NEW BREMEN, Ohio (August 14, 2012) – Similar to many companies facing pressure to reduce costs and improve operations, Owens & Minor realized it needed greater visibility into its forklift fleet operations to uncover opportunities to increase efficiencies. A leading national distributor of name-brand medical and surgical supplies and a healthcare supply chain management company, Owens & Minor turned to Crown Equipment, one of the world’s largest materials handling companies, for a fleet and operator management system that could help the company make progress toward its goal.In early December 2010, the company installed Crown’s InfoLink® System in its Richmond, Va., facility that had a fleet of 33 Crown electric forklifts. Shortly after the installation, Owens & Minor started accessing the information it needed to make strategic decisions regarding its fleet.
“Once the InfoLink modules were installed and we started analyzing the information, it wasn’t long before we were able to uncover opportunities to increase efficiencies,” said Leo Biller, manager of corporate operations for Owens & Minor. “By January, only one month after installation, we determined that two forklifts were not being utilized and that they could be removed immediately from our fleet without any change in operation. After only four months into the installation, we were able to eliminate an additional two forklifts with only some minor adjustments in our operations.”
While everyone on the Owens & Minor team agrees that the most valuable benefit of the InfoLink installation has been the right-sizing of its forklift fleet, they are quick to point out other added benefits offered by the system. These areas include workplace safety, regulations compliance, impact monitoring and strategic planning. The company is considering expanding the use of InfoLink to other facilities.
“It comes down to the simple fact that you need to have the right information to make the right decisions,” said Biller. “We have 52 sites in our network, and we are eager to link them together to see what other opportunities for cost-cutting and efficiency improvements InfoLink can help us uncover.”
The InfoLink system is part of the Crown Insite™ Productivity Suite, a family of information management solutions. InfoLink delivers actionable information from forklifts through content-rich dashboards that help fleet managers focus on real opportunities and avoid wasted time deciphering mounds of data.
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About Crown Equipment Corporation
Crown is one of the world’s largest material handling companies. Crown’s award-winning line of lift trucks maintains a reputation for advanced product design, engineering and integrated manufacturing processes. Offering a broad range of forklifts, as well as automation and fleet management technologies, Crown seeks to provide customers with forward thinking and innovative products designed to improve performance and lower operating costs. Headquartered in New Bremen, Ohio, Crown offers products that are defining the future of warehouse logistics throughout the world. For more information, visit crown.com.
