The Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC) has adopted a new Recommended Practice (RP) to help fleet managers quantify the productivity improvement and return-on-investment provided by installing vehicle lifts in Class 7-8 truck maintenance facilities.
The recommended practice (RP 534, Guidelines for Determining Vehicle Lift Productivity Efficiencies) is scheduled to be published with the rest of its graduating class first quarter of 2009, according to TMC Technical Director Robert Braswell.
The RP was developed by the S5 task Force on lift productivity and return-on-investment to address fleet manager need to recruit and retain technicians, improve shop efficiency, and reduce shop-related injuries.
The RP includes a simple ROI formula that fleet managers can use to estimate the additional revenue a new lift would generate or the cost-savings it would provide. Recognizing that it can be challenging to calculate return-on-investment for a piece of equipment a shop has never used, RP 534 includes typical examples derived from and validated by independent sources that are representative for commercial vehicle maintenance operations. All of the examples show a reduction in preventive maintenance costs through improvements in technician productivity. Typical savings range from $27,840 to $74,472 annually per lift, after the price of the lift has been recovered, according to the TMC information.
The recommended practice also outlines steps for choosing a new lift. Key factors to consider include the number of vehicles serviced by class, type, and frequency of use, as well as the types of services performed. RP 534 also recommends checking to see if the lift model under consideration has been third-party certified to meet the safety standards adopted by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).
More information is available at rotarylift.com.