our customer's current service providers, if they so desire. We will however evaluate each vendor twice a year to guarantee they have the ability and expertise to meet, and or exceed, our customer Service Level Agreement and make recommendations that allow clients to make informed decisions as to service providers.

Who will actually be handling my account and watching out for my interests?

Each customer is assigned to a CSR response team that is specific to their account administration. This includes Customer Service Representatives that are trained and informed in the specifics involving lift truck operation and management. Each team is managed by an industry expert. This ensures the assigned team knows the customer, their assets and any nuances that effect their account management and provides a dependable "go-to" team.

Your program is all inclusive for Acquisition, Maintenance and then Exit. Suppose we only want to use one or two aspects of your program, how would that work?

A customer is free to use any or all of the services provided by the program. For example, during the Acquisition Phase a customer that purchases new units outright would forego the 5% lease residual guarantee being offered but may still desire to have us assist in acquiring bid quotes and auditing any maintenance or warranty issues that come into play. The program is designed in such a manner that a customer could take the services being offered in only one of the three program phases and still benefit beyond any nominal program costs involved.

Customers may also choose to withhold certain units outside the program if they feel that might be in their best interest (i.e. back-up units only used marginally throughout the year).

Our operation is 24/7. Is the program setup to handle our issues on the same basis?

Yes.

What happens if I am dissatisfied with the performance of a vendor?

Each vendor is evaluated twice annually. Areas requiring improvement are handled in most cases without involving the customer. If the necessary improvement by the vendor is not forthcoming a full report with recommended action is provided to the customer, at which point the customer is requested to make a decision concerning the situation. If the customer wishes to replace the vendor then LES will terminate the current vendor after sourcing and establishing a better qualified vendor.

Do we have to sign a contract for the services you provide?

No. We believe that the quality of our program is the strength of our customer relationship, not a legal contractual instrument. We do provide a Service Level Agreement (SLA) that all customers are requested to read and sign. This ensures that customers understand exactly what the program will be providing and equally the information that is required from the customer to ensure the program provides all the value possible.

LES offers quantity discounts as the number of lift trucks under the program grows. Is this only applicable to branches or region counts?

Each company location benefits from the volume rate discount generated by the total number of lift trucks enrolled in LES companywide.

Is the monthly fee structure ever revised? Or, once I sign-up am I guaranteed the same rate forever?

The program fee structure goes down as the number of units enrolled increases. There are also special rate programs designed for unique situations, such as "% of invoice" and "% of savings", in order to accommodate businesses with special circumstances.

Nominal "cost-of-living" increases may be experienced from time to time but are not anticipated to be a concern for current customers, as future businesses enrolling in LES may experience higher fees and thus are expected to largely offset any need to revise current customer rates.

How can you beat or match my "national account" status discounts?

National account status provides many benefits, but quite frankly, LES's volume discounts allow us to provide you with pricing that is lower than "national account" levels in most every instance. In addition, our vendor invoice auditing component alone will uncover errors and billing issues that do not begin to be covered by "national account" discounts. Invoice auditing error savings will far exceed the discounted pricing savings, resulting in a significantly higher dollar amount being saved overall.

Do I have to change my current operating procedures?

Absolutely not. LES works seamlessly within your current operating system. We reduce most of the "busy work", as well as many of the indirect costs and headaches associated with maintaining your fleet. We utilize your existing vendors and centralize your billing efforts. Everything fits within your existing operational structure and does so with less cost and greater efficiency.

Why would we need this when we already have our own in-house maintenance people?

LES enhances your in-house staff's efforts, makes their job easier, provides total & maintenance cost/hour comparisons to help everyone make better decisions, and can provide a consignment parts inventory for each location. The program does not necessarily replace people; it simply allows them to accomplish things more cost effectively and puts them in a position to make better decisions more quickly.

Can I get the 5% lease residual guarantee on any lease?

This feature automatically reduces your monthly lease payment by 5% when you choose any of our leasing alliance partners. If you choose to remain with your current financial institution, LES will work with them as well so you can realize this savings through them. In other words, whatever your current provider's "best deal" might be, LES can reduce those costs by at least 5%.

The 5% lease residual guarantee only applies to newly acquired units and is not applicable to leases that were in place prior to enrolling in the program.

I believe I am getting maximum value from my current arrangements, so "why fix what isn't broken"?

While your situation may be viewed as not being "broken", the reality is that LES can increase your operational efficiency, lower your indirect cost, lower costs in virtually every related area, eliminate associated equipment issues for staff, and increase net profits significantly. When you start to realize the money that is being wasted unnecessarily and the headaches needlessly being encountered with your existing operations, we believe you will see that while not "broken," it is definitely not the best business decision to continue down that path.

We thoroughly understand the complications that can be encountered with any type of change in operational procedures. In order to minimize any possible impact that could be experienced, we welcome clients to select a portion of their fleet, such as a particular location or region, and work within that environment until all parties are comfortable with rolling the program out companywide.

I am already able to get cost/hour, maintenance history, equipment lists, etc., from my current operations, why would I want to create redundancy?

This information is only the infrastructure for properly managing a lift truck fleet. Ask yourself if you are 100% confident that each vendor invoice is being audited in detail, are your "total" operating cost/hour figures available, are efficiency analysis' being done thoroughly & on a regular basis, is your fleet properly right sized in all locations, are abuse and safety issues under control, are savings realized being documented, and so forth. We could add pages to this list but the point to consider is; would having industry experts available to consult with, evaluate, and manage these components, that were compensated in terms of how much they can save your organization, be something of value?

When my leases are up I simply want to return a unit and replace it, how can LES add any value to that scenario?

Returning leased equipment can often result in unexpected costs in terms of excess hours, damage, abuse, etc. LES monitors the equipment from "cradle to grave" to insure these issues are avoided before they can occur. Six months prior to exit a comprehensive exit strategy is executed with recommendations for action. It may mean that a particular unit's value is such that would indicate it should be relocated to another location to match its remaining useful life, or that the market value of that unit is such that it would best be sold for you by LES in order to maximize the asset value, or other options that create the same end result, with no additional effort, yet end up enhancing the asset's value.