Most forklift fleets rely on their equipment dealers’ technicians to maintain and repair their lift trucks. Many large fleets, though, hire their own technicians to handle some of those responsibilities while leaving others to their dealers.So suppose you have your own technicians on staff. It’s the middle of the second shift, and one of your forklifts is acting sluggish. Do you try to diagnose and fix it yourself, or should you send the operator home, tag the truck out of service, and call your equipment dealer in the morning? The answer may not always be clear. We asked forklift service experts for guidance on when in-house technicians can tackle maintenance and repairs, and when bringing in a dealer’s technicians is the right thing to do.WHAT DO FORKLIFT TECHNICIANS DO?Before we talk about who should handle what, it’s helpful to know more about dealers’ technicians. These essential service providers undergo extensive formal training at their workplace and sometimes at the manufacturer’s factory. (Wondering how they learned so much? See the sidebar “How technicians know what they know.”)Trained techs handle planned maintenance, diagnostics, and, of course, repairs. These days, they use tablets, mobile phones, and laptops to access repair manuals and perform diagnostics and troubleshooting, according to Rob Jackson, service manager with Abel Womack, an authorized Raymond solutions and support center with locations in New England and New York. (For a look at how technology has affected forklift technicians’ jobs, read Jackson’s blog post, “How has field service changed? The not-so-standard day…
