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The Importance of Regular Dock and Door Repair
A lot of people may not realize all of the moving parts that go into the operations of a warehouse. When a business relies on the smooth flow and function of the warehouse to get products where they need to go, it doesn’t leave much room for error. For as many different moving parts as there are in the warehouse, there can be as many service providers that the warehouse management team has to work with. The material handling world recognizes this, and is moving toward a full-service offering to warehouse customers.
Our team of dock and door experts can make sure your loading dock areas are working at optimum functionality, so you rarely experience downtime and your operations never stop. The key to this is having a partner that conducts a thorough planned maintenance (PM) program, and we’re now offering 10% off PM programs.
There are three main reasons why dock and door planned maintenance should be crucial to your warehouse operations: safety, maintenance and energy costs.
Why Dock and Door PMs Are so Important
Safety:
When large equipment or products are being loaded onto a truck, they can often fall off the loading docks. Many times, trucks even drive away with a forklift still inside of the truck. With employee safety being the number one concern for most warehouses, loading dock errors such as this must be prevented. Not to mention, the cost of workman’s compensation can be expensive, and the cost of repairs when equipment is damaged from loading dock accidents can be even more costly.
When it comes to the loading dock area of your warehouse, that’s where some of the biggest accidents can happen – especially when your equipment is broken or not working properly. A lot of times, this damage is entirely avoidable with the right team of technicians checking your docks and doors.
Maintenance:
Waiting to complete a dock and door repair when something is already broken can lead to costly downtime. With the right dock and door PM, you can detect earlier signs of wear and tear, or equipment damage. A dock and door PM should include thorough inspection of the following:
- Dock levelers and edge of dock levers (including cleaning inspection, lubrication, hydraulic fluid check and operational test).
- Restraints (including debris removal, light inspection, lubrication, tension check, electrical inspection and operational test).
- Dock and grade doors (inspection of all door equipment, lubrication, adjustments and operational test).
Energy Costs:
Warehouse doors, when not properly functioning, can cost your business thousands of dollars in wasted energy.
Recently, our dock and door team worked with a customer who did not have a seal on their loading dock and for one door that was open a total of two hours each day for five days a week, that customer was losing approximately $5,000/year in heat loss.
This major expense in wasted energy is not unique to this one customer. Our PM program can find areas of improvement to make your business more efficient, and with our energy loss calculator, we can determine how much money you are losing through your docks and doors annually.
The Benefit of a Full-Service Material Handling Provider for Dock and Door Repair
A lot of times, a warehouse manager will have one company service their fleet, another service their docks, and another service their doors. With a full-service material handling partner like Fraza, you can keep all service under the same provider. What’s more, our dock and door PMs are completed by a highly-trained technician assigned to your account, so you always know who you’ll be working with.
At Fraza, the free fleet management tool we provide all customers to track service spend on every truck is also used for the dock and door division of our company. Our dock and door customers can see every dollar that goes into broken equipment, avoidable damage repairs and equipment replacements. This tool is designed to help you better understand where every dollar is going and how we can save your team more money in the long run.
If you’re interested in learning more about how you can partner with me and save 10% on PMs, or sign up for a free consultation, you can contact us on our website!